Wynn Schwartz Ph.D Archive
By the early 1960’s it was clear to many that the intellectual foundations of psychology were in shambles. Psychology looked like a collection of separate antagonistic systems. At best, theories and practices coexisted the way people respect their neighbor’s different …
Intentionality and its observed manifestation as intentional action are dominant organizing concepts in psychology, although, with rare exceptions, concepts poorly articulated. In the realms of cognitive neuroscience, psychoanalysis, the theories of cognitive and behavior therapy, and the various humanistic approaches …
Recently, The Boston Descriptive Psychology Study Group spent an afternoon discussing the effects of dementia. We applied the paradigm case formulation of persons described in “The Problem of Other Possible Persons.” Our starting point was the effect dementia has on the …
We have all been witness to the degrading spectacle of a politician apologizing for a sexual transgression, promising it will never happen again, and then it does. Sexual behavior is particularly hard for some to renounce or to acquire self-control, …
It is sometimes said that animals do not talk because they lack the mental capacity. And this means: “they do not think, and that is why they do not talk.” But—they simply do not talk. Wittgenstein (and if they can, they …
In the behavioral sciences it is often very difficult to know if we are on the same page. This confusion plagues many of our discussions. How do we define our terms? How do we manage useful disagreement? Are we even …
Therapists, more often than they might wish, find themselves trying to be empathetic with people they would not otherwise spend time with. This often means being open to the thoughts and experiences of very difficult people who may have been …
Therapy can feel stuck, stymied and aimless, but fits and starts may be a necessary aspect of transformative therapeutic processes. Of course, this is because problems outside of therapy show up in the consulting room. Therapy feels stuck when the domains …
When the stresses of life are ordinary and manageable, most of us feel we have it together. We have a cohesive sense of ourself and the world. Things are in place and we understand how they connect. But under the …
