“Ask Dr Neuman” Advice Column
Keeping in mind that there are different degrees of rich. At some point along the way of psychotherapy, I usually ask my patients what they want to achieve in their lives. Very commonly, they reply that, among other things, they would like to be married. Only on very...
Guerrilla war When I went off to college, I roomed with a friend I had known for five or six years. We had always gotten along until we roomed together; but there are things you don’t know about somebody until you live with him. For instance, it turned out that he...
An excerpt from “The Wicked Son,” a picaresque novel about skepticism and truth, etc. Dr. Aster, who is a psychiatrist on Earth and a wanderer with magical powers in the land of Wendle, has volunteered his services to help a congregation of union members, anarchists,...
On a psychiatric ward. This is a trick that works every time. Imagine a patient on a psychiatric ward who has managed to obtain a knife and is menacing everyone with it. I have no trouble imagining this scene since I have found myself on a couple of occasions in the...
An Improved Rejection Letter (Can be customized) As most authors, and aspiring authors, know, it is standard procedure to send your manuscript to a publishing house (or agent) with a self-addressed, stamped envelope so that the manuscript– which they expect to reject–...
Ways to ruin your social life. We all know people who profess to want something, but who indicate by their behavior that that thing, whatever it is, is not what they want, at least, not so much that they are willing to go to the trouble of reaching out to...
Declaring someone “almost dead” is not good enough. When I was just entering my upper-class years in medical school, I found myself working on one of those very long, crowded wards they had at Bellevue Hospital in those days. One afternoon I finished my assignment...
Cruel and/or unusual punishment The following is an excerpt from a speech I would have given to the “True Independence Day Club” on July 3, 1996 if they had asked me. “Thank you for asking me here today, a special day in our history: the two hundredth and twentieth...
Growing old gracelessly. Many men, after spending their childhood and adolescence trying to gain weight–to get bigger and stronger– spend the rest of their lives trying to get thinner. I have lived through my own variation on this theme. I have always been told that I...
Long ago and far away. One day, a long time ago, I found myself uncharacteristically eating in a Burger King. They were having a special on a steak sandwich. Me: (having reached the head of the line) I’ll have the steak. Medium. Young waitress: We only...
Not entirely in the eye of the beholder We know a lot—at least we think we know a lot—about mating rituals in animals. These are often complicated behaviors that can last for hours and are designed to demonstrate good looks and physical prowess. Why? All that preening...
This anecdote appears in “Come One, Come All.” I wrote it as fiction, but the story is real. I read about it in The New York Times. The speaker is the gynecologist who works at the Woman’s Health Center. “Dr. Redden, I think you’ll be interested in this case. This is...