“Ask Dr Neuman” Advice Column
Perverted Bears Caught in the Act! A possible explanation for fellatio Disclaimer: First off, I want to say that I do not claim to have observed these bears. I don’t personally know anything at all about bears. If you told me that bears had sex while humming a Beatles...
With some regularity I read about psychological experts, or some quasi-therapeutic organizations, who have recommended to their members or readers that they tell themselves something or other: “Everyday I’m getting better in every way,” or “I can do this” or “I’m...
A matter of psychology A lot has been written about the motivation of vampires when they go for the jugular vein. Why the jugular? If the victim has been sleeping, wouldn’t a sharp bite on the neck tend to wake her up, causing an embarrassing incident? Why a vein...
What difference does it make? There is a particular situation– and a time in psychotherapy– when I may be asked by a patient what his girlfriend—or her boyfriend–is thinking “deep down.” The situation I am referring to is at a point where the patient has come to...
Does that make me credulous or cynical? A formative experience. At the age of fifteen, I had a seemingly inconsequential experience which I have thought about ever since. I was walking with my older brother up Broadway. It was in the days of the Cadillac tailfins....
A way of having sex with everyone. Recently a man came to me feeling guilty about a lot of things. He felt guilty about the fact that he does not pray properly, which means, evidently, that he gets distracted sometimes when he prays before going to sleep. He would...
The treatment of panic disorder is not easy, but it is straightforward. The affected individual has to learn not only to deal with the phobic situations that are almost always a consequence of a panic disorder, but also how to deal with the panic attack itself. This...
A particular kind of bad behavior. This is a scenario I have seen played out many times with the protagonist sometimes a young woman and sometimes a man. A woman, let us call her Carol, was in a romantic relationship that lasted for a few months. She and the man she...
Earworms: A treatment suggestion Getting rid of that annoying mental music. An earworm is a short musical phrase that catches hold somehow to your imagination and repeats endlessly in your mind. It is common and similar to an obsession, which is an annoying and...
The benefits of revenge—and the costs. Start with the idea that every feeling serves a purpose. A feeling is an internal signal to behave in a certain way. All feelings have a survival advantage, direct or indirect. Being fearful causes the fight or flight reaction,...
There is, of course, the whole business of growing up. Someone may have been the class clown in grade school, the athlete in high school– or the nerd– and the partier in college. People change. Growing up, we are growing into and out of different roles,...
We are instructed from a very early age to apologize when we have done something wrong. Why? What is the purpose of apologizing? It cannot undo the offense. Parents explain to their children that when they apologize, they acknowledge having done something wrong, and...