The Great Teen Sex Decline?

7/30/15. There is something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.


http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0729kh.html

How Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby are Alike; Jon Stewart; Ted Cruz Gives Me the Willies

7/28/15. Camille Paglia --- a woman with the right stuff.


http://www.salon.com/2015/07/28/camille_paglia_how_bill_clinton_is_like_bill_cosby/


more:


http://www.salon.com/2015/07/29/camille_paglia_takes_on_jon_stewart_trump_sanders_liberals_think_of_themselves_as_very_open_minded_but_that%E2%80%99s_simply_not_true/
more:
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/30/ted_cruz_gives_me_the_willies_camille_paglia_analyzes_the_gop_field_and_takes_on_hillary_clinton/

Campus Suicide and the Pressure of Perfection

7/27/15. A permanent solution to a temporary problem --- a tragedy.




http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/education/edlife/stress-social-media-and-suicide-on-campus.html?action=click&contentCollection=Science&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

Oliver Sacks: My Periodic Table

7/27/15. The elements of a life well-lived.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/opinion/my-periodic-table.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

Daniel Kahneman: Can We Overcome Overconfidence?

7/24/15. Maybe not.


http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/18/daniel-kahneman-books-interview

The Conservative Heart: Q & A with Arthur Brooks from the American Enterprise Institute

7/23/15. Many people like to help others, never looking at the consequences of their feel good policies.


http://www.aei.org/publication/the-conservative-heart-a-qa-with-arthur-brooks/

Rethinking Exercise as a Source of Immediate Rewards

7/23/15. NYT science write Jane Brody reviews a new book on exercise.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/rethinking-exercise-as-a-source-of-immediate-rewards/?_r=0

Kirsten Powers is Unhappy with Planned Parenthood

7/22/15. Liberal, smart, and honest journalist critiques Planned Parenthood.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/07/21/planned-parenthood-abortion-fetus-parts-kirsten-powers/30426475/

Hanoi's Capitalist Adventures

7/22/15. Free markets, private businesses --- oh my.


http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_3_hanoi.html

Microaggression?

7/20/15.


http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_3_snd-bias.html

What's Going On? Baby boomers and their music.

7/12/15. Published in the Michigan Psychology Newsletter, Spring 2015


I am going to live forever. So far, so good.

--- Steven Wright

Most people don’t know that the songs that defined the boomer generation have taken on new meanings for this aging population.

For instance, take Ray Charles’s 1959 song What’d I Say: The memorable lyric in this song is: See that girl with a diamond ring she knows how to shake that thing Baby boomers take this song literally due to hearing loss (“Why is everybody mumbling?”) and memory deficits.

And what about Aretha Franklin’s great 1967 tune Respect? The memorable lyrics in this song are: R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me R-E-S-P-E-C-T Take Care, TCB Aging boomers crave respect because they tend to think of themselves as special, very different from previous generations, rejecting traditional values, seeking higher levels of consciousness through drugs, sex, and an expectation to change the world for the better. But, try telling your grandchildren about your specialness and see how much RESPECT you get.

Then there was Motown’s Marvin Gaye who sang What’s Going On in 1971. Even today, this is a frequently heard greeting members of the boomer generation: “Hey, what’s goin’ on?” But the memorable lyric from this tune was: Brother, brother, brother… There’s far too many of you dying I hate to tell you this, fellow baby boomers, but when someone in your weekly card group doesn’t show up, it’s not because they found another group to play in.

And remember At the Hop by Danny and the Juniors in 1957? And remember when you, aging boomer, could actually hop, roll, and stroll -- and not fall down? But think of the memorable lyrics from At the Hop: You can rock it, you can roll it; Do the stomp and even stroll it. At the hop If you were to listen to this song today, you’re more likely to say to yourself: “Why is this music so loud, and why can’t I hear anything?”

Of course, everyone’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll group was the Rolling Stones. In 1965, they sang (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. This song captures the spirit of aging, although today, for us boomers it should be retitled: I Can’t Get the Satisfaction I Used To. But recall the memorable lyrics in the Rolling Stones hit: And that man comes on to tell me, How white my shirts can be, But he can’t be a man cause he doesn’t smoke The same cigarettes as me. You know as well as I do that your greatest satisfaction today is eating an early dinner and going to bed at about the same time your children and grandchildren are leaving their houses to go to a concert, restaurant, or bar. And if you’re still smoking cigarettes, it’s likely to be on the porch or in the garage --some satisfaction!

To comment on this article, contact Steven J. Ceresnie, Ph.D., at Dr.ceresnie@sjcpsych

ALL THE UNHAPPY PEOPLE

7/12/15. Published in the Michigan Psychology Newsletter. Spring, 2015



I don’t think I’m either pessimistic or optimistic; I’m realistic. I don’t disparage your joy, but I think true joy only arises from acknowledging our despair. --- Rollo May, Ph.D.

As part of their training, psychologists have worked to understand the roots of their joys, miseries and despair. None of us wants to suffer, or experience pain, but we learn, and relearn to acknowledge, bear, and put into perspective our inevitable unhappiness.

This learning often brings greater emotional maturity, resilience and empathy --- post-traumatic growth some say, making us better prepared to help others.

There is an upsurge of research on positive psychology to teach people ways to aspire to virtues, character strengths, and happiness.

Since suffering is inevitable, it makes sense to teach our patients methods to systematically promote selfpunishment, guilt, and anxieties ---- on the route to post-traumatic growth. If you know how to make yourself miserable, just think what you can do with this knowledge.

Teaching misery is not easy task. Tolstoy, in the first sentence of Anna Karenina, tells us why understanding unhappiness is so challenging - -- “All happy families resemble each other; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (Tolstoy, 2014).

The message here is that happy people have no history --- they get up in the morning, go to work, and come home --- drama, they don’t have. Psychologists are exposed to the dramatic stories of their patients in predicaments and interesting events - -- the more narrative a life is, the worse it is.

Unhappy families all have stories ---- and each story is different (Morson, 2015). Since each story is different, we must teach our patients some general principles of misery that apply to all unhappy people.

To help psychologists teach their patients how to make the most of their individual unhappiness, I turn to a wonderful book: “How to Make Yourself Miserable. Another vital training manual” (Greenburg, 1966).

SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MISERY Seventeen Basic Pessimistic Philosophies

1. I can’t do it.
2. I never could do anything right.
3. I have the worst luck in the world.
4. I don’t have a chance, so why try?
5. I’m all thumbs.
6. I’d only get hurt.
7. It would never work.
8. It’s not in the stars.
9. It’s never been done before.
10. It’s not who you are, it’s who you know.
11. It’s too late now.
12. It’s later than you think.
13. You can’t take it with you.
14. What good could come of it?
15. The piper must be paid.
16. The wages of sin is death.
17. The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

How to Make Yourself Miserable about the Future
1. Refuse to accept what cannot be changed.
2. Establish unrealistic goals.

What not to accept
1. Don’t ever accept your age, or your weight, or your height, or your face, or your ethnic group, or your socioeconomic level.
2. Don’t ever acknowledge the fact that you make mistakes.
3. Don’t ever accept the possibility of failure, and don’t ever prepare for it with alternative plans.
4. Don’t ever accept the fact that most people will never realize how great you are.
5. Don’t ever believe that the things other people have which you’ve always thought would make you happy aren’t making them happy either.

What goals to establish
1. Find the perfect mate.
2. Find the perfect job.
3. Write the Great American Novel.
4. Get even with the cable company.
5. Develop a foolproof system to beat the stock market.
6. Fight City Hall, and win.
7. Get revenge for every injustice you’ve ever had to put up with in your entire life.
8. Never be unrealistic again.

THE REJECT-ME MOVE:

YOU: “Tell me frankly, what do you think of me? Be perfectly frank.”
REJECTOR: “I think you’re very nice.”
YOU: “No, tell me exactly what you think. I admire frankness more than any other quality.” REJECTOR: “Well…to be perfectly honest I do think you act a little neurotic at times.”
YOU: “Is that so! And I suppose you think you’re perfect.”

I could go on and on with sure-fire methods to be miserable -- but did you expect all the principles in one article?

References
Tolstoy, L. (2014). Anna Karenina. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Morson, G. S. (April, 2015).

The moral urgency of Anna Karenina. Commentary, 139 (4), 1-3.

Greenburg, D. & Jacobs, M. (1966). How to make yourself miserable. New York: Random House.

To comment on this article, contact Steven J. Ceresnie, Ph.D., at Dr.ceresnie@sjcpsych.com

A Legacy of Cliches on Race

7/7/15. You are entitled to your opinion --- but not the facts.


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/07/07/a_legacy_of_cliches_127267.html