The consensus as to Donald Trump’s psychiatric issues is nearly unanimous. “Textbook narcissistic personality disorder,” according to clinical psychologists quoted In Vanity Fair, among many who have reached the same conclusion. Noting his motor mouth, chronic inability to pay attention and shockingly deficient impulse control, others diagnosed Trump as a severe case of Attention Deficit […]
Trump, Clinton and Trauma Read More »
Recent news should alarm all but the most complacent observers of today’s youth scene. In Toronto, two teenagers have been stabbed to death by their peers in the past few weeks, one just outside his own home as he tried to prevent some party-crashers from entering. Also in Toronto, three adolescents are on trial for
Are Violent Teens Suffering ‘The Rage Of The Unparented’? Read More »
His public persona shattered, Jian Ghomeshi’s overweening narcissism has become the subject of public scorn. His reported violence against women, whether inside or outside sexual interplay, has been rightly denounced. Yet making this scandal all about Ghomeshi, we risk ignoring the broader sources of male narcissistic rage towards females. We are dealing here with far more than the pathological quirks of an apparently disturbed and charismatic individual.
Jian Ghomeshi and the Problem of Narcissistic Male Rage Read More »
Many parents would be horrified at the sadism their children favour as entertainment. Ought they to be worried? In Hostel, the gore flick young audiences have made into North America’s top-grossing theatre attraction, human beings perpetrate on one another whatever can be accomplished with knives, hooks, scalpels, tongs, drills, pincers and electrical saws. Paxton and
We Should Be Alarmed That Our Children Are Not More Alarmed Read More »
When our two grown-up sons were in elementary school, my wife and I despaired of their ever getting along. Bickering, insults, mutual recrimination and, at times, physical altercations were the order of the day. The seemingly incessant squabbling went on for years. Our older son in particular appeared determined to make his brother’s life utterly
What You Should Do When Your Kids Are Bickering Read More »
Among the major challenges we face, as a society, is the widespread lack of resilience of many young people. Resilience is the capacity to overcome adversity, to let go of what doesn’t work, to adapt and to mature. Growing evidence of its absence among the young is as ominous for our future as the threat
Why Can’t Johnny Adapt? Read More »
‘Some of our friends see us as weak parents because we haven’t Ferberized our children,” says my niece Rachel Maté, a 33-year-old Vancouver lawyer and mother of two. ” ‘You’re letting your baby control your lives,’ they argue. But it would break my heart to let my baby cry without comforting her.” Named after Dr.
Why I No longer Believe Babies Should Cry Themselves to Sleep Read More »
It is always big news when a celebrity is stricken dead by a substance overdose. What never makes the news is why such tragedies surrounding addiction happen. The roster of drug- and alcohol-related show-business deaths is ever expanding: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Keith Moon, Kurt Cobain; in the recent past, Heath Ledger, Michael
A Celebrity Death, Addiction, and the Media Read More »
Recently, a seven-year-old boy in Timmins, Ont., became front-page news across the nation because his parents are suing the local board of education. They allege that he has been repeatedly locked in a closet at school to control his behaviour. Such punishment may seem cruel, but it is not all that unusual. It’s an extreme
Who Really Should Take a Time-out Read More »
The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: From Pre-School to High-School — How Parents and Teachers Can Break the Cycle of Violence By Barbara Coloroso HarperCollins, 217 pages, $34.95 And Words Can Hurt Forever: How to Protect Adolescents from Bullying, Harassment, and Emotional Violence By James Garbarino and Ellen de Lara Free Press, 238 pages, $38 Bullying has a long
Torment In The Schoolyard (a review by Dr. Maté of two books on bullying) Read More »
