What fascinates me the most in psychiatry is the inconsistency of the messages we send to our patients. The famous phrase “Be yourself – act naturally!” seems to be very profoundly and comfortably adopted by the profession, and indeed developed even further. We all know that oxymoronic and self-contadictory requirements drive people mad, especially if the person being required is somehow dependent on the one making the request. And yet, the system that is supposed to treat madness is full of this. Read the rest of this entry »

In America, as it often seems to me, the majority of people live in a very verbal world. It is as if they had all agreed upon the fundamental conception that nothing happens or exists when it is not named, and, on the other hand, once something is verbalized it does really start to happen or exist.

I am certainly not the first one to point out the difference between a meal and its name in the menu; but some people seem to be unable to appreciate a meal if they don’t know its name. And similarly, a delicious-sounding name with a couple of superlatives in it can be sufficient for some people to really enjoy the meal, seemingly regardless of what it actually tastes like. Read the rest of this entry »