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Feeling Bad About Feeling Sad

A Discussion of a Research Article About this Topic

Welcome to From Insults To Respect.  A couple of years ago I wrote a post titled, “Am I Bad For Being Sad?” There I discussed the tendency in our society to promote the notion that when we experience sadness it is a symptom indicating there is something wrong with us. I then asked readers to consider the possibility that this notion may be disrespectful and harmful,…

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How’s School Going For You?

A Set Of Questions To Deepen The Discussion.

During an early part of my psychological services provider career, I was hired as a school psychologist in Rochester, New York. There, students were regularly referred to me because a teacher or parent had become concerned about how a student was doing at school. When I met individually with these students, I first introduced myself, and then I’d say something like, “I was asked to…

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Stop Crying: A Fair Request?

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today, we once again take up the topic of crying and its relationship to respect. Perhaps some might wonder why more than one post was not sufficient to amply cover this tearful topic. I would have been among those who wondered about this a few years ago, but then I wrote a post titled, “Responding to Criticism: Four levels of Maturity.” There,…

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Are Trump’s Supporters Mentally Ill?

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we explore the wisdom of flinging two related insults at Donald Trump’s supporters–insults that fall under the general headings of “crazy” and “mental illness.” Let’s begin with the “crazy” insults. The “Crazy” Insults Trump, by all authoritative analyses, lost the 2020 election by approximately seven million votes, as well as an ample number of electoral votes. Despite this, he…

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Jim Jordan’s Conflict with Dr. Fauci

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we examine a conflict witnessed by millions that involves U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan at a U.S. House Coronavirus Hearing angrily questioning infectious disease expert Dr. Fauci. It can be viewed on YouTube HERE. The conflict provides a real life event of interest, and not being ourselves embroiled in the immediacy of the situation, we can now reflect somewhat dispassionately at…

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De-escalation With George Floyd

What Might Have That Looked Like?

Welcome to From Insults To Respect.  As I write this post, we are into the third week of the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin. The trial involves Mr Chauvin’s use of force with George Floyd, which began when a store employer from Cup Foods was paid by Floyd with a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase some cigarettes. When a store employer demanded that Floyd…

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William James’s Advice to His Depressed Daughter

by Dr Jeffrey Rubin

Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Today’s topic: How might parents wisely respond to their teenager’s experience with depression? Imagine your thirteen-year-old teenage daughter begins to express a concern about being depressed. Many in the psychiatric profession, heavily backed up by the pharmaceutical industry, would urge you to make an appointment with a psychiatrist as fast as you can. That approach typically leads to the doctor…

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Responding Maturely to Criticism: A New Example

by Dr Jeffrey Rubin

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Regular readers know that I have been presenting the theory that a powerful way to increase the respect that others have for you, and the respect you have for yourself, is to become a master at responding to criticism. To that end, I have presented a model that describes five levels of maturity for responding to criticism (see HERE and…

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On Being Booed

Feelings of Rejection Can be Hard

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we consider the experience of being booed, along with some suggestions on how to handle it. We begin with a rather famous booing example. Getting Booed at Madison Square Garden For those of us growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, Ricky Nelson was a teenage idol. Some would, at the time, have picked Elvis Presley as the teenage idol, but…

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Is Donald Trump A Braggart?

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. As some of you may know, my previous post is titled, “Bragging Versus Helpful Self-Promotion.” In discussing this topic, a friend of mine asked, “Why didn’t you bring up in the post, Donald Trump, since he is the perfect example of a braggart?” Although I have taken pains to make the case in this blog that we are better off…

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