A Guide To Anger And Conflict Resolution
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. I hope you all are all having a splendid week, especially you mothers out there for my calendar indicates Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Regular readers of this blog well know that from time to time I like to utilize aspects of Bob Dylan’s entertaining show, Theme Time Radio Hour, to highlight some important issues regarding the nature of…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Perhaps some of you who have joined us here today have begun to notice that many in the media have begun to replace using the words “mentally ill,” “mental disorder,” or “psychopathology,” with words like, “a person with a mental health concern,” “mental health issue,” “mental health challenge,” or “mental health problem.” This change is viewed by some as more…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Last week, I presented a post titled, “Mental Illness as Distress, Abnormality, and Dysfunction.” There, I explained that it is actually normal in our society to have periods during which we become concerned that we are too distressed, or too dissatisfied with our level of functioning. The pharmaceutical companies, I noted, promote that these concerns are mental disorders and…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. In our society, many assume psychiatrist can accurately diagnose mental illness, also referred to as mental disorder or psychopathology. Why do they? Sometimes we respect what a group of people do because of their association with something we highly value. Thus, in a commercial, we might see people purchasing a particular brand of car with a highly respected athlete,…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today, I came upon a NewYorkTimes article titled “Residents’ Rights to Be Rude Upheld by Massachusetts Supreme Court.” The ruling settled a conflict between the town of Southborough’s “civility code” for public comment at meetings and Ms Louise Barron who had said to a town board member, “Look, you need to stop being a Hitler. You’re a Hitler. I can say what…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today, while listening to some songs, Bob Dylan’s emotional pleas as he sang “Chimes of Freedom” cried out to my conscience. Its first stanza… We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashingAs majestic bells of boltsStruck shadows in the soundSeeming to be the chimes of freedom flashingFlashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fightFlashing for the refugees on…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. On an episode of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, the Nobel Prize winner discusses, as he puts it: “The Big House, the brig, the clink, the coop, the gray bar hotel, the hoosegow, the joint, the jug, the pen, the pokie, the slammer, the stir–we’re talking about jail, a real hush hush subject where everyone is hurting for someone…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. This week, I received a letter from a wonderful pal of mine, Mike Gilmartin, a retired English professor who dabbles in the fine art of poetry. His letter included his most recent effort, which he titled, “The Art Of Trumping The Deal.” To me, it powerfully expresses Mike’s emotion that comes with his disrespect for Donald Trump’s bullying behavior. Mike…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. In a recent post, I shared some advice the highly respected psychologist and philosopher William James gave to his depressed 13-year-old daughter. It was so well received, I decided to describe another example of James giving advice to another person feeling so very blue. Unlike my previous example, which occurred when James was a mature professor and father, today’s example…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Here on this blog, I aim to shed light upon how folks might improve their self-respect and the respect others have for them. With this end in mind, from time to time I describe someone who has handled a difficult situation in a respect enhancing manner. For example, in one post I describe how Abraham Lincoln skillfully handled insults (see…
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