by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD Welcome to From Insults to Respect. In a few days, Super Bowl Sunday will arrive. Sadly for me, my Buffalo Bills won’t be playing. I’m not blaming them, though. Most of us assign blame based on adding together degree of intentionality and harm. Said another way, Blame = Intent + Harm. To me, the Bills did not intend to lose the crucial…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we take a close look at one reason some folks have a low level of respect for people who are viewed as having a mental illness–the belief that such people are avoiding responsibilities. There are two other main reasons for the stigma associated with being labelled mentally ill that we won’t dive into today, but I’ll just briefly mention….
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Recently, I wrote a post titled, “The Nature of Anxiety” (see HERE). It provided a general overview of this natural, enormously helpful, state of mind. The point of view that I described is in stark contrast to the common view in our society that looks upon anxiety as a negative, destructive, “abnormal” experience, a symptom of mental illness, one which…
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Over the years, I have met some pretty decent folks who spent a good part of their earlier life drinking way too much alcoholic beverages, and, at a certain point, found a way to get this under control. Some of these folks believe they took responsibility for their actions, and that was all that was needed. A very different group became engaged…
Some people find that their actions are violating certain societal norms and feel guilty and ashamed about this. When they try to stop doing these actions, they may find they can’t just stop, and thus they end up feeling even more guilty and ashamed. Some parents, when they see their offspring act in ways that violate certain societal norms, find that they feel guilty and…
In our society, the idea of self-reliance is often viewed positively. And yet, it is our nature to benefit in numerous ways from others. As Albert Einstein beautifully articulated in a book titled, Living Philosophies: A Series of Intimate Credos: “From the standpoint of daily life…there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men–above all for those upon…
A conflict exists whenever the following three conditions exist: Party A desires an act will occur. Party A perceives that another party is likely to act in a manner that interferes with the desire. Party A perceives that the other party would be guilty of doing something wrong if he or she carries out the interfering act. On this blog, when we think about describing…