Articles, Columnists
The first 20 years
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
Last month marked the twentieth anniversary of New England Psychologist. This month is the twentieth anniversary of this column. It started with a telephone call from...
All around the world
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
One of the great pleasures of being a hospital psychologist is the opportunity to carry on conversations with patients that go beyond the 50-minute hour to other settings where...
Gender Identity Disorder Case could set precedent
By Edward Stern J.D.
n September 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf determined that sex-reassignment surgery was the ‘only adequate treatment’ for Michelle Kosilek, who was previously...
What I didn’t get for the holidays
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
This is a story that began 40 years ago. When I was just starting out in psychology, it all seemed so complicated that I was never quite sure I knew what I was doing. Then one...
Are “three strikes” laws the solution?
By Edward Stern J.D.
Ensuring the safety of its citizens is one of society’s most important functions.
However, everyone does not agree on how to achieve this outcome. One school of...
Seeing the invisible community
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
There is nothing like misfortune to focus our attention on the importance of community. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we are hearing stories about the way the hardest...
Getting your bearings with difficult clients
By Mitch Abblett Ph.D.
Valuing instead of evaluating your work
I was in graduate school when I happened upon a flier for a literary panel discussion featuring some lions of the literary...
Moving day for a hospital
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
On the first Tuesday in October 2012, 130 people being treated for mental illness quietly slipped away from Worcester State Hospital. They were preceded by more than three...
Mental health on blue line to Tijuana
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
Search the Internet for articles about the mentally ill riding trains and buses and you will find stories about people with mental illness behaving badly on commuter or...
A $10 billion metaphor for psychology
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
The only thing worse than struggling is discovering that you have been struggling with the wrong things. I found myself in this situation in early July when scientists at the...