Articles, Columnists
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...
Mystery of a hospital’s sacred place
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
Not long ago a man I hardly knew and barely understood agreed to walk with me on the hospital grounds. I wanted to see if he was able to manage more privileges without getting...
‘Stand Your Ground’ case examined
By Edward Stern J.D.
On Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, there was a confrontation between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. The result was the death of Trayvon Martin. With the exception of...
Stop the world, I want to get on
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
The small room where the treatment team meets was crowded with hospital staff and representatives from the community where George would be going after his discharge. George...
Looking for a reason to believe
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
Everyone has to believe in something.” “What you believe and what you know are different things, and it’s important to keep them separated for your orientation.” These...
Privileged communications examined
By Edward Stern J.D.
Societies have provided in law a number of privileges. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, a privilege is “a particular and peculiar benefit or advantage...