It is generally my habit to approach trauma memoirs with some caution. Many are organized around a familiar narrative: an account of cruelty, followed by a hard-won assertion of resilience. Such stories can be powerful and important, but they often invite the reader into a relatively clear moral landscape of victimization and survival. A New York Times review suggested this book was special in that the author presented herself as searching for meaning. As a student of psychology I...

"It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality." -D. Winnicott The unexpected sometimes happens in a conversation, a spark of creative energy, as if there is borrowed energy between the parties that increases the potential for original thought. The other day at the market I ran across an acquaintance with whom I have had many friendly exchanges about psychotherapy. Though my friend has a complicated life, she...

No doubt smoking is a major health scourge, and given that success rates with various interventions are surprisingly low, few patients come to our office seeking help for the serious addiction that smoking represents. Regardless, patients who come for other reasons often allow us to talk about it. Just the other day, a woman came in for a routine medication check. She is stable overall and had been treated for PTSD. At this point in her life she is wrestling with more ordinary concerns:...