MetroPolar

Many patients seem to want psychic spring cleaning. It's a time of change, and they get impatient to have their insides change to keep pace with anticipated external changes.

The wheels of capitalism must turn. Everybody has to make a living. But can marketing's cyber-sneak-attacks threaten the field of human communication?

"Can you believe this?! Can you believe what happened to Bear Sterns?!" The truth is, I can totally believe it. But how does such drama shake the psyche? And who is going to make it all better?

pla-ce-bo

2. Something of no intrinsic remedial value that is used to appease or reassure another... C'mon, just a little taste...

"Doc, I'm bleeding here!" "What do I have to do, open a vein and bleed all over your rug?" Blood and bleeding make for strong symbols in psychotherapy, but what does it all mean?

"Free" (stuff, exchange, whatever) psychologically triggers enthusiasm in a way that even "very cheap" cannot. Can the promise of the free beat out the lure of the cheap, in therapy?

Film, television, literature, the Bible have all taught us that when the devil comes, he will be sneaky. At least a slithering, tempting snake, if not a more ethereal manifestation of our own baser traits. So, is Ryan Seacrest the Devil? Probably, yes.

Design Within Reach haunts me. Not in a scary way, more ruminations. Where did it come from, what does it all mean, and, more importantly, why do I find myself strangely attracted to it?

When I was a resident, training to become a plastic/reconstructive surgeon, friends were often freaked. "Jesus! How can you cut into someone like that. That is crazy messed up!" And while it admittedly tweaked a nerve to cut into a recognizable and sensitive spot like a an eye lid or a child's cleft lip, I always answered them, "It's all about the drapes."

Do you have to have had cancer to treat cancer? Do you have to be a crack addict to truly get the jones and the pain? Do you have to be an artist to really understand creativity? These questions range from rhetorical to hmmm, but it's tricky.