Most people think of ADHD as a discrete medical disorder.  However, I’ve suggested that the symptoms associated with ADHD can be accounted for in terms of a wide variety of other influences.  So far in my You Tube video series on The Myth of the ADHD, I’ve talked about the impact of media, all-boy behavior,...Read More

This is video #9 in my 10-video series Introduction to Neurodiversity, based on a course I taught at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. In this video I highlight the gifts, talents, and abilities of individuals who have social and emotional disorders such as OCD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. These positive traits include...Read More

Yesterday in the New York Times an op ed piece appeared entitled ”Successful and Schizophrenic’‘ that affirmed the importance of neurodiversity and the value of strengths in people with mental health labels.  Written by Elyn Saks, who has lived with schizophrenia all her life yet been highly successful in several fields (professor of law, psychoanalyst, MacArthur fellow), the piece...Read More

The December 14th shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, have opened up a Pandora’s box of issues related to mental health.  One controversy in particular relates to the shooter Adam Lanza’s alleged identification as a person with a mild form of autism spectrum disorder called Asperger’s syndrome.  This hearsay diagnosis in turn has ignited a strong rebuttal from the...Read More

Imagine that all of the people in the world have been magically transformed into flowers. Some of us are petunias.  Others are begonias.  Still others are tulips.  Now, let’s say for the sake of argument that the psychiatrists in this culture are the roses. I want you to imagine the rose psychiatrist beginning his work...Read More