Essays on Psychology and Life

About Me:

After growing up in Huntington, N.Y., I attended Cornell University and was awarded the Thomas A. Ryan Award for best undergraduate thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology. I earned my doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Boston University and then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. For seven years I worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, doing psychotherapy, teaching, and supervising the clinical work of interns and post-docs. Since 1985, I have maintained a private practice in Brookline, Massachusetts, specializing in adult psychotherapy and couples counseling. I am married to a psychologist/singer, and have a teenage daughter, three adult stepchildren, and a 10 year old Golden Retriever named Watson.

Why these Essays?

The practice of psychology has changed dramatically over the past decade. Once guided by theory, knowledge, and humanism, it is now dominated by the economics of managed care. Essays on Psychology and Life is, in part, an effort to fight back, to counter the tunnel-vision of the economic model.

There is more to mental health than five sessions of practical advice and a prescription. If these essays resonate; if they make us more self-conscious about relationships with family and loved ones; if they inspire us to explore our pasts and come to a more realistic understanding of our histories; if they motivate us to seek the help we need; if they, in a small way, make us better parents, spouses, lovers and friends; then their primary purpose will be served.

If these essays do resonate, I hope you will share them: with spouse, lover, parents, children, and friends wherever appropriate. My wish is that they will serve as a starting point, a stimulus for discussion, and perhaps a way to begin thinking about and working on relationships that have long been unhealthy or unhappy.

Best of luck!
Richard Grossman, Ph.D.

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