Do any of these sound familiar?
“Why do you always take everything so seriously?”
“You are too sensitive!”
“You don’t even know that person, why do you care what happens to them?”
Category: Movies
Harry Potter Therapy
Hello, you wonderful people. I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start.
I am honored and humbled by your outpouring of support of “Superhero Therapy“. I am thrilled an excited to be working on a few more geeky psychology projects, one of them being a self-help ‘Harry Potter Therapy’ book, which I am planning to make available for free.
When “Weird” Means Wonderful in the Accountant
Guest post: Harpreet Malla, M.A.
When my two greatest passions, movies and mental health, intersect, I become very excited. Especially when it is done well. I was invited to a pre-screening of director Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant, written by Bill Dubuque, and while I expected a good thriller, I did not expect a genre-fluid, well-rounded portrayal of someone with tendencies of Asperger’s Syndrome. Note that the portrayal is sensationalized for entertainment purposes, but still retains value in its complex look at its characters and their unique struggles. The following review will explore themes of mental health in The Accountant, and as always with my writing, do so with minimal spoilers so you can save the treat of watching it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. The following will contain details that will not spoil any plot points moreso than viewing the trailer (see link below) or first fifteen minutes of the movie would.
Continue reading When “Weird” Means Wonderful in the Accountant
Dream Loot Crate
What if you could design your very own dream Loot Crate? What would it contain?
Given my profession and my work with Superhero Therapy, I wanted to put together an idea for a potential Loot Crate, one which could help people in managing their Dementors of depression and their boggarts of anxiety while helping them connect with their superhero potential. Here’s what I came up with.
The true magic of fantasy books
Last week L. A. Times released an article about Graeme Whiting, a Headmaster at an English school, who claimed that fantasy books, such as ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Lord of the Rings, ‘Hunger Games,’ and ‘Terry Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ may become addictive and might cause brain damage in children. This blog post is a response to that article. Continue reading The true magic of fantasy books
How to be the Jedi of your New Year’s resolutions
It’s that time of the year again – when the New Year begins and the resolutions start strong. For many people this lasts for a few weeks. In fact, at this time they are one with the Force. They are unstoppable. They eat all their vegetables, they avoid all junk food, and they sign up for a 110-year commitment to the gym because this year will be the year that they stick to their resolutions. Forever. And it very well could be.
Continue reading How to be the Jedi of your New Year’s resolutions
My battle with the Pink Dementor
It’s that time of the year again – the fall. For many it is the time to celebrate all kinds of pumpkin goodness. However, for the thousands of people with Seasonal Affective Disorder, it is also a very challenging time. I am one of those people.
Psychology of Morticia Addams
This post originally appeared in The Mary Sue
It’s October, the month of Halloween and a celebration of everything spooky, and it is my distinct pleasure to write about my favorite inspirational woman: Morticia Addams.
Supernatural, Harry Potter, & depression
This year at the San Diego Comic Con I was extremely honored to be able to interview the cast of Supernatural, among them Jared Padalecki, one of the leading actors on that television series. Padalecki recently opened up about his struggles with depression and started the Always Keep Fighting Campaign, intended to spread awareness.
Psychology of ‘Inside Out’
‘Inside Out’ is a movie I’d been waiting for a year to see and, once again, Pixar did not disappoint. This is a movie I’m going to be assigning to many of my patients and doctoral students as a way to demonstrate important psychological principles.
Warning: some spoilers of the movie ahead