Blog | Page 3 of 8 | Dr. Les Kertay

Here’s what I mostly learned from my post on the EpiPen controversy and what it said about greed in health care: civil discourse is an endangered species, hovering on the edge of extinction. And it’s not just on the right. Left wing bigotry is alive and well. And dangerous. Facts are an endangered species As of last night the Facebook share on the EpiPen post reached over 19.5k people and got 319 reactions, 77 comments with a ton of replies, and 204 shares. Hardly a viral explosion, but bigger…

Greed, the EpiPen, and what’s killing healthcare

Les Kertay

Radical Civility

There is something wrong with healthcare in this country. Greed. Greed is what’s killing healthcare. It isn’t President Obama’s fault, and it isn’t the Affordable Care Act. Let’s just get that out of the way so that those of you with no interest in hearing an alternative explanation can stop reading now. Greed is what’s killing healthcare. Everybody says so, in the wake of the story of Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan NV, and the EpiPen. Ms. Bresch is suffering…

Finding the right shrink – Part 2

Les Kertay

/psychAMA

As a psychologist, one of the most common questions I get – right up there with the ever-popular “oh, so are you analyzing me?” – is some version of, “how do I go about finding the right shrink?” In part 1 I wrote about the idea of fit, and the importance of the relationship. The person with whom you choose to work has to match your problem, your expectations, and your needs. S/he also has to have the skill set…

Finding the right shrink: Part 1

Les Kertay

/psychAMA

On August 7 I asked, what do you think of shrinks? Totally unscientific, probably the wrong question, and interesting as hell anyway. Unsurprisingly, the answer comes down to, “it depends.” But it raises another, more important question: how do you go about finding the right shrink? The results Most people – 92% – thought they are at least sometimes helpful, and a slim majority thought they are usually helpful or downright miracle workers. On the other end of the scale,…

Comfort stunts your growth

Les Kertay

Radical Civility, Showing Up

Yesterday I found this title in my email, and I couldn’t resist: You’ll comment on this story. But you probably won’t read it. If you regularly read what I write, I bet you won’t be able to resist it either. There’s comfort in it. The thing is, comfort is stunting your growth. And maybe that’s not the worst of it. We live in an echo chamber The premise of Shelly Palmer’s article is that we live increasingly in a world…

What I learned from the Perseid meteor shower

Les Kertay

Showing Up

It’s no surprise that heading out to watch the Perseid meteor shower on the night of its 2016 peak gave me a lesson in showing up. After all, for me life is always about showing up. I even named this year “the year of living present” (see this post for more on naming years). Everything, it seems, conspires to invite me, cajole me, prod me, and drag me kicking and screaming into being present. This: looking at the night sky in a really…

Showing up: my peculiar brain

Les Kertay

Showing Up

One of the great things about being the owner of my particular – and peculiar – brain is that I often don’t remember what I’ve read, or the movies I’ve watched, or apparently what I’ve written. It’s actually quite delightful, because showing up to watch the same movie multiple times I can have just as much fun as the first time. I even get surprised, though admittedly recognition memory does kick in now and then. The downside, alas, is that…

How to overcome anxiety [/psychAMA]

Les Kertay

/psychAMA

On day 5 of the Problogger challenge, a post to answer one of the questions that came up a lot when I askied for things you’ve always wanted to ask a psychologist: how to overcome anxiety. First, you are not alone I wasn’t surprised that anxiety was a common theme. Anxious feelings are extraordinarily common and takes a lot of forms. If I asked, 90% of you would say that you sometimes feel anxious, and the rest of you either didn’t understand the question…

The first rule of blogging: don’t publish crap

Les Kertay

Don't Be a Dick, Writing & stories & stuff

You should thank me. Really. You should thank me because today I applied the first rule of blogging: don’t publish crap. If you’ve read my blog, Awakened Moments, for the past couple of days, you know I’m participating in a Problogger challenge. In it, every day for a week I am given a style of post in which to write, and my job is to generate content in that style. So far, first there was a list post, then a…

Why don’t psychologists answer the f@&king question? [/psychAMA]

Les Kertay

/psychAMA

Today on Facebook I asked, “What’s a question you’d like to ask a psychologist,” and I asked friends to share. Four hours later I have 36 questions and 13 shares, and I expect the list to grow. The questions are truly a delight. Some are funny, others serious, some clearly deeply personal. The intensity of response led me to a conclusion: I’m going to start a series of posts under the Reddit-style heading /psychAMA (ask me anything), because they are…