> And let's keep a sense of perspective.  Trying to figure out the
psychology
> and dynamics of public figures based on public accounts is at best a
guessing
> game. Play it, for fun, amongst your friends and neighbors, but don't
claim
> that psychology or psychoanalysis has given your opinions an edge over
those
> of ordinary mortals.

I'm not sure where you're getting that "ordinary mortals" comment.  I for
one wake up every morning and put on my glasses before I head for the
bathroom.

I don't think the idea is to support one's political opinions with one's
psychoanalytic training or insight.  The two are, or ought to be, quite
separate.  I am suggesting that the latter might be brought -- with a great
deal of humility --  into public discourse for the good of all, not to
provide a bully pulpit for any one of us.  I agree with Richard
Koenigsberg's comment that there is a shortage of real psychological
perspective within public life.  There's plenty of psychobabble, but that's
a different thing.

Some of my own interest in this issue comes out of am invitation several
months back to appear on national television early in the Elian Gonzalez
controversy.  I turned it down immediately, thinking that the media were
already loaded with inappropriate and unhelpful comments, and no way did I
want to add to the din.  Later on, though, I heard another therapist speak
clearly, simply, and with great compassion about the fact that based on the
facts of his life, young Elian had suffered a great deal of loss.  This
might seem like an obvious point, but in the brouhaha about where the child
belonged, the political implications, it was one that was getting lost.  In
retrospect I think that other therapist made a better choice than I did.
What she was doing had nothing to do with offering an opinion about the
political issues or where Elian should live; she was quietly empathic.


Jean
-------------------------------------------------------
Jean G. Fitzpatrick, N.C.Psy.A.
email:  [log in to unmask]
website:  http://www.pastoralcounseling.net
a columnist for Beliefnet, http://www.beliefnet.com