The Reluctant Psychoanalyst: Subject Based Index of Posts by the Reluctant Psychoanalyst

Whether you have arrived from having read one my posts or from a search of a topic, welcome! I post as an eclectic psychoanalyst about a variety of subjects that are listed below by category. You can use the blogger search engine on the bar above to search for a topic/title/author or you can browse for posts by scrolling down to the categories below or using the category button to get to the area then link to the post by hitting the link. NOT ALL CATEGORIES ARE CURRENTLY LIVE CLICKS BUT ALL ARE ACCESSIBLE BY SCROLLING DOWN AND ALL LINKS ARE ACTIVE.
Movies
Television
Plays and Musicals

All Things Shakespeare
Popular Books
Psychoanalytic Books, Talks, and Articles
Psychoanalytic Concepts
Psychology in the News
Education
Psychoanalysis and Religion
Psychoanalysis and Race in America
Music
Opera
Visual Arts
Travel and Living
Politics

MOVIES: (Alpha by title)

42 Jackie Robinson's story inspires but falls short.

Amadeus Thank God for tragedies.
American Hustle A posting mostly on Trump, this also briefly reviews the film.
Arrival Make contact with the world around you
August: Osage County - The Play's the Thing (also in plays)
The Avengers Age of Ultron - Heroic Narcissism
Avengers End Game We are, in the end, human after all...
Battle of the Sexes A Biopic allows me to explore my own transference to an early idol

Belfast A movie about how love sets the stage for life.
Bernie- Jack Black is Too Nice
B est Little Whorehouse in Texas, Birdcage, and Dirty Dancing - Sex and Coming of Age
Birdcage, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Dirty Dancing - Sex and Coming of Age
Birdman - more narcissism at the movies
The Big Lebowski - A Cult Classic

The Big Sleep Bogey is the reluctant detective...
BlackKklansman and Green Book: a black dream of racial hegemony is compared to a white one.
The Black Panther Marvel's narcissistically healthy hero.

The Black Swan Madness and mental illness are not the same thing...
Blue Jasmine - What is Woody Allen revealing about himself when he talks about women?
Das Boot A German take on guilt - and the necessity of government... Despite the risks.
Bottle Shock Dreaming big dreams in the early California Wine Trade
Bride of Frankenstein Who knew horror could be so human?
Caché A French take on guilt
Captain Fantastic A (non super-hero) fantasy about being the perfect parent.
Captain Mar vel is a superhero who helps us question racial and gender identity.
Carol A movie about Homosexuality, Culture and Telling
Casablanca My Mom's play helps me understand the movie - and our exceptionalism.
Cats, the Trailer The movie trailer causes me to reminisce about the musical play...
Copenhagen - Quantum Mechanics
The Crucible - Going Back to High School

Da 5 Bloods Vietnam, race, and the brutality of a war that's never over.
The Death of Stalin A Black Comedy that helps us be entertained by terrifying material.
Dirty Dancing, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Birdcage Sex and Coming of Age

Diva A time travel back to my favorite movie in 1981.
Don Juan DeMarco A parable of psychological treatment and aging
Echo in the Canyon A documentary about the Rock Scene in Laurel Canyon and Creativity.

Elvis The Hagiography that cements the white man's self love in place.
The English Patient A movie of love and loss speaks to the experience of a reunion.
Escape from Alcatraz Truish story

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once Truth in farce!
Eye in the Sky Alan Rickman's final performance: A movie about drone warfare

The Fabelmans. What's in a name?
The Favorite is a film about Queen Anne's two female lovers and their fight for power over her.
Florence Foster Jenkins: How do we live with limitations?
The Founder McDonald's founder Ray Kroc epitomizes all that is the American Dream/Nightmare
Fences August Wilson's modern tragedy
Free Solo What does it cost to have the freedom to solo climb a mountain without support?
Get Low - A Quirky Independent Film
Get Out The Horror of Racism

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Are sex and love necessarily linked?
Green Book and BlackKklansman a black dream of racial hegemony is compared to a white one.
Hamlet Branagh's 1969 masterful interpretation of Shakespeare's masterpiece (also in plays).
Her - The Therapeutic Relationship
The Help - Kathryn Stockett's Book and the Movie - Race and Consciousness
Hope Springs - Marital Therapy
The Hunger Games A Kid's Film Proves to be Useful to an Adult
Inception Dreams as the basis for an action film - can we love someone who can't love us?
The Irishman is a gangster film that, I believe, reveals us all to be gangsters.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things Charlie Kaufman's creepy film is a dream.
Inside Out - Pixar's Idea of the Mind
Interstellar - Exploring our Fears in Outer Space
The Invention of Lying A world where no one lies? What would it look like?
It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Is Mr. Rogers creepy?
Jaws - Finally Watching a Classic
Jok er A film that is surprisingly poignant...
Life of Pi - Life Imitates Art

The Lost Daughter Maggie Gyllenhaal directs a maternal meditation.
Love Actually - A Holiday Tradition
Lucy A shoot 'em up

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Ugliness of race exposed by giftedness...
The Madness of King George is a 1994 film about the loss of executive function.

Maestro Leonard Bernstein's crazy love life is one we can all identify with...
The Magnificent Seven (Old School) A man's world... or what passes for it...
A Man Called Ove A Swedish romantic comedy about a curmudgeon - also in books.
Marriage Story is the title of a film that purports to be about divorce...
Medea Timely television movie from 1980's Denmark about the oppression of women.
Midnight In Paris Can We Appreciate What We Have?
Midnight In Paris Redux: seen through the eyes of Covid-19. (Also in Covid chronicles)
Moonlight Coming of Age in an American Ghetto

My Octopus Teacher Psychotherapy under the sea
Night at the Museum III - Goodbye to Robin Williams
Noah - A Modern Midrash

Nomadland A dream of nomadic life that hides nightmares...

Nope Jordan Peele uses horror (again) to unmask racism (I think...)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - A personal favorite (Also in Books)

Oppenheimer A surprising blockbuster about good vs. evil.
Parasite is a rich film we discussed in class - and had multiple ways to see it.
Paterson A movie about living the poetic life
Pavarotti A documentary film by Ron Howard (Also in opera)
Philomena An Irish Catholic Judi Dench learns about her past - and teaches us about anger.

The Power of the Dog Jane Campion's reflection on gender roles.
The Professor and the Madman is Sean Penn's depiction of a man going in and out of paranoia.
Psycho Horror has to do (at its best) with what lies inside us.
The Queen of Versailles - A Documentary about Empty Wealth
RBG The documentary film where Ruth Bader Ginsburg psychoanalyzes to achieve justice.
Rear Window Hitchcock's masterpiece helps us peak at the male gaze with new eyes.

The Report The CIA's torture is tracked down by the Senate.

Roadrunner Anthony Bourdain's life and death.
Room Emma Donoghue's Book was later made into a Movie

Seven Samurai Kurosawa's classic film that is starkly anti-war and anti-violence.
Saving Mr. Banks Disney's wooing of P.L.Travers to put Mary Poppins on The Big Screen
Selma Martin Luther King's March for Voter's Rights
Shakespeare in Love - Was Will from Stratford?
The Shape of Water How do we connect with otherness?
Shine Music and Failures of Trust or A Schizophrenic Virtuoso
Silver Linin gs Playbook - And a Poetry Slam

Social Dilemma Social media should be governed!

Soul Pixar uses death to teach us about how to live.
Spotlight shines a light on Boston's shame and Donald Trump
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Universal themes come into question
Star Wars - The Last Jedi Disenchantment with limited power...
Steve Jobs through the eyes of Aaron Sorkin and Victor Strecher - The RP finds Vulnerability

Stranger Than Fiction Will Farrell makes being human seem possible

Stutz A movie about therapy made by a patient raise all kinds of questions
The Taming of the Shrew Reviewed along with 10 things I hate about you

Tar A complicated film about cancel culture and the genius of being human.

The Tender Bar A good movie that helps me understand a better one: Belfast.
10 Things I hate about You A RomCom based on Shakespeare's Shrew (same link as above)
Three Identical Strangers is a documentary about triplets separated at birth. Nature/nurture anyone?

The Trial of the Chicago 7 Aaron Sorkin teaches us about power and dissent

Amy Schumer's Trainwreck - Morality and Integrity
Trumbo The story of how to win an Oscar while on the Blacklist
The Two Popes Can ideals really change who it is that we are?

Vertigo Hitchcock's masterpiece as seen through Freud's essay on the uncanny.
Vice This film contributes to the problem it proposes to address
War Machine Brad Pitt's well intentioned but failed movie questioning counterinsurgency

White Noise DeLillo's postmodern view of the well organized chaos of the world we live in.
Wonder Woman Does what Brad Pitt's War Machine could not...
Y Tu Mama Tambien Adolescent sexuality awakens much more than prurient interest.

TELEVISION SHOWS AND SERIES: (Alpha by Title)

Amok Time Remembering Leonard Nemoy and Star Trek

The Bear Culture change requires that individuals change.

Call My Agent: Dix Pour Cent The French, it turns out, have a nice sense of humor and life...

The Chair Being a Grown-Up isn't easy.
The Crown Elizabeth becomes herself by becoming The Crown

The Crown: Edward VIII on The Crown The anti-Elizabeth
Dead To Me Netflix first season is surprisingly like the unfolding that takes place in therapy.

Dead to Me Season 2 articulates why guilt accompanies loss and how mourning frees us.

Downton Abbey Nostalgia draws us back to a simpler time.
Episodes Matt LeBlanc's narcissistic vehicle is a guilty pleasure.
Grace and Frankie Netflix and Sexual Orientation for the Boomer Crowd

The Great Hulu's Catherine The Great captures something essential though not biographical

Hacks The HBO series with to unlikeable characters that I could identify with.

Halston An appreciation of a new art form in a flawed biopic series.

Hamilton! on Television A different experience four years later...
Hannah Gadsby's Nanette Comedy reflects on itself.
House of Cards Art presents a scary vision of life

House of Cards Final Season Must we fight psychopathy with psychopathy?

The Lying Life of Adults The movie brings the book to life.
Madame Secretary A complex series, but still not as complicated as real life...
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel a cry for action in our times.
Medici Netflix' first two seasons of this series.
Medici Season 3: Lorenzo the Magnificent Neurotic - not narcissistic.
Mad Men The lies at the center of the American Dream
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction David Letterman's series on Netflix.
The Newsroom Aaron Sorkin's picture of Modern Journalism
Psi A Brazilian Psychoanalyst Practices the Craft on HBO

Schitt's Creek The Sitcom revisioned as a developmental arc.
Seinfeld Morality and Music in the unlikeliest of places.

Severed Work life balance is hard enough when you can remember...

Sex Education Sex can be an expression of intimacy.

Sherlock explores the mystery at the heart of mystery.

Shtisel Ultraorthodox Judaism in Jerusalem.

Star Trek See Amok Time above.

Succession Why can't I look away from this train wreck?
The Tiger King Narcissism and Psychopathy.
Transparent Gender changes shake things up.
Unorthodox Rules interfere with intimacy.
The West Wing Executive Functioning.

The White Lotus Lying is central to relationships.

PLAYS AND MUSICALS (Alpha by Title):

Appropriate A hot play about race that may get us better than we are comfortable at being got...

A Midsummer Night's Dream The comedy (rightly) makes light of serious business.
August: Osage County The Play's the Thing (also listed in movies)
Casablanca My Mom wrote and directed a play about the movie - and American Exceptionalism
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time (Also in books)
A Delicate Balance A star studded evening - and a talk by Jonathan Lear referenced elsewhere
Fences Though I wrote about the movie - it felt like a night at the Theater.
Frank Lloyd Wright A play co-written and directed by the Reluctant Mother
Freud's Last Session by Armand Nicholi - also in Psychoanalysis and Religion
The Glass Menagerie Kirsten Dahl discusses Females Treating Adolescents
Hamilton! Lin -Manuel Miranda (weirdly) does the Reluctant Psychoanalyst Proud

Hamilton! on Television A different experience four years later... (also in T.V.)
Hamlet Branagh's masterful interpretation of Shakespeare's masterpiece (also in films)
King Lear A flawed production starring Glenda Jackson illuminates the complexities of this play
Lady MacBeth and her Pal Megan Comedy by Megan Gogerty at the Fringe Festival
School of Rock Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical and oppression
Seminar Starring Alan Rickman as the generative teacher from hell
Titus Andronicus Shakespeare's bloodiest production illustrates projection

ALL THINGS SHAKESPEARE (All are listed elsewhere as well...)

A Midsummer Night's Dream The comedy (rightly) makes light of serious business.

Hamlet Branagh's masterful interpretation of Shakespeare's masterpiece (also in films)

Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell's description of the feminine in Shakespeare
King Lear A flawed production starring Glenda Jackson illuminates the complexities of this play
Lady MacBeth and her Pal Megan Comedy by Megan Gogerty at the Fringe Festival

Romeo and Juliet The Opera!

Shakespeare By Another Name Mark Anderson's case for Edward de Vere as Shakespeare

Shakespeare in Love - Was Will from Stratford?

The Taming of the Shrew Reviewed along with 10 things I hate about you

Titus Andronicus Shakespeare's bloodiest production illustrates projection

POPULAR BOOKS: (Alpha by title)

84 Charing Cross This delightful record of a correspondence is like unto an ideal analysis.
1984 George Orwell's dystopia and the power of language.
About Grace* Anthony Doerr's Novel about the perils of parenting

A Farewell to Arms Hemingway's brilliant and possibly deeply flawed novel about war
Alias Grace Margaret Atwood's dark vision of what it is like to be a woman in a man's world.
All the Light We Cannot See** Anthony Doerr's Book of World War II France
American Pastoral** Philip Roth
American Pastoral Redux** Because once, apparently, is not enough

Americanah Adoche helps us see race in the U.S. through the eyes of a Nigerian.
Angle of Repose** Wallace Stegner
A nything is Possible* Elizabeth Strout's honest, but therefore jaded look at life

Asymmetry Lisa Halliday's luminous novel about power imbalance in relationships.
Asymmetry II. I liked this book so much I posted on it twice.
Autism and Being Human A New York Times Sunday Magazine article
Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates memoir is a psychoanalytic masterpiece
Beyond the Beautiful Forevers* Katherine Boo writes about the poorest of the poor
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown - Heroism and Team Sports
The Brave Cowboy Edward Abbey's vision of the west as a now gone place.
Canada* by Richard Ford

Cloud Cuckoo Land* Anthony Doerr's ode to storytelling.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Also in Plays)
Dear Life*** Alice Munro's short stories
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

The Dutch House Ann Patchett's story of a family growing into their house.
Educated Tara Westover's account of growing up in tight knit craziness.

Empire of Pain Patrick Keefe's take on the Sackler induced Oxycontin crisis
Eragon Christopher Paolini writes fantasy
Ethan Frome* Edith Wharton's reflection on the costs of passion
Euphoria Margaret Meade and Anthropology are Cool
Finding Nouf Zoe Ferraris imagines the life of a Saudi woman
Fourth of July Creek Antiheroes in the mountains of Montana by Smith Henderson

The Genius of Birds Jennifer Ackerman teaches us about Brains.
Go Set a Watchman* Harper Lee
The Golden Son A light summer read about culture change
The Goldfinch** Donna Tartt's novel about art and trauma

Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell's description of the feminine in Shakespeare
The Help Kathryn Stockett's Debut Novel about Race Relations in the South in the 60's
Henrietta Lacks' HeLa Cells Rebecca Skloot reveals the life of the woman whose cells are ubiquitous
Hermann Rorschach This biography is wonderful, but also tough on psychoanalysis...
HillBilly Elegy J.D. Vance's Memoir about growing up Appalachian - and what saved him.
The Hobbit Tolkien's tale includes the warmth of a father telling his children a story.

Homeland Elegies* Ayad Akhtar's child of immigrants critique of America and Islam

Horse Geraldine Brooks' novel of the horse Lexington goes awry because of fantasy.
In the Heart of the Sea Nantucket Whalers lost at sea - aren't we all afraid of being just that?
Justine Lawrence Durrell
The Lathe of Heaven Ursula K. LeGuin's dream of the future that we are living in.
Life After Life Kate Atkinson's Novel
L ife of Pi Also in Movies
Lila* by Marilynne Robinson

The Lotus Eaters Tatjana Soli's novel about a Vietnam War Female Photographer
Lowland* Jhumpa Lahiri's book about isolation

The Lying Life of Adults Elena Ferrante's description of triangulation.
Lucky Boy Shanthi Sekaram's book about parent's attachment to children.
A Man Called Ove A Swedish book about a 2 dimensional curmudgeon - also in films
March The Graphic Novels/Memoirs of John Lewis and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Marriage Plot* Jeffrey Eugenides
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Mrs. Bridge Evan Connell writes about the country club life of the 1930s
M y Cubs: A Love Story NPR's Scott Simon, a Chicago native, talks about winning...
My Name Is Lucy Barton* Elizabeth Strout's book about loneliness and the ties that bind.

News of the World. Heaven help the movie makers...
Night Hawks Charles Johnson's Short Stories about being marginalized (and Buddhist).
Olive Kitteridge** Elizabeth Strout has helped me teach personality theory.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong's story about language binds us together.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest A personal favorite (also in Movies)
Open by Andre Agassi
Orphan Master's Son** by Adam Johnson
Our Portion Phil Terman's Collected Poetry
The Overstory.** Richard Powers' book about trees and our relationship to them.
Pachinko. Min Jin Lee's book about Korean Immigrants to Japan and shame and repression.

The Passenger and Stella Maris. Cormac McCarthy's final take on the world.
A Pearl in the Storm Tory Murden McLure Rows across the Atlantic
Plato's Meno Socrates takes on a recalcitrant interlocutor.
Pym Nat Johnson's African Americans travel to a weird Antarctic Utopia
The Redbreast Jo Nesbo's Norwegian Detective Harry Hole

Room Emma Donoghue's tale of protective love
The Serpent King Young Adult literature we should read - and think about.
Shadow Divers A book about deep sea diving - I compare it to the Magnificent Seven
Shakespeare By Another Name Mark Anderson's case for Edward de Vere as Shakespeare
State of Wonder Ann Patchett

Stella Maris and The Passenger (Also under The Passenger) Cormac McCarthy on mortality.
Steppenwolf Herman Hesse
The Stori ed Life of A.J. Fikry A self consciously told tale of running a bookstore
Straight Man Richard Russo's absurd book about teaching at a college

Stutz Jonah Hill's documentary about his own psychotherapy and psychotherapist.
The Submission by Amy Waldman - A Nominal Muslim proposes a 9/11 memorial
The Sun Also Rises Hemingway's classic still has the power to stir.
The Sympathizer** A confessional novel about Viet Nam becomes an analogy for a psychoanalysis.
Tattoos on the Heart Gregory Boyles, Jesuit Priest, Walks the Talk
Thank You for Being Late Thomas Friedman's Supernova - the confluence of smart phones & AI

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power Jon Meacham's book allows me to compare J & Hamilton

Tom Lake Does a fictional memoir tell us more than a reality based one?

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Gaming is fantasy, not play
The Topeka School A book about language and its failure to bind us together.

Trust** This novel - perhaps intended as a feminist revolt - is read as tragedy.

The Vanishing Half Brit Bennet's novel of identity.

The Vegetarian Han Kang's Booker Prize winning meditation on culture and madness in Korea.

Visitation Street Ivy Pochoda's mystery is a beautiful view of mourning
War of Two John Sedwick's account of the Hamilton/Burr duel and the founding of the USA.

Why Fish Don't Exist Lulu Miller's memoir and expose of David Starr Jordan.
The Worst Hard Time Timothy Egan's book about the dust bowl helps us appreciate bonds that tie.
Young God Poverty, Psychopathy, and Youth
Zero K Don DeLillo's meditation on cryogenics and life allows for a conversation with my son.

*Written by a Pulitzer Prize winner
**Pulitzer Prize winning book
*** Written by a Nobel Prize winner

PSYCHOANALYTIC BOOKS, TALKS, AND PAPERS: (Alpha by title)

2017 APsA Convention - Aktar, Powell, and Donald Trump
An Accident of Hope Dawn Skorczewski details the treatment and poetry of Anne Sexton
Attachment and Psychoanalysis A brief post on some research I have done.
Becoming Freud A biography by Adam Phillips
The Conscious Id Mark Solms paper on a Neurological Model of the Mind
Civilization and Its Discontents A review of a classic Freudian Paper
Kirsten Dahl discusses The Glass Menagerie as a means of understanding adolescent boys
Hannah Decker's Freud, Dora, and Vienna, 1900
Antonio Damasio's Strange Order of Things clarifies the importance of feelings.
Damasio and Solms at the 2020 Psychoanalytic Meetings.
Freud's Papers on Technique An opportunity to think about empathy
Gender and Sexual Object Report from a Convention

Glen Gabbard on Therapeutic Action A local presentation

Carol Gilligan was honored by the American Psychoanalytic Association

Carol Gilligan discussed the Dobbs decision at the next in person APsA meeting
Peter L. Goldberg An object relational psychoanalyst comes to the Midwest from San Franciso
Adrienne Harris, relational and feminist psychoanalyst, visits our institute.
Dorothy E. Holmes Psychoanalysis and Race at the Annual Convention - A Personal Reaction

Danielle Knafo does a local zoom talk on catfishing

Anton Kris Speaking on Learning and Unlearning

Hermann Rorschach This biography is wonderful, and also listed under popular books.

Intersubjective Processes and the Unconscious by Lawrence J. Brown

Jonathan Lear Also from the Convention - with the Play A Delicate Balance - referenced elsewhere
Letters to Simon A favorite book about psychoanalytic technique by I.H. Paul
The Nature of Determinism Report on teaching a psychoanalytic class
Psychoanalysis and Research Report from the 2012 Convention
Research and Treatment Outcome Report from the 2015 Psychoanalytic Convention
The Rorschach Why this test is still relevant and important - a minority opinion.
Jeremy Safran - A remembrance A clinician and researcher talks about both.
Sexual Boundary Violations Andrea Celenza

Mark Solms' The Hidden Spring Solms tries to reduce the mind to an equation and I resist that.
Mark Solms teaches us how to teach Neuropsychoanalysis. Notes from the APsaA convention.

Mark Solms describes the drive for play - illustrated by a play therapist.
D aniel Stern's The Interpersonal World of the Infant A Seminal look at psychoanalytic development
S tatistics an d Psychoanalysis I Complexity is at the heart of the social sciences
Telephone Treatment A Workshop

The Uncanny Freud's essay as applied to Hitchcock's Vertigo (also in movies)
E li Zaretsky's Secrets of the Soul Is psychoanalysis science or philosophy?

PSYCHOANALYTIC CONCEPTS: (Alpha by concept)

What is Psychoanalysis?

What is Countertransference?

What are Dreams?

What is Free Association?

What is Narcissism?

What is Neurosis? Am I Neurotic?

What is Psychoanalytic Self Help?

What is Transference?

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE NEWS:

Autism and A Family's Love The way a human being was found
On Being Uncool Dreaming about procrastinating about writing about psychology and torture
Psychology and Torture I Rumblings and a preliminary report
Psychology and Torture II The Hoffman Report
Psychology and Torture III The Hoffman Report Continued

EDUCATION:

Jesuit Education A retreat proves enlightening.

MOOCs and SMOCs Massive online learning is described by pioneers...

Birth Control and Power Politics Should Catholic Institutions support Birth Control?

Higher Education in America A jaundiced view

The History of Psychology (and Rock and Roll) Prepping a new class

PSYCHOANALYSIS AND RELIGION: (Reverse chronological order)

The Jesuit Spiritual Exercises - Day (Week) Four

The Jesuit Spiritual Exercises - Interlude between Day (Week) Three and Four

The Jesuit Spiritual Exercises - Day (Week) Three

The Jesuit Spiritual Exercises - Day (Week) Two

The Jesuit Spiritual Exercises - Day (Week) One