by Harper West | May 21, 2026 | Uncategorized
When I was recruited to write a chapter for “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” in 2017 I knew my approach would be very different from the other writers, all esteemed and established mental health professionals. They generally wrote chapters consistent with a...
by Harper West | May 8, 2026 | Self-Compassion
Being honest with yourself is the key to accountability and personal growth. Self-honesty and being able to hear the truth from yourself or other people is the real goal of personal growth and psychotherapy. Without this skill of honesty, self-awareness isn’t...
by Harper West | May 6, 2026 | Trump
This video by Matthew Cooke draws the same comparisons I’ve drawn between family systems of narcissistic abuse and societal levels of authoritarianism such as the Trump/Vance/MAGA regime. My understanding of narcissism and narcissistic family systems was why I — can...
by Harper West | Feb 27, 2026 | ADHD
This thorough article on Psyche on How to Reclaim Your Attention is for those who struggle with distractibility, poor focus and low productivity. As someone who began my adult life with manual typewriters and landline phones, I’ve watched the digital age be born...
by Harper West | Jan 30, 2026 | Trump
Given the tyrannical and fascistic behaviors of the current U.S. administration, many of us are feeling emotions of horror, disgust, and anger. I’ve decided to blog out the text of a 2020 article I wrote for the Journal of Humanistic Psychology on the emotion of...
by Harper West | Jan 19, 2026 | The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, Trump
This meme summarizes some of what I wrote about in The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump in early 2017. That book when on to become a #1 bestseller because at that time so many people were trying to make sense of this deeply troubled person who had surprisingly (with...
by Harper West | Nov 3, 2025 | Emotional Intelligence, Narcissist, Relationships
When I was in an relationship with an abusive narcissist, he would often accuse me of flirting with men and cheating on him. I now recognize this was almost certainly projection of his own sins, but at the time I didn’t have that understanding. I was a conscientious,...
by Harper West | Oct 9, 2025 | Emotions
Standing on a Vermont hillside watching the total solar eclipse was the purest experience of awe that I can recall having. As the moon slid slowly in front of the sun, it made concrete the fact that earth is not some solid, sedentary rock, but a ball flying through a...
by Harper West | May 9, 2025 | Emotional Intelligence
I’m sharing an excellent article from Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic. Here is the link, but it is behind a paywall for subscribers. I completely agree with Brooks as this is the process I worked on in my personal development many years ago — decreasing an unhealthy...
by Harper West | Mar 26, 2025 | Narcissist, Trump
As an expert in shame and its impact on human behavior, I have been keenly aware of a lack of shame among Republican politicians, especially in the past 10 years. Donald Trump, of course, is leading the competition in his complete lack of humility and in his inability...
