by Harper West | Mar 10, 2025 | Trump
America is now a post-moral society. This is what I’m going to start calling the era we’re in. That’s because 75 million people clearly believe that immorality is just fine. They support lying (lots of lying!), greed, bullying, venality, sexual assault, bigotry,...
by Harper West | Feb 18, 2025 | Narcissist, Other-Blamer
Humans love a good story, especially one where there is an obvious “bad guy” (or woman!) and a hero or heroine who saves the day. We like things clearcut and simple because it helps our brains see and make sense of patterns in our lives. We like certainty and don’t...
by Harper West | Dec 1, 2024 | Parenting
As a psychotherapist who uses play therapy with young children, I often get questions about why I do this. I explain that play is the language of children. It is obvious that children cannot come to therapy and discuss in depth with insight the inner workings of their...
by Harper West | Nov 19, 2024 | Parenting, Shame
Many child emotional and behavioral problems are due to the child not yet learning healthy ways to manage experiences of inadequacy and failure and the associated emotions of guilt, regret, and shame. These are difficult experiences and emotions, so children...
by Harper West | Nov 8, 2024 | Trump
I have greatly decreased my posts on Trump’s mental health and its impact on our country and culture in the past 6 years, because there is only so much you can repeat on the same, obvious problem. Sadly, the election results merely confirm much of what...
by Harper West | Sep 30, 2024 | Self-Compassion
Andrea was turning 18, an age when we generally assume a teen is eagerly awaiting becoming an adult. We expect they will look forward to enjoying that feeling of approaching independence and autonomy. Instead, Andrea was dreading this birthday, as she had for all of...
by Harper West | Sep 30, 2024 | The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, Trump
Many of my long-time followers know that I wrote a chapter in the 2017 bestseller “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Professionals Assess a President.” A 2nd edition with 37 professionals was released in 2019. As we...
by Harper West | Sep 3, 2024 | Depression
Patrice came to therapy complaining of being “depressed.” Her doctor had already her on an “anti-depressant” to supposedly help her mood. She said she has difficulty completing projects of any size, has no hobbies, and is unmotivated at all except for the most...
by Harper West | May 10, 2024 | Narcissist
I’ve written a very widely read blog on narcissistic siblings where I shared my experience with my narcissistic older sister, Lynn. After I left an abusive marriage and learned about narcissists (and later became a psychologist), I discovered many negative family...
by Harper West | Apr 12, 2024 | Parenting
I’m sure you’ve seen videos of those amazing sheepherding dogs, usually Border Collies, who masterfully urge flocks of sheep into fields and pens. These dogs seem to have an instinctive understanding of the best way to encourage the sheep to move in the direction they...
