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Is It Fair Blaming Biden For Inflation?

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today, I would like to discuss a topic that has been bothering me for several months–politicians and their followers attacking President Biden for inflation. Consider a press conference held by Senate Republicans this past July. At that time, they blamed the “insane tax and spending spree of President Biden and the Democrats for six straight months of raging inflation.” As…

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Do “Antipsychotics” Reduce Longevity? A Robert Whitaker Analysis

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Back in 2019, I criticized the use of “antipsychotics” and on Facebook someone criticized what I had written saying, “all of the research clearly indicates that the “antipsychotics,” when used by people diagnosed as having schizophrenia, decrease the risk of dying.” I then, very respectfully, asked that he supply me with the references that he is relying on to make…

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Thoughts On The Beatles Song “Help”

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Today we take a look at the experience of asking for help, which can be hard for some of us.  As we do so, we’ll be utilizing the tremendously popular Beatles song, “Help” in order to bring to light some aspects of the experience in an entertaining manner. The song was released as a single in the summer of 1965…

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Thoughts On Dylan’s “Let’s Keep It Between Us”

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults To Respect. In an earlier post (see HERE) I made some rational arguments for people to consider resolving their conflicts in private whenever possible. For example, I mentioned a research study that found people are more likely to escalate an argument into a fight when spectators are around (“Impression Management and the Escalation of Aggression and Violence,” R. B. Felson, Social Psychology Review, 1982). Rational…

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Thoughts On Paul McCartney’s Song “Who Cares”

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Recently, I happened to be listening to Paul McCartney’s fine album, Egypt Station, and my emotions were stirred up by the straight away rocker, “Who Cares.” The first stanza, with its driving beat, sets up its theme: Did you ever get hurt by the words people say And the things that they do when they’re picking on you? Did you ever…

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Christmas and Altruism

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults To Respect.  As I write this, it is a few days before Christmas. The season finds me increasing my tips at restaurants. Somehow, in some vague kind of way, I kind of respect myself for doing so. I wonder why? I’m not alone in increasing tip giving during the Christmas season. I know this first hand because during my Brooklyn College days…

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A Psychological Maturity Approach for Addressing Psychological Concerns

A Positive Alternative To The Mental Disorder Approach

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Regular readers of this blog know that I have become disenchanted with the mental disorder/mental illness/medical model for addressing psychological concerns (see, for example, HERE). Today I describe how this came about, along with my reasons for preferring a psychological maturity approach. My Disenchantment With The Mental Disorder Model Let’s begin with my early education as a psychologist. At first,…

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Improving Your Level Of Wisdom

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. As you might imagine, people who are viewed as wise tend to be more respected than people who are viewed as foolish. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few suggestions for improving our wisdom. Assessing Openness Consider, if you will, an old joke–If you want people to respect you for your wisdom, just agree with everything…

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Bob Dylan On Walking

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect.  On this blog, we have been exploring the various characteristics that help people earn self-respect and respect from others. Today we focus on one of these–staying in physical and emotional shape by taking a daily walk. It is, of course, true enough that some good people have earned an enormous amount of respect even without bothering to stay fit, but let’s…

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Rating Criticism of Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Some of my blog posts are designed to help readers improve their skill at providing negative criticism. In them, I present a system of rating the maturity of each incident (see HERE). I then describe an incident or two in which someone provides negative criticism, and then readers are asked to use the rating system to assign a rating. Immediately…

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