Violence

The Bloodiest Shows: Why We Watch Violent Television and How it Affects Us

We might be living in the heyday of television. The streaming options have generated higher quality more complex, and less formulaic programing than existed in the eras of scheduled network platforms.  However, many of the most popular and critically acclaimed shows in recent years are extremely violent. Think about the frequency and graphic intensity of… Read more »

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The Origin of Polarization, Prejudice, and Warfare

One of the most significant contributions of my theoretical approach, Separation Theory, is that it offers an understanding of the core dynamics underlying human aggression. It explains how people’s defensive nature and dependency on fantasy bonds polarize them against others with different customs and beliefs. In a similar vein, Schneider’s (2013) concept of “psychological polarization” describes the elevation of one… Read more »

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Insight into the Violent Mind

Both glamorizing and demonizing violence help us avoid having to understand the violent mind. We should enter the violent person’s subjective world, not just in order to be able to offer treatment, but also to anticipate the nature of the risks they embody both to themselves and to society. ~ Peter Fonagy, “Towards a Developmental… Read more »

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Preventing Interpersonal Violence in Relationships

As a therapist, I want to help survivors of dating violence, domestic violence, and abusive relationships recover their sense of safety and self-fulfillment in life. And I want to do more. I want more people to know how grave the damage is to survivors of abuse and sexual assault. I want to see more action… Read more »

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Video Interview with Dr. Peter Fonagy

Dr. Peter Fonagy is a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist, who specializes in violence, early attachment relationships, and borderline psychopathology. Watch excerpts from his interview with PsychAlive below.

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Insight into Extremism and the Terrorist Mentality

What causes prejudice, religious wars, terrorism and genocide? In fact, what are the psychodynamics behind extremism, absolutism and all insidious forms of polarization? On some level, the answers all relate to human beings’ inherent fear of death and their need for psychological defenses to deny or ease the endemic pain of the human condition. The… Read more »

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The Making of a Murderer

Years ago, when I was in the process of creating a violence assessment scale, I visited a series of high-security prisons to interview men found guilty of murder and other violent crimes. As I sat down with each inmate, the first question I always asked was, “How did you come to be a violent person?”… Read more »

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How to Break the Cycle of Child Abuse

At this point, I shouldn’t have to list off all the reasons spanking your child doesn’t work. It’s science, it’s proven, and we may as well be revisiting a discussion of whether the world is flat. If the damage it does to children’s spirits (not to mention their actual brains) isn’t enough to convince you, maybe it should… Read more »

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VIDEO: Dr. James Garbarino Talks About Gender Stereotyping, Aggression and Cyber Bullying

Watch an exerpt from PsychAlive’s exclusive interview with Dr. James Garbarino. Dr. James Garbarino on traditional gender stereotypes. Dr. James Garbarino: Some of this is sort of very traditional gender stereotyping sort of stuff.  For example, an awful lot of male self-esteem is built on what you might call almost objective behavior.  You may think… Read more »

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