…et it’s a widely accepted thing to do. In Compassionate Child-Rearing, Dr. Robert Firestone discusses something he refers to as the implicit pain of sensitive child-rearing. Raising children with the emotional bonding they need—sensitivity, empathy and compassion—requires the parent to be open and vulnerable, willing to feel the child’s emotional states, (the pleasurable and the painful) as well as their own. To be tuned in to their child’s pain a…
Learn More…PsychAlive has a new YouTube channel featuring videos from Dr. Daniel Siegel, Dr. Robert Firestone, Dr. Lisa Firestone and more! Visit us to explore issues of self, intimacy and parenting. Subscribe today!…
Learn More…PsychAlive has a new YouTube channel featuring videos from Dr. Daniel Siegel, Dr. Robert Firestone, Dr. Lisa Firestone and more! Visit us to explore issues of self, intimacy and parenting. Subscribe today!…
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…restone Assessment of Suicidal Intent (FASI), a scale I developed with Dr. Robert Firestone and Joyce Catlett of The Glendon Association to test individuals’ suicide risk. Screening is important, as soldiers who are in trouble may be hesitant to ask for help from fellow soldiers or military superiors. As Dr. David Rudd wrote on March 3rd for USA Today, “The military is not a culture that embraces perceived weakness or illness; it’s contrary to the…
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…motional distance,” wrote psychologist and author of The Fantasy Bond, Dr. Robert Firestone on his PsychAlive blog. What is a Fantasy Bond? The fantasy bond exists when the reality of a deep, loving feeling is replaced by a more robotic form of going through the motions of an intimate relationship. Many factors including childhood experiences, the repeating of past patterns and a fear of being alone can drive people to a fantasy bond. As children,…
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…is Psychology Today blog, on the subject of Emotional Hunger Vs. Love, Dr. Robert Firestone explains, Many parents overstep the personal boundaries of their children in various ways: by inappropriately touching them, going through their belongings, reading their mail, and requiring them to perform for friends and relatives. This type of parental intrusiveness seriously limits a child’s’ personal freedom and autonomy. Many mothers and fathers speak…
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…psychologically… also serve as terrible limitations to the self,” said Dr. Robert Firestone author of Psychological Defenses in Everyday Life. As children, the ways in which we comforted ourselves often served as substitutes for something we were either not getting or wished to avoid. Whatever we did, whether we calmed ourselves with self-soothing habits or disappeared into a world of fantasy, we felt relieved by our behaviors. The pain was lessen…
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…butes has been replaced by an illusion of connection, or what psychologist Robert Firestone refers to as the “Fantasy Bond.” The fantasy bond is a mode of relating in which couples interact in a manner of form that enables them to imagine that they are close while maintaining emotional distance. Individuals in these relationships are acting on an unconscious fear of intimacy that influences them to not be vulnerable to their partners. Couples in a…
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…also a psychologist and my co-author on Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, Robert Firestone, recently pointed out that living in the moment isn’t always as joyful as the saying would suggest. Life is filled with a wide array of emotions including pain. However, living in the moment does ensure us a more lively existence. We can’t experience the past or the future, yet we spend much of our time lost in regretting the past and worrying about the fut…
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…th our needs than those of our children. My father psychologist and author Robert Firestone often talks about the concept of emotional hunger versus love. In a book co-authored by my father and myself, The Self Under Siege, we describe emotional hunger as follows: Emotional hunger may be expressed in anxious over-concern, over-protection, living vicariously through one’s child, or an intense focus on appearances. Parents who behave in this manner…
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