Research, whether about mental health topics or something else, always has to be examined with a skeptical eye. In a course I teach for psychology majors I hammer the concept of critical thinking. Critical thinking is not just a psychology issue though – anyone can use critical thinking skills to make better decisions and really think about things before they act. So what is critical thinking? Basically it is just thinking about the evidence before you and measuring the likelihood of it being true or false, or partly true or partly false. There is even a Foundation and Center for … Continue reading →

While working in the prison system in Florida as a therapist over 50% of my caseload were black men. We could spend days discussing the issues contributing to that number, but in the prison I was most concerned with why the person who was sitting in front of me needed my services. Historically, black men were not “allowed” to experience mental health issues. There have been books written about the social stigma of mental illness in the black community; even simple depression is something black men were encouraged to hide. So, I was surprised by what my clients were presenting … Continue reading →