In Therapy Forever? Enough Already - NY TIMES

"In Therapy Forever? Enough Already" is a bold OpEd by psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert. Personally I completely agree with his philosophy that long term therapy is mundane, repetitive, and often unproductive. The other day I was talking to my boss, a family psychologist, about why people begin to hate therapy. Staying in counseling for too long is one of the main reasons. When people stay in counseling for an extended period of time they stop working on themselves and expect the therapist to "fix" them. Also as the article explains, there is a codependence. The therapist is dependent on the patient for money, the patient is dependent on the therapist for help. Unless there is a serious disorder like borderline personality, therapy really shouldn't extend longer than a year. Alpert says, "Therapy can — and should — focus on goals and outcomes, and people should be able to graduate from it." It is important to become a self actualized and competent individual. Unfortunately, many therapy professionals are aware that therapy sessions shouldn't be too long but don't apply it to their patients. 


Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/in-therapy-forever-enough-already.html?pagewanted=1

At Kennedy Airport, an Artist Fights to Save Her Sculpture - NY TIMES

Today I read an article in the New York Times about an artist who is suing JFK for threatening to dismantle her sculpture in order to put more food stands in the terminal. The sculptor, Alice Aycock, claims that the contract states that her "sculpture cannot be removed unless required or necessary. Putting in more food stands is neither." What I found interesting here was the competition between enhancing the amount of money the airport makes or enhancing NYC's culture. To me, there is enough food in the airport. It is important to have a balance between art and business (like a food court). Here's the link if you guys are interested:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/at-kennedy-airport-an-artist-fights-to-save-her-sculpture/?ref=nyregion

Semester At Sea

I wanted to deviate the focus of my blog a little bit and talk about Semester at Sea. This is a study abroad program based from the University of Virginia that takes students across the world via boat - having a cruise ship as the campus. I am going this summer for the two month semester and think it is something worth sharing. SAS is so unique because it allows students to see the world in a completely different light. They don't have to pick one country, they can pick 14, or in my case 7. Everyone that has participated in SAS claims it is the best experience they've ever been on. Our travels are integrated into our classes and we have field reports where we see first hand the stuff we are learning about. I am so excited for the experience and wanted to share it with you guys! Here's the link if you're interested: www.semesteratsea.org

Religion and Extramarital Affairs

While browsing the Internet, I fell upon some interesting information pertaining to infidelity and religion. People who regularly attend a religious service are less likely to cheat on their spouse. This is pretty standard - most scripture condemns cheating. However, people who consider themselves in a close relationship with God but do not attend service are 25% more likely to cheat on their spouse. So, when talking about religion, is it the belief system what stops people from being unfaithful, or the act of going to service? Thomas Rees, a columnist for Free Inquiry believes that people who attend service are less likely to cheat because they have a unified commitment to attend service. He claims that different people with the same commitment to a secular activity would probably have the same statistics. When taking a closer look at my study as well as other research, I found that they too have "attending religious service" as a variable - not "relationship with God" or something similar to that.

Here is the link to Rees Blog:
http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/

Outline

Introduction:

• What an extramarital relationship is
• How it has become increasingly common
• How acceptable it is
• Briefly explain study
• Briefly explain further readings

Body:

• Detail about infidelity
• Evolutionary reasoning 
• Investment theory
• Double Standard
• (Each a small paragraph)

Body:

• Religion

Body:

• Social
• Political and Famous Affairs

Second Paper Ideas

Over Easter break I spoke with my mother, who is a divorce attorney, about extramarital relationships. She explained to me that, although it is completely morally wrong, it is the most common reason for divorces that she sees. "People get lonely, their spouse doesn't pay attention to them, and they cheat." When spouses have kids and a life together though, infidelity is often forgiven. When I was doing my study, I found that religion and education were two confounding variables. As I write the paper, I plan on delving into literature about these two variables, and how they connect to infidelity.

Final Paper

            For this paper, I am looking at infidelity with married couples. I have been doing research on this topic for the past year, and I am very excited to write about it. I am interested to see why people cheat, what type of affair they have (if any at all), and if it is justifiable and able to be forgiven. There is a lot of research in this, but the topic of infidelity has become very commercialized. Variables such as education level, religiosity, ethnic background, and political viewpoint effects people’s views and involvement in affairs.

            Years ago, moral ground rules were very black and white. Things like premarital sex, cohabitation, single parenthood, and homosexuality were wildly discouraged. Consequentially, a lot of homosexual men and women got married and had children, having same-sex affairs on the side.

            What is interesting with my paper is that I have a lot of knowledge based on the research I did, but now I get to explore the non-psychological articles. Thus far, the two articles I’ve looked at analyze the question why people cheat. Both articles maintain that cheating exists and is not disappearing. I find this interesting because in my study, infidelity was strictly discouraged, despite our more liberal society. I plan on looking at the statistics, opinions, and future of the idea of infidelity. Hopefully I don't rely too much on my research and really dig deep into all of the articles out there!