Clinical psychologist. Orthodox Jew 🇮🇱Psychodynamic bent. Making sense of the world one story at a time.
Joined June 2022
- Tweets3.3K
- Following833
- Followers957
- Likes19K
Pinned Tweet
Have a handful of new followers. In intro to all those who follow for psychotherapy content:
I’m a proudly pro-Israel, anti-Hamas Jew who believes in biological sex and the freedom for women to have single-sex spaces and for children to grow into their bodies into adulthood.
Dr. Mel retweeted
If someone invents a machine that makes food 50% cheaper and becomes a billionaire, society hasn't lost a billion dollars.
We've gained cheaper food.
The fact that someone got rich solving a problem doesn't mean the rest of us got poorer.
Wealth creation isn't theft.
Dr. Mel retweeted
BREAKING 🚨: Kmele Foster: “It's one thing to not think capitalism isn't working, ideally. It's another thing entirely to insist that it is oppressive, that it is bound up with white supremacy.”
Jemele Hill: “How is it not?”
Kmele Foster: “I've always preferred Adam Smith's description of capitalism as the natural system of liberty. The idea that people can own property, that they can exchange it freely with one another for profit, that they can find ways to put their resources to good use and profit in a way that is actually beneficial to everyone else, that there can be gains from trade that are mutually beneficial. These are foundational ideas that have created more wealth than any other system in human history. That is what capitalism is. That is not white supremacy.”
Jemele Hill: “Do you think capitalism has always worked that way?”
Kmele Foster: “I’ve actually just described the basic facts of the economics.”
Hill: “That ain't how it's always worked.”
Kmele Foster: “Slavery is an institution that is older than writing. It predates capitalism. The notion that white supremacy and all these other things are bound up with capitalism in an intrinsic and fundamental way is so absurd and laughable, it barely needs to be defended.”
Jemele Hill: “How was it absurd?”
Kmele Foster: “It barely needs to be defended.”
Jemele Hill: “What do you mean it barely needs to be defended?”
Kmele Foster: “You actually have to articulate what the connections is. How are these two things the same? I'm talking about private property, the right to exchange and sell with whomever you like. What does that have to do with white supremacy?… What is the white supremacy dynamic of private property?”
Jonathan Shedler is a psychoanalytic research scientist in addition to being a practicing psychoanalyst and educator.
He is uniquely qualified to speak on the scientific body of evidence for psychoanalysis.
I get the reflexive move away from believing that therapists see things that patients cant, but come on. No one can see their own face. A mirror is required for reflection.
Therapists reflect patterns and themes. But ultimately, those patterns need to resonate with the patient.
23
584
Pointing out patterns of repeated behavior is not like interpreting Mona Lisa’s smile. Its saying, “Hey, I notice you keep choosing unavailable men… can we be curious about that?”
The exploration that follows is subjective. But often it’s meaningful TO THE PATIENT.
Amazing how many people uncritically accept this. The therapist isn’t doing any of the things listed here in a literal sense because there is no objective truth here. There are interpretations. Like what the Mona Lisa means or what Jesus was trying to say. The problem is they aren’t aware that this is the nature of what they’re doing, they think it’s objective, and they have institutional expert power as though it is. That’s a great way to ruin people’s lives.
Great reminder why psychotherapy is extremely harmful so often and why pursuing other paths toward healing can be so wise.
Feeling hopeful today because people seem genuinely hungry for deeper understanding of the psychodynamic process and understanding. @JonathanShedler Is the OG of this kind of content. All is not lost.
3
56
1,927
I feel like its important to point out that therapists are just people. Strangers, in fact. We have no way of knowing, at least at first, that you are playing a role or trying to be pleasant. This takes time to notice and understand. Good therapy takes time.
1
32
1,322
Dr. Mel retweeted
Premiums didn't start climbing last year. They've been climbing since the ACA promised affordable care. More government money won't fix it. Price transparency, real choices is what we need more of.
If therapy is only understood through the content and not the process, it will often feel useless, and indeed be useless.
But theres a meaningful pattern emerging here. A desire to make things comfortable for others even at the expense of your own discomfort.
Worth exploring.
You’re unable to view this Post because this account owner limits who can view their Posts. Learn more
Dr. Mel retweeted
In just the past two weeks, the pro-Palestine movement tried to burn down my neighborhood synagogue and organized a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses in Philadelphia on the eve of Kristalnacht.
So please, spare me the “anti Zionism isn’t antisemitism” nonsense. Yes, it is.
Dr. Mel retweeted
Capitalism is perhaps the most misunderstood economic system in history, largely because it is routinely blamed for the consequences of violating its own principles.
Capitalism means private property, individual rights, voluntary trade, and a government limited to protecting those rights. It is a system in which individuals are free to produce, compete, trade, and prosper without requiring political permission or favoritism.
Cronyism, by contrast, means government granting economic privileges through subsidies, bailouts, tariffs, regulations designed to protect favored businesses, and other forms of political favoritism.
Socialism, communism, fascism, theocracy, absolute monarchy, feudalism, mercantilism, corporatism, and cronyism differ in their doctrines, methods, and objectives. Yet all have permitted political authority or privileged groups to override individual economic freedom.
The fundamental distinction is between voluntary exchange and political coercion.
Under capitalism, economic success depends on creating value that others voluntarily choose to purchase. Under cronyism, political influence can substitute for earning that success through trade.
This brings us to the mixed economy, where elements of capitalism coexist with government intervention, redistribution, regulation, and political favoritism.
When intervention produces unintended consequences, critics routinely attribute those failures to capitalism simply because they occurred in an economy containing private businesses and markets.
That is a fundamental error of causation.
The existence of private businesses does not make every government policy capitalist. Nor does the existence of wealthy businessmen make political favoritism a product of free markets.
A businessman who earns a fortune through voluntary trade and one who obtains privileges through political coercion are operating on fundamentally different principles.
Pure laissez-faire capitalism has never been fully implemented. Yet to the extent economic freedom has existed, it has demonstrated its extraordinary capacity to create wealth, increase productivity, encourage innovation, and raise living standards.
And here lies the great irony.
The remaining economic freedom continues to generate much of the wealth that makes government intervention and redistribution possible, while helping cushion society against their destructive consequences.
Critics then demand further intervention to remedy problems caused or aggravated by previous interventions, perpetuating a cycle in which political power expands while capitalism receives the blame.
Before blaming capitalism for any economic problem, establish whether that problem arose from voluntary exchange or the coercive exercise of political power.
You cannot reasonably condemn a system for the consequences of violating its principles while ignoring the benefits produced when those principles are respected.
