On Tuesday December 20th, BPSI screened  LA LA LAND at the Coolidge Corner Theater, as part of it’s monthly Off the Couch series. The following was adapted from remarks delivered following the screening.   Benjamin Herbstman, MD, MHS   Thank you for joining us tonight for this achingly beautiful film, and thanks for sticking around for the discussion.  I’d like to take about 10 minutes to talk about how film,...

By: Alexandra Murray Harrison, M.D. Important Note: The image in this post and in all the previous ones are not images of the children discussed in the posting. They are simply children whose photos I have collected throughout my travels.  After the election, I was moved to write a blog post to parents and other child caregivers to support them in talking to their children about the election. Many parents at the preschool where I consult were...

Find out what what said about MOONLIGHT at November’s Off the Couch.   Moonlight: Talk for Off the Couch by Judith A. Yanof First, a bit of background:  Moonlight is an independent film, written and directed by Barry Jenkins.  It is the second feature film by this 36 year-old writer/director. The story is taken and adapted from an unproduced play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.”  The story is set in the...

Did you miss Rodrigo Barahona’s discussion of SNOWDEN at The Coolidge Theatre on Tuesday, September 20, 2016? Read below to see what got the conversation started:     If this film were on my couch, these are the words that would come to my mind as I listened to its story: Idealization Voyeurism Exhibitionism Boundaries Privacy The self Paranoia Fantasy Reality Sexuality Murder Fathers Sons Omnipotence Omniscience Good Bad...

Ilonka Venier Alexander and Shari Thurer met in our library on June 21, 2016, to discuss The Life and Times of Franz Alexander: From Budapest To California published by Karnac in 2015.  Ilonka’s grandfather, Franz Alexander, was the first graduate of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, the man who turned down Freud’s offer to enter into private practice in Vienna, and the man Freud told to go to America and spread the doctrine of...

June 17, 2016 From:    James Walton, MD, President Re:         Violence in Orlando Five days ago we were shocked to learn of the horrifying attack and murder of so many Americans at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. We feel sadness and outrage at the terrible loss of life and great sympathy for the wounded and for the friends and families of those who were killed. In speaking of the attack on the nightclub frequented by the LGBTQ community,...