Is Depression Healthy? (2nd Webinar on Depression Management, May 2021)
Depression is a positively adaptive, appropriate response to stressful or dystopian environments, and questioning whether it is wise to quell, intervene, suppress, or eliminate depression is a positive thing. Depression has arisen through an evolutionary process and fulfills critical functions. Depression is context-dependent, and the approach to mental illnesses should be dimensional. Depression is an alarm signal, involves catastrophizing, allows for mourning and grieving, restores reality testing, provides emotional release, allows for the economization of energy, allows for the rebuilding of shattered psychological defense mechanisms, and allows for the reconstitution of the self. We should intervene in depression only when there is suicidal ideation, never before, never otherwise.
Narcissist in Your Mind (with Dr Maryam Tanwir, University of Cambridge)
Professor Sam Vaknin, a diagnosed narcissist, explains that narcissism is a complex mental health disorder that affects every area of functioning. Narcissism is an organizing principle, a worldview, and a theory of mind. Narcissists lack empathy and see people as commodities or units of production. Narcissism is bad for the individual and everyone around them, and when assets such as sexuality, intelligence, and empathy are leveraged at the service of narcissism, it becomes a dangerous weapon.
Tips: Survive Your Borderline Enchantress
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses coping with borderline personality disorder, including abandonment anxiety and object constancy. He suggests establishing rituals and procedures of presence, permanence, stability, and predictability, involving the borderline in activities that can be misinterpreted as forms of abandonment, and introducing object constancy into the relationship through mementos, programmed reminders, and shared sentences. He also discusses decompensation, acting out, and mood lability in individuals with borderline personality disorder. Finally, he offers advice on how to deal with a partner who has borderline personality disorder, including restoring reality testing, preventing suicide, and countering transient paranoid ideation.
OK, Boomer: Want to Be Young Again?
Professor Sam Vaknin argues that today’s youth are facing a dystopian world and have given up on life, intimacy, and relationships. He claims that young people today engage almost exclusively in casual, drunk sex with strangers, lack basic skills for intimacy and relationships, and are incapable of forming long-term attachments. Vaknin blames older generations for creating a world without meaning or a future for the youth, leading them to reject life and reality. He believes that hope lies in much younger generations, and that older generations must carry on until those younger generations are old enough to take the torch and continue the march of humanity.
Hookups Trap: Bad Sex, Female Raw Deal (Literature Review)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the cultural shift from traditional dating to the prevalence of casual sexual encounters, known as hookups, among young adults, particularly in college settings. He highlights the psychological and emotional consequences of such encounters, including feelings of regret, shame, and increased rates of depression and anxiety. Vaknin also points out the role of alcohol and drug use in facilitating hookups and the discrepancy between the actual desires for intimacy and the behaviors exhibited due to peer pressure and societal expectations. He warns of the potential long-term negative impacts on mental health and relationship formation.
Never Both: Either Healing OR Behavior Modification in Cluster B Personality Disorders (Conference)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the conundrum of personality disorders, particularly Cluster B disorders, and their relationship to behavior and internal psychodynamics. He explores the disconnect between internal healing and persistent dysfunctional behaviors, attributing it to factors such as dissociative self-states, anxiety, and identity disturbance. Vaknin emphasizes the challenges in treating these disorders and the need for innovative approaches. He recommends literature on the topic and concludes by highlighting the difficulty in achieving behavior modification in these patients.
Narcissist’s Impossible Jigsaw Puzzle
Narcissists are fascinating due to their contradictory traits and behaviors. They can be highly intelligent and creative, yet emotionally immature and self-destructive. They can appear self-sufficient but are extremely dependent on others for validation. These disconnects challenge our understanding of psychology, as narcissists seem to defy the typical integration of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of a person. Narcissism remains a perplexing and unchanging phenomenon, providing valuable insights into the human mind.
Borderline’s Miracle Healing
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health issue that affects 1-2% of the general population. Contrary to popular belief, BPD is not untreatable and has a positive prognosis over time. Studies have shown that most patients with BPD improve with time, and by age 45, a significant portion of patients will have healed spontaneously. However, while the disorder may remit, some dysfunctional behaviors persist, and there is a need for a two-step treatment approach: first, tackle the core disorder, and then focus on teaching the recovered patient functional skills.
When You Are Their Sex Prop: Exhibitionism, Autoeroticism, Masochism
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses auto-eroticism, exhibitionism, and submissiveness in sex, particularly in relation to narcissism and psychopathy. Auto-eroticism is when someone regards themselves as their own sex object, and it is often found in narcissists and psychopaths. Exhibitionism is becoming sexually aroused by being observed, which is also a form of narcissism. Self-trashing is a behavior found in narcissists and psychopaths, where they engage in degrading sexual acts as a form of self-punishment. There is a difference between self-trashing and being submissive in BDSM, as self-trashing individuals maintain control and defiance, while submissives relinquish control to their dominant partner.
Masochism: Borderlines, Psychopaths Self-trash
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses sexual masochism among people with borderline personality disorder and psychopathy. He explains that sexual masochism is a form of self-trashing and describes four types of sexual contexts that lead to trashing and sexual arousal. Borderlines and psychopaths engage in cheating, substance abuse, and choosing inappropriate mates as ways of self-trashing that cause sexual arousal. Self-trashing is compulsive and masochistic, while promiscuity is impulsive and empowering.