I am making a brief reappearance because several people showed some interest in the psychology paper I've been writing, called "Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Japanese Americans: A Review of the Literature." I finally finished it! It turned out to be 29 pages, my longest academic paper yet. I have formatted it as a PDF in a journal-style layout to make it fewer pages (13) and a little easier to read. There might be a few grammatical errors still floating in it, so please forgive me if I missed something. If you would like to contact me about it, please email me: ash at ashami dot com.

Great quote from a psychology book (by Gendlin) I'm reading for class. Remember, this quote is in reference to therapy:

We do not need a metaphysical assumption that human process always moves toward health. We do not want sloppy optimism. With so much suffering and destructiveness all around us, optimism is an insult to those who suffer. But pessimism is an insult to life. Life always has its own forward direction, whatever else may also be occurring.

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This is a big deal for therapists as well as those who suffer with major depression. A new study from University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University has shown that cognitive therapy is equally as effective as medication, but lasts longer. Many have intuited this for a long time, but now there is strong evidence for it.

Read the story here: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=777

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