With the success of the new film Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson, I'm reminded of the following pithy little fable. (But I'll be damned if I can remember where I first heard it.)

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went for an...

Last week, my wife and I finally got around to seeing the film Doubt, written and directed by John Patrick Shanley. Based on his own play, it concerns the head of a Catholic school, a veteran nun played by Meryl Streep, who becomes convinced that the new priest (Phillip Seymour...

As a former Hollywood screenwriter, now a therapist who treats creative people, I hear jaw-dropping stories about the state of the entertainment industry every day in my practice. But I have to admit, this new anecdote gives me pause.

A patient of mine told me last week about a friend...

Reading Frank Rich's recent, gripping essay in The New York Times on the growing frenzy of hate-speech aimed at President Obama, I was struck by one paragraph in particular.

Following Obama's recent address in Cairo, Rich writes, "It was a prominent former Reagan defense official, Frank Gaffney, not some fringe...

There's an old joke about the relationship between writers and agents: a writer comes home to find police and fire trucks crowding the street. As he scrambles out of his car, he sees that there's nothing left of his house but a pile of black dust and smoking embers.

To my teenage son's chagrin, I'm kind of clueless about computers. In fact, I only half-jokingly refer to myself as a Luddite when it comes to technology.

Well, I'm up-grading from Luddite to full-blown Quaker, because after watching and listening to former Vice-President Dick Cheney's relentless attacks on President Obama's...

Well, it's that time of year again, when Hollywood begins rolling out the big-budget "tent-pole" movies. Last week saw the huge opening for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and this weekend brings Star Trek, also expected to deliver big box-office returns. Not to mention the upcoming Transformers sequel, Night at the Museum...

Like millions of viewers, I was thrilled and moved when 47-year-old Susan Boyle wowed the judges and audience on Britain's Got Talent with her superb singing. As everyone knows by now, the unmarried, "never been kissed" woman from a small village was greeted by both the audience and the talent...

Every once in a while, a writer patient will come into my therapy office and announce, "Well, I heard the other day on the radio that we're all crazy."

"Who's crazy?" I ask.

"Us. Writers. Artists in general. This shrink was on some talk show on NPR, and he said...

From the pages of medical journals to feature stories on the network news, there's been a swell of media coverage the past few years concerning "the teenage brain."

Despite sounding like the title of Hollywood's latest horror-movie blockbuster, the phrase actually refers to recent neurological research on adolescent brain chemistry....

As a psychotherapist who works with people in the Hollywood community, I'm aware of the external pressures that affect my patients. Things like the last writers strike, or the anxiety about whether or not the actors would follow suit. Often these events are unexpected, or just infrequent.

But there are...

If you're like most people, you're still slightly giddy and invigorated by the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President. You followed with interest the long, contentious primary process, avidly watched the presidential debates, perhaps even worked in one of the campaigns. And, in concert with record numbers of...

Given its obvious drawbacks, there aren't many good things to say about death.

Sure, it's quiet, and you're unlikely to be bothered anymore by spam emails and robo-calls from telemarketers. But, admittedly, perhaps the only real comfort of the grave has been the secrets you were allowed to carry...

Two iconic images, from two classic films: in Now, Voyager, kindly therapist Claude Rains walks in the garden with troubled patient Bette Davis. He's paternal, insightful and obviously knows what's good for her.

In The Three Faces of Eve, Lee J. Cobb helps Joanne Woodward parse out the three distinct...

As you might imagine, the entertainment industry patients in my therapy practice have reacted with shock, disbelief and outrage to the news that NBC has decided to put Jay Leno's talk show on the air in prime time, five nights a week, at 10 PM. That's five hours a week...

There's an old joke about a man working in the circus, whose job it was to follow behind the
elephants, sweeping up their droppings. When asked why he doesn't find some other line of work, he replies, "What, and leave show business?"

What makes the joke...