Meanwhile, back at the Reach

I've read the Didact for quite some time, but a few things have definitely gelled in his writing style of late. First, an extended look at the classic observation that most psychologists get into the profession because they desperately need the kind of help it supposedly delivers...

The irony of a grown woman in the midst of a full-blown hysterical meltdown, calling a relatively calm and unemotional man "immature", will escape her at this point. Trust me on that one. You can call such a man many things - including, potentially, "sociopathic" - but that is a different matter.

Actually, in practice, except for maybe his first point about how female psychologists can never stop analyzing the men they date, the rest applies to any woman who insists she's a feminist. Down to screaming at men that it's the man who's angry, childish, and oppositionally defiant for simply saying "no, I won't do that."

Telling them "you're not my mommy" nearly guarantees a nearly complete meltdown, in the event that you thought you already had one on your hands.

There's a lot more to the article, so go read the whole thing.

While we're on a psychological kick.... there's a few good thoughts on growing the hell up.

It also has a decent lay overview of the parent-adult-child ego state model. Like all models, it's utility is good in some cases, and crap in others.

Most psychologists will tell you that when one of the adults is treating the other as a child, the other will respond as a child. I'd point out that if an adult, say, girlfriend or spouse, starts nagging, she's taking on the parent role, and it doesn't matter if you're responding as an adult,because from that perspective, any result but obedience, especially "no" will be treated as if you are childish, oppositional, defiant, etc. She's elevated herself above you and so you are no longer a peer from her point of view.

Go read the whole thing, especially since he breaks out a few gems such as ""Prostitutes, whether of the paid or Tinderella type, may be a necessary evil - but they are an evil nonetheless."