Blog Posts by Subject: Psychology

I often find myself amazed by how weird humans are, so I appreciate books that prove we're all nuts. In the interest of sharing these hilarious, intriguing, and helpful case studies, this month I will be leading the Reader's Den in discussing the book Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely.

Come to Jefferson Market this fall to attend one of our courses.

Gangsters and true crime, New York City history, financial literacy, MacArthur, FDR, Khrushchev, Lindsay, Main Street, U.S.A., travel, learning and self-discovery, climate change, foreign policy, the collective afterlife, and great pizza are among the wide-ranging topics coming up at our Author @ the Library talks in July 2014! We hope you’ll join us for insightful discussions with the authors of these 

Want to find out what criteria mental health professionals use to diagnose mental disorders? Here are a few conditions and disorders (complete with classification numbers) that are either new in this edition of the DSM, or that I had not heard of prior to perusing this fascinating tome.

A mystical history of NYC below Chambers Street… the link between our financial and environmental crises… the life and photographs of Ansel Adams… our always-on, simultaneous society… the 

The centrality of sunshine… the most fascinating New York Times obits of the year… the riddle of the

What is it like to be a convicted murderer just released from prison? What company was the Apple of the 1960s and 70s? Can you forage for edible plants in New York City? How much do you know about life in Palestine? What does America owe to its

I used to be afraid of bugs.

I used to have trouble falling asleep.

I used to have trouble sharing items with friends.

Then I started watching Yo Gabba Gabba and I didn't have any more troubles.

You don't need Dr. Phil. All you need is Yo Gabba Gabba to set you free from everyday anxieties. 

The New York Public Library carries Yo Gabba Gabba's 

Dangers of the 'foodopoly'... secrets of the original West Village... how Manhattan became capital of the world... a survey of time in love, war, crime, art, money and media... the spectrum of

Sexology, the interdisciplinary scientific study of sex has been an integral component to the study of humanity. If you are currently researching any topics relating to the areas of sexology, sexuality or sex, consider visiting The New York Public Library's research collections! Whether you find sexology to be deeply fascinating or 

The Fort Washington Library will be participating in the Uptown Arts Stroll as a venue for work by local artists. One of the artists displaying her work is Joan Wesley Usher. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and mental health professional based in New York. We asked her a few questions about her work.

Mandala by Joan Wesley UsherTell us about how you incorporate painting into your clinical practice?

One of my first visual art projects 

An estimated one in five adult Americans is living with a mental health problem, according to a recent survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Yet less than 50 percent of adults and children with diagnosable conditions receive treatment—not because it’s unavailable, but due instead to a lack of information about where to find mental health resources in local communities and due to the stigma that is often still associated with mental 

That is, the kick-off to Shakespeare Week—April 15 to 20 here at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Schizophrenia, nomadism, Lacan (oh the joys of serendipity—I just ordered his Television: A Challenge to the Psychoanalytic Profession), Deleuze, all the quite-cut edge philosophers and concepts. 

April contains National Library Week (April 14-20, 2013). According to the American Library Association website, this event was “first sponsored in 1958… to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support."

While many of the services and features of our nation’s libraries have remained the same over the ensuing fifty-five years since the inception of National Library Week, a literal myriad of changes have been effectuated in 

My professional adventures are rooted in my own fascination with and questions about who we are as humans (how we identify ourselves, how we are layers of each version of our selves over time, how we become trapped in our elderly bodies, how we relate, how we die, how we cope, how we mourn). These questions have been constantly honed in my work — asked and answered over and over within the context of audio/visual materials. I hopped from grant to grant to build new programs for years, describing, preserving and providing access to artworks, dance, oral histories, home movies, and 

I have had an interest in people and mental health since I was young, and I ended up obtaining a master's degree in forensic psychology. Therefore, I was curious to see which mental health libraries and museums I could find in the United States and internationally.

Special Libraries

from the Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centers, 40th ed., 2012

American Counseling Association - ACA Library 5999 Stevenson Ave. Alexandria, VA 

The month of May brought with it the end of the TV series House, M.D. as well as the publication of the book Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow. In the series send-off, the producers highlighted the similarities between the show's characters, House and Wilson, and the fictional characters of Holmes and 

Are you sanguine, choleric, melancholic or phlegmatic?

A visionary? A judger? A thinker or feeler? A catalyst? A diamond? A three?

In 1921, the grandad of Psychological Typology,

Consciousness studies is at the forefront of science's last great investigative projects. While neglected for many years by mainstream academia as a result of dominance by behaviorist psychology, interest in the science of consciousness has exploded in the last decade, with new activity in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and other areas.

How exactly does a material brain... give rise to immaterial thoughts, or "consciousness"?

While many in the humanities still hold to the idea of philosophy being the paramount scholarly effort