Writing
Essays and books
Much of my recent writing is for parents and clinicians trying to understand gender distress in adolescent and young adult males. I have also written for many years about shame, narcissism, and the practice of psychotherapy.
On gender distress
- Why Traditional Psychotherapy Is Failing Today’s Gender-Confused Teens
- We Are Not Helping Boys Get Through Puberty
- Good Therapy: Answering Abigail Shrier
- The Perfect Storm
- Sympathy for the Devil: Autogynephilia as Psychic Retreat
- The Revolt Against Authority
- In Flight from Manhood
- Girls Are Better Than Boys
- Outsider Shame and the Great Sorting
- The Bullied Boy Goes Missing
- The ‘Failed’ Boy
Books
- Shame: Free Yourself, Find Joy, and Build True Self-Esteem St. Martin’s, 2018
- The Narcissist You Know: Defending Yourself Against Extreme Narcissists in an All-About-Me Age Touchstone, 2015
- The Hero as Narcissist 2013
- Why Do I Do That? Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape Our Lives 2012
Earlier essays
A longer archive of my writing on psychotherapy, shame, and narcissism lives at After Psychotherapy. I also wrote the Psychology Today blog Shame, and essays for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. A few starting points: