James Tobin, Ph.D.             

                        Psychotherapy - Parent Guidance - Organizational Consulting

 
  

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On Narcissism:  
I have recently discovered the work of Swiss author and clinician Carolyn C. Morf, who writes compellingly about the need to re-conceptualize narcissism as a self-regulatory dysfunction (please review her co-authored article "Unraveling the Paradox of Narcissism: A Dynamic Self-Regulatory Processing Model" [Psychological Inquiry, 12, pp. 177-196; available via Google Scholar]). Narcissism remains a highly complex and often misunderstood element of one's character, and in my view is always embedded in the culture of the patient-therapist relationship.  
 

Buddhism and Western Psychology: 
B. Allan Wallace is a Buddhist practitioner and scholar based in Santa Barbara, CA.  His paper "Mental Balance and Well-Being: Building Bridges Between Buddhism and Western Psychology," which he co-authored with Shauna L. Shapiro, is a fascinating exploration of how Buddhist teachings and Western psychological theory intersect and inform one another. 
 

 



Cybersex:
My clinical practice, and those of many of my colleagues, have been inundated with an alarming rise not only in internet porn addiction, but cybersex affairs.  The work of Kimberly S. Young, a national expert in this area, provides illuminating information about "virtual adultery," as she and her colleagues call it.  Her co-authored article, "Cybersex and Infidelity Online: Implications for Evaluation and Treatment," provides important theoretical and pragmatic information for the general public and treatment recommendations for clinicians. 
 

New Parenting Group:
I presented my Relational Parenting approach at Fusion Academy on October 22, 2013. After the talk, I was invited by various attendees to start an ongoing parenting group which would elaborate on the relational model I presented. In response to this invitation, I have translated my ideas into a formal curriculum which consists of pragmatic guidelines designed to help parents disentangle themselves from ongoing conflict with their adolescent children, specifically, and from role restriction within the family system, generally. Parents can now move through this curriculum in the context of a supportive group environment. The parenting group will meet every-other Saturday morning beginning on November 16, 9:30 to 10:45 AM, at The Water Garden Business Center, 23421 South Pointe Drive, Suite 130, Laguna Hills, CA, 92653. Please contact me at 949-338-4388 or at [email protected] for questions and to RSVP. 

 

James Tobin, Ph.D., PSY 22074 | 949-338-4388 | [email protected]