Human Interaction | Susan Bodnar PhD

Sexual Assault: How it Happens, What to Do

August 26, 2015 by Susan Bodnar

My letter to the editor in the New York Times discusses the issue of sexual abuse in relationship to the alleged assault that took place at St Paul’s. Below I offer a more thorough discussion of the role of cognitive confusion in sexual abuse and what to do to help prevent it. Update: Also see […]

Filed Under: adolescence, College, ethics, human interaction Tagged With: campus sexual assault, date rape, Prep school sexual abuse case, preventing date rape, Preventing sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexuality, social guidelines to prevent sexual assault, St. Paul's court case

An Open Letter to Young Adults about Sex, Drugs and Alcohol

February 27, 2015 by Susan Bodnar

Dear Young Person: Alcohol, drugs and sexuality can enhance and create life. They work. They can alter your moods, change your perceptions and disinhibit you. It’s fun to be able to behave differently. Blotting out discomfort relieves anxiety. Going wild can release tension. Alcohol, drugs and sexuality have always been part of the human experience. […]

Filed Under: adolescence, human interaction, identity, relationships, young adults Tagged With: adolescent anxiety, adolescent drinking, adolescent sexuality, alcohol and hooking up, alcohol and young adults, drugs and young adults, is saying no okay, sexuality and young adults

Teach Your Children Well

February 26, 2015 by Susan Bodnar

I’m not going to link to every reported instance of college or high school partying getting out of hand. Nor am I going to link to the number of emergency room visits that occur every weekend due to alcohol poisoning or drug overdoses; nor every instance of campus sexual abuse. In almost every adolescent community […]

Filed Under: adolescence, human interaction, parenting, relationships Tagged With: adolescent drinking, adolescent limit setting, adolescent sexuality, alcohol and hooking up, campus drug abuse, Campus sexual abuse and alcohol, college drug use, ecstasy abuse, molly abuse

How to Date in Five (not so easy) Lessons

February 23, 2015 by Susan Bodnar

I’m not sure why exactly it is easier to arm the student population than to simply reinforce the idea that sexuality is an extension of a relationship. I’m not advocating a return to a repressive sexuality. Rather, I’m thinking that the brilliant talented kids who constitute our country’s future might benefit from learning how to […]

Filed Under: adolescence, human interaction, relationships Tagged With: adolescent sexuality, dating, dating tips, hooking-up alternative, how to date, young adult sexuality

Shades of Intimacy

February 19, 2015 by Susan Bodnar

Everyone is talking about Shades of Grey. Having neither read the book nor seen the movie and with no plans to do so, I can’t comment on whether this creation is liberating for women or an exemplar of abuse. I can, however, say this: sexuality without the constraints of judgment harms men and women. No […]

Filed Under: human interaction, young adults Tagged With: antidotes for campus rape, campus sexuality, Fifty shades of grey, hook-up sexuality, young adult sexuality

Status Anxiety

October 31, 2013 by Susan Bodnar

A mom stepping down the steps of her third-floor walk-up dreads attending the class parent meeting in another family’s Fifth Avenue doorman building. An adolescent male doesn’t invite friends to his home because he doesn’t to be judged poorly because of his family’s wealth. Another young man won’t invite friends to his house because he […]

Filed Under: human interaction, relationships Tagged With: changing class status, class anxiety, problems changing class status, status anxiety, upward mobility

The Harmful Consequences of Diagnostic Categories

April 12, 2013 by Susan Bodnar

Youthful Tendency Disorder, a term coined by The Onion, pokes fun at diagnostic categories. It satirizes the modern psychiatric and psychological observation of pathology in normal behavior. Given the numbers of people suffering from serious and sometimes life threatening mental illness, is this humor fair?

Filed Under: human interaction, mental illness Tagged With: alternatives to psychiatric medication, David Gups, Overdiagnosis, overmedicatiing, relationships and mental illness, Richard Fee, Ted Gups, youthful tendency disorder

Lets Honor the Angels We Lost by Coming Together

December 18, 2012 by Susan Bodnar

Everyone is trying to do all they can to respond to the Newtown tragedy. Far away in a busy city, this piece at CNN.com is what I could do. May this time of year bring warmth, love and comfort to all. And change.

Filed Under: human interaction, Uncategorized Tagged With: growth after Newtown, growth after tragedy of Sandy Hook, helping Sandy hook, Newtown help, Newtown what to do, reaction to Newtown, reaction to sandy hook, response to Newtown, what to do about sandy hook

What to say to kids after the Sandy Hook school massacre in Newton

December 16, 2012 by Susan Bodnar

I don’t have answers. I don’t have wisdom. I can only open my mind and my heart. Many parents and other adults wonder how to respond to this tragedy. They want to know how to talk to their kids. Here a list of sites offerring advice. Personally, I still can’t comprehend the reality of having […]

Filed Under: human interaction Tagged With: how to talk to kids about shootings, newtown murders, newtown shootings, newtown violence, sandy hook massacre, sandy hook school, sandy hook shootings, what to say to kids about shootings

Numbers Don’t Tell The Whole Story

September 13, 2012 by Susan Bodnar

Does being self-reliant mean a person can’t also have needs? Is the success of the wealthy also built upon the working and middle classes? Are those stricken by poverty affected by the more resourced classes? Some thoughts about this at the InAmerica blog at CNN.com.

Filed Under: human interaction, identity, Uncategorized, unemployment Tagged With: behavior during Great Depression, class identity, class struggle, elites and working classes, income disparity, income inequality, rise in poverty 2012, tension between classes, upward mobility