Geoff W. Sutton Blog

We are currently awash in #metoo notices on social media sites. A catharsis of massive proportions has followed in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.  As with any storm, news sources  examine the origins and publish a chronology . The current storm hit the U.S. 5 October when the NYT published salacious allegations. Now, two weeks later, the storm has abated. Other news stories are headlines. Meanwhile, clean-up after Hurricane Harvey continues. We don't know how many lives have been destroyed. Heavy rains have affected many beyond the eye of the storm. People are hurting. Some still await care. As with any storm, accusatory fingers point in many directions. There are reasonable calls for climate change-- we must end the rape climate that creates the conditions giving rise to such sexual hurricanes. They are right of course--women, that is. Men are responsible for most of the problems. We do need to change.  The helpfulness of metoo reports provides a Joh...

The greed that leads to market tops and crashes can account for the arguably more painful aftershocks too. And there's more psychology at work. MASSIVE LOSSES In 2007 the DJIA topped on 29 Sept at 14, 164.53. Then plunged 777.68 on 9 October. But the bottom did not hit until 6 March 2009 at 6,443.27 - more than a 54% loss! The US markets famously crashed 18 October 1929 (almost 90%) BUT the market did not hit bottom until 8 July 1932. The "bargain scoop-up rally" did not last. Some may recall 19 October, 1987, the market crashed again losing 23% in one day (DJIA). A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Markets are not things. Investments may be analyzed, but markets are about human behavior--people trying to be smart when buying and selling. Some try to get ahead of the herd. Some get greedy when markets fall and try to jump on a bargain only to find out it's cheap for a reason-- no one wants what they bought. Stocks,...

wikimedia commons Not long ago, I was shocked when a friend told me of personal sexual abuse in a scout-like program in his church. I learned of his long-term suffering--years of depression. Those of us in clinical work are sadly used to learning of people who have been sexually abused as children and adults. But abuse happens to our friends as well. Recently, the Boy Scouts announced that girls will be welcomed into their program. It didn't take long for the Girl Scouts to respond with "Why admitting girls is a 'terrible idea.'" ( Garcia, 2017 ) It doesn't help that a Boy Scout Leader made news earlier this year for the sexual abuse of five boys ( USNews, 2017, March 4) . The problem of child sexual abuse is not new. And the sexual abuse is not limited to scouts (e.g., CNN ). The history of problems of child sexual abuse and the recent reports of sexual harassment by aspiring female actors, make it clear. Vulnerable people are at risk for sexua...

I changed the channel from the struggling Mizzou to CNN whilst waiting for my wife to join me in plans to watch something entertaining on Netflix. The talking heads were reviewing the latest Weinstein sex scandal allegations. Just seeing the pictures of famous women across the screen has an effect. One man with power can influence so many lives. We saw this before when Cosby was in the news. We've seen stories on college campuses and reports of clergy abuse. One attorney is tuned in to the psychological trauma. "I heard (attorney) Gloria Allred say the other day on CNN: 'Sexual harassment harms people,'" said Kendall. "And it's true. It does. Your body remembers the trauma. Your heart remembers the trauma. It changes you and makes you make decisions about life, like, I'm going to go in another direction. You don't know the harm it can do." ( US News ) Beyond the Film Industry The talk about what to do in the film industry is...