User:Soulfulpsy

This is the user page for Soulfulpsy. My interests are rooted in the practice of psychotherapy for 40 years, neuroscience, psychology in general, and the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. I have many interests that are fed by those roots. At present, one of my primary interests is to gain a clearer grasp of what Homo sapiens sapiens were like at the point of our evolutionary emergence from the long hominid line; and how this information may relate to helping to overcome and avoid some of the most challenging emotional disorders that are believed to start in the birth to three period.

Another major interest and concern I share with many, namely the on-going firearm massacres in the US (and elsewhere). One of the often-ignored dynamics is the role that shaming and disrespect (bullying, etc.) plays for the ones who commit these awful acts. While I am researching media accounts for some of these shootings, the one incident that has had and in-depth analysis and a comprehensive report was the massacre at Virginia Tech. Then-Virginia Governor Tim Kaine ordered this study and created a task force that did a considerable amount of work; and then revised it as new information required. There is extensive information about the shooter, Seung Hui Cho (see Chapter IV of the report, starting on page 31). For anyone familiar with the work of John Bowlby and Attachment Theory, the red flags would be evident. At age three, Cho had an operation in Korea; when he came home, he no longer wanted to be touched and stopped making eye contact. After the family moved to the US, his older sister adjusted but Cho remained troubled. He had mental health care while in high school, but the information about this was not transferred to Virginia Tech. He struggled at school and became increasingly unsettled and unsettling. His roommates reported him as a possible danger but the report never got to the overall authorities. Cho's struggles may have been more extreme than some of the other shooters, but the core issue is the same: He felt ashamed of who he was in the eyes of others and it started at a very early stage of his life. His experiences of not fitting in when moving to the US and not succeeding at college further compounded his alienation from other people.

Assuming this is okay, and because I detest how anonymity is so widely used to hide the authors of extraordinarily disrespectful comments, my name is David E. Roy (Ph.D.)