Dr. Stanley Goldstein - Author and Psychologist

I'm an author and clinical psychologist with graduate training from Columbia University, Ohio State University, and the Department of Child Psychiatry of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. I've written nonfiction (Troubled Children/Troubled Parents, Shopping For A Shrink, Mental Health In A Minute, Through Children's Minds: The Marketing and Creating of Children;s Products) and fiction (Park West, Lies In Progress, Ghosts And Angels, The Unintended), have appeared on national broadcasts including The Larry King Show and CourtTV, and have been interviewed by magazine writers and newspaper reporters.

A professional paper, "Psychotherapeutic Postures and Practice," appeared in the Summer, 2008 issue of Independent Practitioner which is published by a division of the American Psychological Association. Another professional paper, "Failure and Success in the Psychotherapy of the Severer Adult Disorders," was published in the Summer, 2010 issue of Independent Practitioner. Both papers can be read below.

An interview of me about toddlers who bite was published in the February, 2011 issue of the American Psychological Association's publication "Monitor on Psychology." This too can be read below, as can my observations about the infamous Newtown, Connecticut shooter of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

Mental Health Tele-Therapy Services Provided During the COVID-19 Emergency and Thereafter: With the COVID-19 emergency, I began providing Tele-Therapy via a secure, HIPAA approved, audio-video link. I participate in virtually all insurance plans so payment would be your usual co-pay or my negotiated fee with the insurer if there is a deductible. Because of state licensing laws, I only provide this service to New York State residents (where I am licensed).

If interested, E-mail me using the link on the "For Tele-Therapy" page of this site, stating your need. Before the appointment you will be sent for signature via the internet the same forms that you would be given in my physical office including a form for ProfessionalCharges.com to pay the co-pay or fee using a credit or debit card. More information about this service is provided on my "For Tele-Therapy" website page.

"Understanding the Newtown Shooter" Summary: "While the specific act--the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre--could not have been predicted, Adam Lanza's mother and the mass killing and his suicide which followed can be understood using long accepted psychological knowledge." The link to this article is above. It incorporates findings from Connecticut's final report on the shooting in December, 2013.

My Interview By Dina Cheney In Today's Parent (September 25, 2024).  https://www.todaysparent.com/kids/tween-and-teen/is-your-kid-rebelling-or-asserting-their-independence/

Letter in the American Psychological Association Monitor on Psychology - July/August 2014

Speak With Your Children

While no one can dispute the value of most education (May Monitor, "What makes pre-K good?"), the cheapest and most effective early intervention "program" would be for parents to read first to and then with their toddlers, and to speak with rather than to them (as by explaining why something should be done rather than merely saying, "do it because I say so"). The latter behavior, when frequent and apart from an emergency situation, depresses the development of both abstract thinking (as per Bernstein1 ) and of intrinsic motivation, "motivation which is inherent in information processing and action" (as per Hunt2 ) and energizes spontaneous learning.

STANLEY GOLDSTEIN, PhD
Middletown, New York

1 Bernstein, B., Social Structure, Language and Learning, Educational Research, 1961, Vol. 3.

2 Hunt, J. McV. Motivation inherent in information processing and action. In O. J. Harvey (Ed.), Cognitive factors in motivation and social organization, New York: Ronald, 1963.

Letter in the American Psychological Association Monitor on Psychology - November, 2014

An Ever-Present Professional Issue

The October article, "Dealing With Improper Contact," addresses an important, ever-present, yet often ignored professional issue: that patients can be dangerous, as evidenced by the murder of New York City psychologist Kathryn Faughey in 2008 though her killer was a colleague's ex-patient.

Even if physical assault is rare, the stress aroused by implicit threat can be considerable though most may derive less from the presenting situation and more from the therapist's sudden realization that they had failed to recognize earlier, subtle signs of danger, that they had made a mistake. A bit of advice: The angrier and louder the patient, the more softly the psychologist should speak.

STANLEY GOLDSTEIN, Ph.D.
Middletown, New York

Letter in the American Psychology Association Monitor on Psychology - February, 2017

Some thoughts on "Suicidal Risk in Young Children" in the December Monitor. Everyone considers suicide sometime, the risk factors being the presence of suicidal ideation and plan, the presence of deadly means and the strength of self control. Some kids who are believed to have died accidentally have really committed suicide. While I was in graduate school, a very smart psychologist wrote that young kids can't truly commit suicide since they lack an understanding of death. Even then, being relatively unstudied, I considered this viewpoint naive.

STANLEY GOLDSTEIN, Ph.D.
Middletown, New York