Michael Mantell

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Life, to many, seems like it is a series of popularity contests. The only people who don’t like popularity contests are those who either believe that they will lose them, or worse, do lose them. They hold their breath each time they walk into a room, get up

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — So you want to improve the way you and your spouse, partner, co-worker or friends at the gym communicate?  There probably isn’t anyone anywhere that believes there isn’t room to improve in this most fundamental skill of life.  If you disagree, at least do it agreeably. The

By Michael Mantell, PhD SAN DIEGO — “I’m so hurried at this time of the year, I don’t have time to breathe,” my Caffeinated Corner buddy spouted on and on. What’s a Caffeinated Corner? Oh, that’s the group I see nearly every morning at the local Starbucks where we sit and over coffee and a

By Michael Mantell, PhD SAN DIEGO — A client recently bought an expensive new car. He hasn’t been the same since. He’s been ranting about how expensive it is, how he shouldn’t have spent so much, and on and on. I asked him about what type of options he put into it and he angrily spewed, “A

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — You can tell a person by the company he or she keeps. Our friendships not only tell a lot about who we are – in many ways they actually make us who we are.  I’ve heard it said  that one’s peers create an environment in which the

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO–In .28 seconds I found 18,900,000 results on Bing, and 61,500,000 results in 0.46 seconds—honestly—on Google on how to “survive the holidays.” Millions of tips on how to “survive” the holidays! What in the world has happened to us? Have we gone mad? C’mon now. We need more than these many

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO —  My family owned shoe stores in Newark, New Jersey, when I was growing up.  I worked in their stores from the time I was seven years old.  One day, my grandfather brought me outside to teach me an important lesson. He pointed out the competitor down the street

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — “Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must,” counseled Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. But what’s with the “must”, JW? When “must” we “endure”? By the time you finish this column, you’ll realize you don’t need to ever endure life, but rather you can find enjoyment in every

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO– Of course, those who really need this article probably won’t read it.  That’s the way arrogance works.  It makes you feel that you are better than the next person, that you certainly don’t need to change, and besides, no one is really smart enough to teach you anything. 

By Michael Mantell SAN DIEGO — Vote after informal vote, I was in the top five. But when the official decision of who was going to move ahead from the Master’s degree program to the doctoral program, I was reminded of my mother’s words, “Michael, when one door closes another opens.” I wasn’t among the

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — It used to be that psychiatrists put insane people into insane asylums.  However, today, everyone is seemingly insane. Sort of.  Just look at the pathology of our youth, the dysfunction of our families, the violence in our day to day lives, the poisonous popular culture to which