The Big Ten

Published: Sept. 11, 2021, 1:32 p.m.

Now that even Prince Harry has a podcast about mental health, it's time for us to up our game and get serious. Except it was a hot summer's afternoon in Marseille when this recording took place, and James decided to steer the conversation into the waters of relativism and the Big Five personality traits, of which he insists there are ten. You can decide for yourself if you're thrilled or horrified to find that time has changed little; it's business as usual in the Private Practice. 

We are still lurking in the territory of Carl Rogers' humanist psychotherapy, seen in the context of a world with psychopaths and narcissists who may relish the opportunity to manipulate your unconditional positive regard for their own benefit. Many of these are people we know and love, and we certainly won't exterminate them all in a mass-genocide to solve the problem, so we need to live with them (or maybe I should say, you need to live with us?). As a new regular feature, James decides to test how much of a psycho Dan really is, behind the jolly facade of a mental health professional. It may seem like James is the obvious candidate for a narcissistic sociopath, but maybe a little bit of scratching at the surface can reveal the psycho where they're least expected. If you haven't listened to our 2-part episode on Carl Rogers, then probably start there.