Elisabeth LaMotte

Is It Healthy or Harmful to Focus on When Things Return to Normal?

By Elisabeth LaMotte / November 12, 2020

It was fun to discuss this question with Huffington Post last month. Link to their article or read the full answer below. Sure, at some point, this virus will be controlled, but it is hard to imagine than anyone is coming out of this experience unscathed or unchanged. Hopefully, many of us will discover over…

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The Index of Self Destructive Acts

By Elisabeth LaMotte / October 31, 2020

As Election Day nears, predictions are everywhere. Pundits posture early and often, citing polls, historical data and opinions. The urge to predict the future feels palpable. Most of my therapy clients (and my family and friends) express quarantine fatigue and a desire to fast-forward and discover the election’s outcome. Maybe the urge to predict the…

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On the Basis of Sex

By Elisabeth LaMotte / September 28, 2020

On the Basis of Sex gives an entertaining and illuminating account of the backstory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legal education and career-catapulting cases. For those grieving her recent passing, the film is therapeutic viewing that celebrates her refusal to cave in the face of repeated discrimination leveled on the basis of her gender. Ginsburg…

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Palm Springs

By Elisabeth LaMotte / August 4, 2020

With schools across the country and throughout the DMV announcing that they will remain virtual for several more months, life in quarantine is affirmed as our new normal. When DC and the surrounding area shut down in March, it was hard to imagine that in July we would be bracing for distance learning and stay…

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Just Mercy

By Elisabeth LaMotte / July 6, 2020

In 1987, Walter “Johnny D” McMillan was arrested in Alabama for a murder he did not commit. He was at a fish fry for several hours during the time of the murder, and several witnesses vouched for this alibi at the time of the initial investigation. Nevertheless, McMillan wound up on death row, slated for…

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Crip Camp – A Disability Revolution

By Elisabeth LaMotte / June 17, 2020

Check out Elisabeth’s review of Crip Camp in The New Social Worker. As we contemplate the revolutionary power of protest, this film is as relevant as it is powerful.

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Adaptation

By Elisabeth LaMotte / May 30, 2020

Ten weeks into quarantine, I am thinking a lot about the process of change. How will we get through the quarantine? What will life look like on the other side? Will I ever shake a colleague’s hand or hug a friend? I watch films for brief diversion and notice that scenes in restaurants, at parties…

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WHY IS IT SO HARD TO READ RIGHT NOW AND WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

By Elisabeth LaMotte / May 5, 2020

Since the stay at home orders began, many of my friends and therapy clients are expressing frustration because they notice difficulty reading literature. Their frustration is fueled by the irony that the quarantine is – in theory — the perfect time to catch up on a pile of bedside books. Unfortunately, concentration is wandering easily…

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The Great Believers

By Elisabeth LaMotte / April 30, 2020

It feels like an appropriate time to read about a pandemic. Many describe how attention can wander during the quarantine, despite circumstances creating an optimal time for reading. Hours and hours of reading. Hours that are better spent reading quality fiction and non-fiction than overdosing on the news. The clever trick is to discover a…

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The Dutch House

By Elisabeth LaMotte / April 17, 2020

Stay at home orders should set the stage for readers to burn through those books that tend to pile up bedside tables. Bibliophiles finally have ample time to devour the literature on our list. Unfortunately, many of my therapy clients lament that reading during a global pandemic feels difficult. Concentration wanders. The news cycle lures…

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