00:58:21.080don't think we'll quite have that at play and that hatred but yes I to your point I think there are always going to be people who hate the other side one of the differences that I've seen is the hatred towards the right seems to be much more potent than the hatred towards the left plenty of patients of mine didn't like Biden or Harris but it never rose to the level of wanting either of those people dead.
00:58:21.100But we've certainly seen that on the other side.
00:58:23.100But we've certainly seen that on the other side.
00:58:24.100Mary in Texas has an opinion. I'm curious what you would think of her opinion. Mary you've got Jonathan Alpert on with us. What have you got for us?
00:58:33.340Well the basic things about being with your family or friends during the holidays is just very very lovingly very kindly say look we've been together for 90 years you know 40 years for children husband and wife.
00:58:49.160Uh this isn't about what's going on in politics. This is about Christmas. This is about being with family. Let's take responsibility as adults as human beings to be loving with each other to be Christian with each other and the rest is going to be what it is. You're going to think what you're going to think. You're going to you're going to want to do what you're going to want to do. But let's leave it away from around us.
00:59:18.280Oh excellent advice from Mary. That's pretty much what I tell my patients that friends and family are far more important than politics and they should transcend any any occupant of the White House.
00:59:31.460Unfortunately we're not seeing that this holiday season but that's great advice from Mary.
00:59:37.740Historically we talked with Brianna Lyman from the Federalist in the second hour of the program. I love history because it teaches you that you're way tougher than you think you are and that the country is way tougher than many people think it is.
00:59:51.600I would imagine that in the wake of the Civil War there were probably a lot of family gatherings that took place particularly in border states where people fought for different sides of the country north and south that it took a long time to get through.
01:00:08.380Certainly for those of you out there who remember the 1960s I would imagine during the Vietnam War there were a lot of contentious Thanksgivings and Christmases.
01:00:18.640Are you optimistic that we will come through and that sanity will win or are you concerned that in a social media era it's harder for sanity to triumph going forward.
01:00:31.200In other words how perpetual do you think the divisions in the country are compared to past history and looking forward.
01:00:38.380Yeah and I think if people could look at history would probably be better off now than we are our mental health would be better off but then when you enter into the mix social media and echo chambers that people surround themselves and it's really only intensifying the division in our country and that's part of what my my forthcoming book therapy nation is about.
01:01:01.420So like this division and it's actually fueled in part by my profession we have therapy culture that is you know placing blame on everyone but their patient of course it's your boss that's the bad guy or your spouse it's not your fault so you know we don't have resilience being taught to patients these days we have quite the opposite.
01:01:23.100We have grievance culture that we have grievance culture that's taking hold we have fragility and that's a big part of the problem and again if people could just look at our country's history and you make a good point that during the Civil War and after it families probably still got together and loved each other.
01:01:41.480Thank you so much for joining us Jonathan Alpert if people want to read more of what you are doing I know you got a book coming out called Therapy Nation where should they find you?
01:01:55.420People can find me on on X or Twitter at Jonathan Alpert and also my website JonathanAlpert.com.
01:02:04.060Outstanding stuff as always have good holidays and we look forward to talking to you again.
01:02:09.060Yeah thank you Clay have a great holiday.
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