Sunday, December 2nd

Meredith Bryan — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:25:31 -0400

The shrinks are working overtime this holiday season. Before you get into a blood-soaked slugfest at H&M over that glittery scarf, the 92nd Street Y offers “Assertiveness Training” (ummm, New York really needs this?) with psychotherapist Ellen Calmenson. “People confuse aggression and assertion,” said Ms. Calmenson, “We’re doing responsible assertion training.” Go on! Ms. Calmenson said she will address “negative automatic thoughts, things we tell ourselves”—like when we want to ask for a raise but instead think “I’m not going to get the raise, I’m stupid.” Yes, we are familiar with this phenomenon. “Give all the realistic data,” said Ms. Calmenson. “I have this degree, I’ve done this and that; I am intelligent.” It worked for Stuart Smalley!

[Assertiveness Training, 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, 10:30 a.m., www.92y.org]

Observer » Sunday, December 2nd

Sunday, December 2nd