Publications
In addition to my clinical work as a therapist, I write about the practice of therapy and the history of psychology and therapy. My first book came out in 2013, and my second book (on couples therapy and marriage) is process.
Encountering America
The expectation that our careers and personal lives should be expressions of our authentic selves, the belief that our relationships should be defined by openness and understanding, the idea that therapy can help us reach our fullest potential—these ideas have become so familiar that it’s impossible to imagine our world without them.
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In Encountering America: Humanistic Psychology, Sixties Culture, and the Shaping of the Modern Self, published in 2012 by Harper Perennial, I take a cultural-historical approach to reveal how these ideas stormed the barricades of our culture through the humanistic psychology movement—the work of a handful of maverick psychologists who revolutionized American culture in the 1960s and ’70s.
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Profiling thinkers and cultural figures like Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, and Timothy Leary, I explore how these minds and the changing cultural atmosphere combined to create a widely influential movement. From the group of ideas that became known as New Age to perennial American anxieties about wellness, identity, and purpose, I trace how humanistic psychology continues to define the way we understand ourselves.
Writing and Reviews
Washington Post Book World
Improving relationships is hard. A couples therapist recommends these books
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Psychology Today
Should We Hide Our Feelings from Our Kids
Forgiving Your Partner Is as Good for You as It Is for Them
Why Some Breakups Are More Painful Than Others
Dark Thoughts Could be a Sign of Healthy Functioning​
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Reviews of Encountering America​
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“Toe-touching orgies, bodywork, encounter group therapy, sometimes conducted in the nude: This is not the agenda of your typical academic conference. In the early 1970s, however, such activities were marquee events at gatherings devoted to humanistic psychology, a school that Rollo May, a practitioner, lamented was “formed by scholars” and ‘taken over by hippies.’ In this disciplined and persuasive defense of the movement, Grogan shows how its frivolous offshoots obscured its singular insights.” – New York Times
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“Spot-on reporting, an unbiased presentation, and an admirable attention to detail make this a valuable resource for psychologists and scholars of American counterculture movements.” – Publisher’s Weekly
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“Grogan reveals the seminal, but frequently overlooked, influence of the postwar humanistic psychology movement in creating what is sometimes described as today’s ‘therapy culture,’ which includes employee retreats, seminars on sensitivity training, the proliferation of support groups and more.” –Kirkus Reviews
"Encountering America is a fascinating work of cultural and intellectual history. It would have been easy for any historian to get bogged down in the details about the many people, ideas, and events related to humanistic psychology, but Grogan’s narrative style keeps the reader interested." -Not Even Past
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