Cable TV Host and Writer Suzette Martinez Standring Interviews Me About “Doorknob Bombshells In Therapy: The Brain, the Deadline, and Why It Is Important to End on Time.”

I wrote Doorknob Bombshells in Therapy for clinicians, but the core premise—the power of the deadline—works for creatives as well. In this interview, Suzette and I discuss the different and competing functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain and how they impact therapy and creative work. The right is comfortable with anything new and the left rejects it. The right creates and the left revises. The speech centers are located on the left side and is the source of that loud voice creatives call The Critic.

Duke Ellington famously said, "I don’t need time. I need a deadline.” I share how the impending end of the session—the deadline— enables the patient’s right hemisphere to over ride their left’s dooming-and-glooming to deliver new material—the doorknob bombshell—to the clinician. And, how writing and creating to a deadline helps creatives complete and deliver new work to the public. Whether you are a clinician or a creative, this interview concludes with tips and strategies that will make your working life easier. Enjoy! [Many thanks to Suzette and Milton Access TV for hosting this interview.]

2025 Winner in the Health and Wellness category of the Positive Impact Awards, Infinite Generations Publishing, Practice, Practice, Practice: This Psychiatrist’s Life is available in ebook or print on Amazon. If you like to listen to your books, the audiobook of Doorknob Bombshells in Therapy: The Deadline, the Brain, and Why It Is Important to End on Time is half-price through 2/20/26! Available in print on the WWNorton website, or ebook, print and audio book on Amazon.