Author
Dr. Judith Schlesinger

Some of Judith Schlesinger's hats: Ph.D. psychologist, university professor, therapist, crisis counselor, and cultural columnist. A lifelong classical pianist, she's been both a journal and jazz writer, as well as hosting her own musician interview show on public radio. Long intrigued by the mysteries of creativity—and dedicated to debunking the toxic myth about their pathology—Judith recently published the second edition of "The Insanity Hoax: Exposing the myth of the mad musician." Including a new foreword by creativity guru Eric Maisel, "Hoax "is in paper and e- on Barnes and Noble and lulu.com, and most definitively NOT on amazon.com (long story). Updates include the book’s enthusiastic, validating reception and Judith's 2016 adventures in Amsterdam, where the Van Gogh Museum invited her and 29 other international creativity experts to debate whether Vincent was truly “mentally ill” or not. (Spoiler alert: not.) A member of the National Association of Science Writers and The Association for Psychological Science, Judith was invited to contribute the “cautionary chapter" for the psychological textbook Creativity and Mental Illness (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Like so much else, the virus put her national Hoax lecture tour on hold; it was planned for college programs in creativity and the arts. Meanwhile, Judith lives on a lake north of New York City with her 1927 Steinway M and her rescue dog, Shanti.