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14088 Steve Harper Interviews Allan Philip Gold Retired District Psychologist at Reed Union School District

·27 min·1 clip

Gold warns that perfectionist kids can become depressed or even suicidal under extreme pressure.

1. Podcast Business News Network Platinum centers on Steve Harper and Dr. Alan Gold discussing a school psychologist's view of perfectionism, dyslexia, and parenting teens. 2. Steve Harper introduces Allan Philip Gold as a retired district psychologist from Reed Union School District, and Gold's experience matters because he spent years working with children in California. 3. The episode asks what is really happening when a 15-year-old honor student cries over a 95 and says her future is ruined without a top college. 4. Gold says the pressure often comes from family, especially when parents are wealthy, highly skilled, or professionally successful. 5. He describes a childhood internal voice called 'Mr. or Ms. Perfect,' where a child believes mistakes mean they are not good enough. 6. Gold says criticism for mistakes gets internalized, so a child starts aiming for perfection to avoid being criticized again. 7. He says siblings can also absorb the same expectations when they are all pushed to perform at a high level. 8. Gold says social networking can worsen the problem when teenagers compare grades and performance with peers who seem to do better. 9. He says the pressure can become serious enough that kids may get depressed, and he explicitly mentions suicidal risk. 10. Gold argues that education should give students more than one chance to demonstrate what they have learned, including retaking tests when needed. 11. He says he would have younger children draw what 'Mr. or Ms. Perfect' looks like to make the feeling visible. 12. Gold says he then helps children create another inner character such as 'Mr. or Mrs., you're a hard worker' or 'you can do it if you really try.' 13. He says perfectionists may refuse to try new things because they do not want to risk being less than perfect. 14. Gold connects that pattern to missed opportunities in music, drama, languages, sports, and other subjects. 15. He says the host's story about drawing cartoons shows how art can become therapy and approval-seeking at the same time. 16. Gold shares that he started a private art class in Berkeley in 1976 and is still attending it with his 96-year-old teacher. 17. He says that class helped him accept that he would not be perfect and could still improve over time. 18. The discussion stays conversational and reflective, with Steve Harper connecting the advice to his own childhood and parenting experience. 19. People interested in child psychology, perfectionism, and parenting teenagers would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting celebrity news or fast entertainment would probably skip it.

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