Thomas S. Greenspon

Thomas S. Greenspon, Ph.D., LP, LMFT (Retired) tsg@greensponassociates.com Tom Greenspon is a Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and author, now retired from private practice in Minneapolis. He earned a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Illinois in 1968. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester, NY, he joined the faculty of the Medical Center at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, where he was involved in teaching, research, and counseling until moving to the Twin Cities in 1977. Tom lectures and writes on a variety of topics, including couples' and family relationships, intimacy and sexuality, and the emotional needs of student and adult advanced learners. He is a member of several professional organizations, he has authored a monograph on adolescent-adult relationships for the Unitarian Universalist Association, entitled Human Connections, and a number of his articles have appeared in professional journals. His first book, Freeing Our Families From Perfectionism, won the National Parenting Publications Gold Award and a Parents' Choice Award, and has been updated and re-released as Moving Past Perfect: How Perfectionism May Be Holding Back Your Kids (and You!) and What You Can Do About It. His second book, for Middle Schoolers and their parents, is available as: What To Do When Good Enough Isn't Good Enough: The Real Deal On Perfectionism. Tom is married to Barbara C. Greenspon, M.A., his partner in their former private practice of psychotherapy with individuals, couples, and families. Over the years, they co-founded the Childbirth Education Association of Greater Birmingham, they were advisors to Unitarian Universalist youth groups on local and national levels, and they have co-taught courses on human sexuality. Both were certified as sexuality therapists and educators, and they were charter members of the North American Menopause Society. Tom was co-chair of the 2003 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association Division of Psychoanalysis and has served on the Board of that Division's Section on Couples and Families. He currently teaches the course, Couple Therapy: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Sensibility, at the Minnesota Institute For Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Tom and Barbara are former co-presidents of the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented and served on the Minnesota State Advisory Committee for Gifted. They are former program psychological consultants for the Concordia Language Villages. Tom is the recipient of the 1998 Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented Award for Distinguished Service to Gifted Individuals. He currently serves on the NAGC Diversity and Equity Committee. RELATED PUBLICATIONS: Greenspon, T.S. (2022). Recognizing others: A call for accomplices on the path to equity. NAGC Blog, March 14, 2022. ---- (2022). Ending the silence of friends: Commentary on Scott Peters' "The challenges of achieving equity within public school gifted and talented programs." Gifted Child Quarterly 66(2) 124-125. ---- (2021) Perfectionism in Context: Empathic Gateways to a Recovery Process. IN: Tracy Cross, Ph.D. & Jennifer Riedl Cross, Ph.D. (Eds). The Handbook for Counselors Serving Students With Gifts and Talents: Development, Relationships, School Issues, and Counseling Needs/Interventions. (2nd Ed.). Waco TX: Prufrock Press. Chap. 38, pp.733-753. ---- (2016). “I’m Never Good Enough!”: Setting The Stage For Gifted Students To Move Beyond Perfectionism. Teaching For High Potential, Fall, 2016. ---- (2015). Review of “Searching For Meaning” by James Webb. National Psychologist March/April p.2B. ----. (2014). Is there an antidote to perfectionism?. Psychology In The Schools, 51, (9), 986-998. ---- (2014) Perfectionism: What's A Teacher To Do? Voice (Minnesota Educators of The Gifted And Talented), Fall Issue, 4-5. ---- (2012). Moving Past Perfect: How Perfectionism May Be Holding Back Your Kids (and You!) and What You Can Do About It. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing ---- (2011). Perfectionism: A counselor's role in a recovery process. IN: Tracy Cross, Ph.D. & Jennifer Riedl Cross, Ph.D. (Eds). The Handbook for Counselors Serving Students With Gifts and Talents: Development, Relationships, School Issues, and Counseling Needs/Interventions. Waco TX: Prufrock Press. ---- (2010, November). The pivotal role of gifted self-experience in performance and emotional health. Audio: presentation at the 57th Annual Convention, National Association for Gifted Children, Atlanta, GA. ---- (2008). Making sense of error: A view of the origins and treatment of perfectionism. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 62, (3), 263-282. ---- (2007). Some further thoughts on perfectionism. Parenting for High Potential. December. 16-17. ---- (2007). Desire, vulnerability, and interweaving worlds of experience: An intersubjective systems sensibility in couples' therapy. Group, 31 (3), 153-170 ---- (2007) What to do when "good enough" isn't good enough: The real deal on perfectionism. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing. ---- (2006) Test phobia, depression, and a core identity of giftedness: Jason's story. Counseling and Guidance Division Newsletter, 2, (1) 1-2, National Association for Gifted Children. ---- (2006) Getting beyond perfectionism. Gifted Education Communicator, 37, (1), 30-33. ---- (2004). Being me and fitting in: The dilemma of giftedness. Duke Gifted Letter 4, (3) 1-2. ---- (2002) Freeing Our Families From Perfectionism. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing. ---- (2000). Perfectionism: An Intersubjective View. Psa Today, 3 (4) Psychoanalytic Foundation of Minnesota. ---- (2000). "Healthy perfectionism" is an oxymoron! Reflections on the psychology of perfectionism and the sociology of science. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, XI, 197-208. ---- (2000). The self experience of the gifted person: theory and definitions. Roeper Review, 22, 176-181. ---- (1998). The gifted self: Its role in development and emotional health. Roeper Review, 20, 162-167 Plucker, J.A., Robinson, N.M., Greenspon, T.S., Feldhusen, J.F., McCoach, D.B., and Subotnik, R.F. (2004). Its not how the pond makes you feel, but rather how high you can jump. American Psychologist, 59, (4), 268-269.