
Garrett O’Connor
Born in Dublin, but living in the United States since 1960, Dr. Garrett O’Connor is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA. He was educated in Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, the alma mater of James Joyce, and currently practices addiction psychiatry in Los Angeles.
A recovering alcoholic, he is married to Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, and together they run workshops, both here and abroad, for emotionally damaged Irish Catholics.
Despite their tremendous success as an ethnic group in the U.S., O’Connor believes that many Irish Catholics struggle with deeply rooted feelings of shame and inferiority.
According to Dr. O’Connor’s theory, the influences of the Roman Catholic Church, British imperialism, the famine, drink and guilt combine to make the Irish suffer from malignant shame — personal and cultural shame.
He feels that the Irish put feelings into songs, poetry and drama, but can’t deal with intimacy and can’t handle feelings. To protect themselves, abused children follow three rules: they don’t speak about the abuse, they don’t trust anyone, and they eventually don’t feel anything. “The antidotes to this are five freedoms,” said Dr. O’Connor. “Love, perceive, imagine, feel, and think.”
More recently, Dr. O’Connor co-founded the international consulting firm MetaRisk, which provides major corporations with risk reduction and liability protection against litigation that might arise in the aftermath of catastrophic accidents caused by chemically impaired employees.
He has two sons and one granddaughter, and lives with his wife in Beverly Hills.