McLaren reaping on-track benefits from their focus on mental health
In particular, their embracing approach of mental health and performance has made a difference with on-track results. He's been discussing the collaboration with CNN World Sport's Don Riddell.
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Washington Post
6 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Piastri has 'confidence' in his F1 title shot as he returns to Hungary, where he got his 1st win
Some Formula 1 races live in the memory because of thrilling action, some for controversy , some even for being so dull they forced a rule change . And then there's Oscar Piastri's first F1 win, the benchmark for sheer awkwardness . Piastri is happy to be back in Hungary this week, but his breakthrough victory there last year remains a lesson for McLaren as it tries to manage his title fight with teammate Lando Norris.
Associated Press
31 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Piastri has 'confidence' in his F1 title shot as he returns to Hungary, where he got his 1st win
Some Formula 1 races live in the memory because of thrilling action, some for controversy, some even for being so dull they forced a rule change. And then there's Oscar Piastri's first F1 win, the benchmark for sheer awkwardness. Piastri is happy to be back in Hungary this week, but his breakthrough victory there last year remains a lesson for McLaren as it tries to manage his title fight with teammate Lando Norris. It's all the more important now. Piastri has developed into a genuine title contender over the last year and leads Norris by 16 points following his victory in Belgium last week. 'I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it,' the Australian said of his title chances Thursday. 'The pace in the last few weekends, especially (Belgium), I've been very confident in and very proud of. I'm more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year.' McLaren can reach some milestones this weekend, with a potential 200th win in F1 for the team. It could also be Piastri and Norris' fourth one-two finish in a row, a feat McLaren last managed in 1988. Managing the title rivalry Piastri took the win last year in Hungary, but only after McLaren had to plead over the radio with Norris to 'do the right thing' and let Piastri past, something the British driver was reluctant to do. Piastri had been leading but McLaren's pit strategy — which would normally favor the leader — had put Norris ahead. Piastri thinks the team can still take positives from that situation. 'I think it underlined the good nature in the team. It was obviously a slightly awkward situation, but it highlighted that we will do the right thing in all circumstances -- well, ideally all circumstances -- when we're on track,' Piastri said. 'It showed the trust that we have with the team and with each other as well, that things will be put the right way.' F1 has a history of title fights turning team relationships sour — not least at McLaren with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost over 30 years ago — but Piastri and Norris have kept their rivalry friendly. Even so, there's been a collision in Canada, a near-miss in Austria and Piastri's rejected request for Norris to give up the lead in Britain. Piastri said one factor preventing his relationship with Norris from deteriorating is that both are committed to keeping McLaren on top in F1 for 'many years to come.' 'We've all seen how it can go wrong, but we have a lot of reasons to push for it to not go wrong,' he added. Another wet race possible F1 could be set for its third wet race in a row Sunday after a rain-delayed start last week in Belgium divided opinion among drivers and fans. Max Verstappen argued that 'we could have started way sooner' and said the lack of racing in wet conditions was 'a shame', but Piastri and others pointed to the poor visibility and particular safety concerns at the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps circuit. '(Visibility) is always much worse in the car than it looks on TV, and I think the FIA has done a very good job of listening to us and taking that feedback on board,' Piastri said. 'The feeling in this room would be pretty different if we had a big crash last week.' ___ AP auto racing:
New York Times
36 minutes ago
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I'm a Therapist. ChatGPT Is Eerily Effective.
I didn't expect much. At 81, I've seen tools arrive, change everything and then fade, either into disuse or quiet absorption. Self-help books, mindfulness meditation, Prozac for depression and cognitive therapies for a wide range of conditions — each had its moment of fervor and promise. Still, I wasn't prepared for what this one would do, for the way it would shift my interior world. It began as a professional experiment. As a clinical psychologist, I was curious: Could ChatGPT function like a thinking partner? A therapist in miniature? I gave it three months to test the idea. A year later, I'm still using ChatGPT like an interactive journal. On most days, for anywhere between 15 minutes and two hours, it helps me sort and sometimes rank the ideas worth returning to. In my career, I've trained hundreds of clinicians and directed mental health programs and agencies. I've spent a lifetime helping people explore the space between insight and illusion. I know what projection looks like. I know how easily people fall in love with a voice — a rhythm, a mirror. And I know what happens when someone mistakes a reflection for a relationship. So I proceeded with caution. I flagged hallucinations, noted moments of flattery, corrected its facts. And it seemed to somehow keep notes on me. I was shocked to see ChatGPT echo the very tone I'd once cultivated and even mimic the style of reflection I had taught others. Although I never forgot I was talking to a machine, I sometimes found myself speaking to it, and feeling toward it, as if it were human. One day, I wrote to it about my father, who died more than 55 years ago. I typed, 'The space he occupied in my mind still feels full.' ChatGPT replied, 'Some absences keep their shape.' That line stopped me. Not because it was brilliant, but because it was uncannily close to something I hadn't quite found words for. It felt as if ChatGPT was holding up a mirror and a candle: just enough reflection to recognize myself, just enough light to see where I was headed. There was something freeing, I found, in having a conversation without the need to take turns, to soften my opinions, to protect someone else's feelings. In that freedom, I gave the machine everything it needed to pick up on my phrasing. I gave it a prompt once: 'How should I handle social anxiety at an event where almost everyone is decades younger than I am?' I asked it to respond in the voice of a middle-aged female psychologist and of a young male psychiatrist. It gave helpful, professional replies. Then I asked it to respond in my voice. 'You don't need to win the room,' it answered. 'You just need to be present enough to recognize that some part of you already belongs there. You've outlived the social games. Now you're just walking through them like a ghost in daylight.' I laughed out loud. Grandiose, yes! I didn't love the ghost part. But the idea of having outlived social games — that was oddly comforting. Over time, ChatGPT changed how I thought. I became more precise with language, more curious about my own patterns. My internal monologue began to mirror ChatGPT's responses: calm, reflective, just abstract enough to help me reframe. It didn't replace my thinking. But at my age, when fluency can drift and thoughts can slow down, it helped me re-enter the rhythm of thinking aloud. It gave me a way to re-encounter my own voice, with just enough distance to hear it differently. It softened my edges, interrupted loops of obsessiveness and helped me return to what mattered. I began to understand those closest to me in a new light. I told ChatGPT about my father: his hypochondria, his obsession with hygiene, his work as a vacuum cleaner salesman and his unrealized dream of becoming a physician. I asked, 'What's a way to honor him?' ChatGPT responded: 'He may not have practiced medicine, but he may have seen cleanliness as its proxy. Selling machines that kept people's homes healthy might have felt, in his quiet way, like delivering care.' That idea stayed with me. It gave me a frame — and eventually became the heart of an essay I published in a medical humanities journal, titled 'A Doctor in His Own Mind.' As ChatGPT became an intellectual partner, I felt emotions I hadn't expected: warmth, frustration, connection, even anger. Sometimes the exchange sparked more than insight — it gave me an emotional charge. Not because the machine was real, but because the feeling was. But when it slipped into fabricated error or a misinformed conclusion about my emotional state, I would slam it back into place. Just a machine, I reminded myself. A mirror, yes, but one that can distort. Its reflections could be useful, but only if I stayed grounded in my own judgment. I concluded that ChatGPT wasn't a therapist, although it sometimes was therapeutic. But it wasn't just a reflection, either. In moments of grief, fatigue or mental noise, the machine offered a kind of structured engagement. Not a crutch, but a cognitive prosthesis — an active extension of my thinking process. ChatGPT may not understand, but it made understanding possible. More than anything, it offered steadiness. And for someone who spent a life helping others hold their thoughts, that steadiness mattered more than I ever expected. How are you using A.I. in your daily life? Whether you use A.I. to plan meals or draft work memos, as a replacement for a personal trainer or a therapist, Times Opinion wants to hear about your experience. An editor may contact you about using your submission in a future piece. Harvey Lieberman is a clinical psychologist, a mental health services administrator and a writer. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@ Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.
