Dr. Will Cupchik

I'm Dr. Will Cupchik. I have been a psychologist (for over twenty years), and before that, I worked as high school teacher and guidance counselor. And before that, I worked as an electrical engineer in the aerospace industry. Having had a variety of professions I am very aware of the sorts of issues that confront different folks in their various working and personal lives.

I am endlessly fascinated by -- and deeply interested in -- the inner workings of basically normal, good people who are facing their lives' problems. And helping people -teenagers, adults and couples - with their emotional, behavioral, and/or intellectual troubles is a very rewarding experience to me. I especially like to focus on those who need to deal with one or more of the following issues: loss; depression; anger; relationship issues with peers, intimate others, parents or other authority figures, children or other persons in subordinate roles; unfinished business from earlier periods in their lives; and atypical theft behavior.

About 20 years ago, while working in the forensic department of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, one of North America's foremost psychiatric institutes, I began working with people who have what, to me at least, are some of the most interesting problems that I have ever encountered in the forensic (criminal) area. These usually honest, law-abiding individuals have offended against not only society's values and laws, but against their own morals and values... by stealing! These good folks have done what even they would consider 'bad' things, and they almost never understand why they have done so! I have called these individuals Atypical Theft Offenders, and they most certainly are that.

The culmination of much of my 20 years of clinical investigations with these persons has been summarized in my book, entitled Why Honest People Shoplift Or Commit Other Acts Of Theft, which was published by Tagami Communications in 1997. In the past few years I have been contacted by media in the United States and elsewhere, including ABCNews 20/20, Dateline NBC, the FOX Network, the Lifetime Cable Network, and many other television, radio and print media. In most instances significant portions of these interviews have been aired.

As a result of all of this media and Internet exposure I have been contacted by folks from all over the US and elsewhere in the world for assistance in understanding and stopping atypical theft behavior. As part of the team of professionals on the AskTheDocs website, I hope to 'meet', at least electronically, people who want to better understand and to deal with issues that trouble them, especially in the areas that I have mentioned above. I look forward to hearing from you if there are any questions that you would like me to address.