Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to be a psychotherapist in Ancient Rome in 350 AD. The usual problems would have brought people to my office, of course. Personal troubles, sexual difficulties, family quarrels, mental imbalances. But as I listened daily to my clients’ tales of woe and also picked up wider news in the forums and gossip from my slaves I would have become more and more aware of the larger issues intruding on the decreasingly comfortable lives of all Romans — shortages that our overextended armies could no longer control, the changing complexion of the Roman Legions themselves, northern tribes in rebellion, the gradual disintegration of our political systems, roads and infrastructure. What did it all mean? . . . → Read More: The Challenges of Being A Late-Empire Shrink, By Linda Buzzell