If you could psychoanalyze Philadelphia, what would be the diagnosis?

Sometimes city life can feel a little crazy. Maybe it’s not you, but an imbalance in the city itself. If Philadelphia were a person, and you could get him or her examined by a psychiatrist, what would be the diagnosis?

The Temple Contemporary Series at the Tyler School of Art is trying to answer that hypothetical question with a tongue-in-cheek discussion on Wednesday night with psychoanalyst Bob Kravis and Jeffrey Ray, senior curator of the Philadelphia History Museum. 

In the last 200-300 years, the city has been transformed several times over. Examining the patient from historical and psychoanalytical perspectives, what is the Philadelphia’s current state of health?

What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

All you armchair psychiatrists out there — is the city in good health? Or does it have some work to do?

Pet peeve alert: It’s easy to jump to schizophrenia. Just be aware that schizophrenia is a wholly different diagnosis from multiple personality disorder or, the more modern term, dissociative identity disorder. The Greek roots of the word suggest a “split” of the “mind,” but it’s a split of mental functions, not a split personality.

Sorry. Just had to get that out there.