By Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
on 2/4/16 - 1:16 PM
Welcome to my house. We had been meeting for a month already, but this was the first time Nick connected from his flat for our weekly online psychotherapy session. Because of our time difference—I am based in Europe, and Nick lives in the US, we were usually connecting during his early morning hours. I was by now fairly familiar with his work surroundings: a small office cubicle, neon lights, grey doors shut tight. This time everything was different, and Nick looked younger and...
By Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
on 6/23/15 - 2:56 PM
There are places I’ll remember all my life. —<em>I was born in a small Russian town, a very cold and dirty place.</em> This was one of the first things Anna shared about herself in a long introductory email reaching out to me for online psychotherapy. In this description of her native town, I could sense her sad childhood: a lack of emotional warmth and possibly some neglect. The way people describe their early surroundings usually tells something significant about their life story. We developed early...
By Howard Rosenthal, EdD
on 7/22/14 - 5:23 PM
Nine year old Malcolm was one of the fortunate clients. Because his family had a very modest income a local counseling center with a sliding fee scale was seeing Malcolm on a pro bono basis. Better yet, the agency was providing free transportation for him on a school bus. His emotional difficulties began two years ago after his parents got a divorce. He was now living with his natural father and his new step-mother. Treatment seemed to be working well. Then...
