Psychologist, poet, translator and autism specialist, Anita Barrows, PhD, shares about the pain that first led her to psychotherapy, the importance of bringing love into our work, her identity as a poet, and entering the world of autistic children.
John Sommers-Flanagan on Clinical Interviewing and the Highly Unmotivated Client
Clinical Interviewing expert, John Sommers-Flanagan, offers strategies for the initial stage of therapy and tips for engaging the resistant client.
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving
In this excerpt from his newly-released book, Pete Walker offers therapists an accessible, compassionate and refreshingly de-pathologizing framework for treating clients whose childhood abuse and neglect have created lifelong suffering and instability.
Scott Miller on Why Most Therapists Are Just Average (and How We Can Improve)
Scott Miller, expert researcher on what makes a good therapist, breaks down the difference between the masters and the rest of us.
Leave Your Degree at the Door, Dude
The late 1960s and 1970s were exciting times for the fields of psychology and psychotherapy. Much of the enthusiasm was spawned by a body of landmark research. At the time experts postulated that humans had two distinct nervous systems: the voluntary and the involuntary. The voluntary nervous system allows you to brew your morning cup of Joe or take out the trash before you leave for work. The involuntary or autonomic nervous system controls your heart rate, blood pressure and…
Just Peachy
It’s getting colder in the Northeast. I love it—mostly I do—except that I am colder than cold, colder than most folks. I feel it in my bones. My husband and I are Florida bound for vacation soon, and then, we think, to live. Not just yet. The kids need a bit more raising first. So with the cold coming and the time being ripe, we take the kids (the same ones who still need a bit more raising, and two that…
Dial-Up Connection
Thirty-five years ago I got my first paid therapist job as a second-string telephone counselor for an enlightened radio station in Sydney, Australia. The radio station ran a daily one-hour program called “Kid’s Careline,” and my boss was the first string counselor who fielded on air calls from the radio audience. She was so brilliant at it that she kept three of us second stringers busy 9 to 5 fielding the calls that did not make it onto the air. It…
Jean McLendon on the Legacy of Virginia Satir
A longtime trainee and friend of Virginia Satir, Jean McLendon shares stories of her early years in training, the tremendous influence Satir has had on the field psychotherapy, and her ongoing influence in the 21st century.
Paradise Lost: When Clients Commit Suicide
A psychologist describes the trauma of losing a patient to suicide.
Infertility on Both Sides of the Couch
A psychotherapist treats a client struggling with infertility while facing it herself.