“I’m rubber, you’re glue, what bounces off me sticks to you.” Recently one of my colleagues taught me this childhood taunt and response to name calling. It is one of the simplest and most accurate descriptions of projective identification that I have ever heard and makes me think of my client Nancy. Nancy and I occupy different ends of the political spectrum. It is interesting to me that I can work comfortably with clients who are different from me in very…
Psychotherapy with Alien Beings: Cultural Competence (and Incompetence) in Psychotherapy Practice
Psychologist Laura Brown critiques the limited and limiting methods so often used in psychotherapy training programs to promote cultural competence, and offers a model of intersectionality and integration that honors the full complexity of modern identities—including those of psychotherapists.
Eduardo Duran on Psychotherapy with Native Americans
Native American psychologist Eduardo Duran shares his long road to finding a place for himself and other Native Americans in the field of psychology.
Listening as Meditation
In 1975, Herbert Benson of Harvard University wrote that to achieve a “relaxation response” you only need four ingredients. These included (a) a quiet place, (b) a comfortable position, (c) a mental device, and (d) a passive attitude. Benson’s relaxation response was, of course, roughly equivalent to the meditative mental state. His work presaged the mindfulness movement in psychotherapy. He identified a psychological place of exploration, discovery, and acceptance. His research linked the relaxation response to a variety of physiological…
The Thousand-Armed Therapist
A typical desire for most therapists (at least at some point in their training or career) is “to save people;” because let’s face it: the majority of us are in this business because we care a great deal about others. There comes a moment, however, when almost all therapists eventually learn that trying to save people is exhausting. Actually, even trying to help others gain small amounts of awareness on a daily basis can be difficult and draining. Therapists are…
Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships
In this excerpt from her most recent book, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships, EFT founder Sue Johnson offers tools for couples and their therapists to repair wounded bonds and navigate the cycles of disconnection and reconnection that can make—or break—relationships.
Anita Barrows on Love, Poetry and Autism
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.