Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) founder Steven Hayes discusses the history and evolution of ACT and its use as a force for social justice in our complex and pain-filled modern world.
Embracing Your Demons: An Overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
ACT trainer Russell Harris distills the essential components of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into a simple framework, with case studies to help illustrate the theory and practice of ACT.
The Ones That Get Away
On sunny days, the koi rise to the surface of the pond. Occasionally a particularly interesting one rises through the murk, and for a few moments it is clearly visible in all its mottled, sun-dappled glory, fins lazily stroking the water, eyes unblinkingly assessing my shadow before it propels itself back into the depths. That is the image that comes to mind when I think of Cassie. She contacted me initially through an email, sending me a clear, carefully composed assessment…
When Life Gets Messy, Don’t Cut and Run!
It was not one of my better moments. It was a very busy time of year, getting ready for Passover, juggling my schedule with patients and the kids’ spring break. It was one of those times where I stood at the intersection of my mothering and my profession and my head was spinning. On the top of the TTD list (things to do) was getting my five year old daughter a haircut. Routine errand as it seems, it did require a…
Verbal Ventilation: The highway to intimacy and the key process of therapy
I was standing in the waiting room before my first session with a new therapist some twenty years ago, when I perused a cartoon that she had displayed on her bulletin board. In panel 1 of the wordless cartoon, a woman with a dark cloud over her head is talking to a friend who has a shining sun over hers. In panel 2, as the first woman gestures in a way that indicates complaining, the cloud covers her friend’s sun….
Gone in 60 Seconds: How to Handle a Mental Health Workshop Heckler
Like most of you, as a psychotherapist, book author, and educator, I am often asked to give workshops, and educational seminars. For many of us, sharing our unique expertise is a part of our professional mission. A while back I was contacted by a church group who wanted to give a series of eight different mental health workshops during the spring. Each of the workshops would be presented by a different expert. I was going to be the final presenter, number…
Diana Fosha on Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)
AEDP founder Diana Fosha discusses the journey that led her to create a new model of psychotherapy, the strong community support that ties the AEDP community together and how men have traditionally gotten a bum rap in couples therapy.
Transforming War Trauma: The Healing Power of Community
Psychoanalyst and Zen master, Joseph Bobrow, PhD, describes his groundbreaking work providing healing retreats for traumatized veterans and their families.
The Lying Artist
Once upon a time and many years ago when I was a very new therapist, I worked with a client who had completely made herself up. A lot of things never added up with her. For starters, there was her presenting problem. Some days she would report a diet of jelly beans (not many) and carrots, and yet she was never low weight. But since clients with eating disorders are so often metabolically out of sync, it didn’t seem completely unbelievable…
The Therapist and the Fee: Why Everything Works out and Also Doesn
A close friend of mine is a wonderful therapist, a child of the 60s, a gifted man, large-souled, big-hearted and wise. His practice nourishes him and is saturated with life. He is committed to a worldview that eschews anything close to greed. “I won’t ask my patients for more, at least not if I can avoid it,” he says. “Often I will wait years to do it.” My friend’s position makes perfect sense to me. He is a thoughtful and principled…