The Larger Conversation

The key to working effectively with eating disorders is understanding that starving, bingeing, and purging aren't simply bad habits. For treatment to work, it... Read more

Psychologist and bestselling author Harriet Lerner speaks about her body of work and addresses the question of the continuing impact of feminism on... Read more

Our standard psychotherapeutic paradigm is unequal to the mammoth challenge of serving the troops who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan. What's needed is a... Read more

Have you ever noticed how often you surf the net or check e-mail when you feel bored or restless or depressed, as if relief is just a click away? The Internet... Read more

How mindfulness can reduce the stress of multitasking and information overload. Read more

In the rush to preserve marriages, therapists must also recognize that there are marriages that shouldn't be saved. Read more

Whether we like it or not, today's couples feel far less encumbered by the legal, social, and moral strictures of traditional marriage and its obligations... Read more

My Parisian colleague was shocked to learn that American therapists typically encourage couples not only to confess their affairs, but also to share the... Read more

The difficulty young people have leaving home is producing confusion amongst parents and their children. Read more

While learning Qigong, a psychotherapist unlearns the Western mindset that has been keeping him, and his clients, stuck. Read more

The Lawrence Summers controversy just brought to the surface the stealth assault on feminism that's reviving gender stereotypes of the 1950s. Read more

This issue examines whether our increasing knowledge of all those multisyllabic brain processes has really made us more effective practitioners. Read more

Our collective survival depends on a shift in our most basic assumptions and perceptions, one that'll drive changes in commerce and industry, as well as in our... Read more

A revolution in how people access and use pornography has taken the therapy community by surprise. Now some experts believe that an epidemic of porn use is... Read more

Open porn use introduces a relational question that most couples never face: how to live with the knowledge that your partner's erotic fantasy-world often... Read more

Modern therapy has given scant attention to morally elevated emotions like awe, gratitude, and admiration, resulting in a skewed picture of how people actually... Read more

While some warn that the conveyor belt that once transported adolescents into adulthood has broken down, other insist the increasing number of adult children... Read more

As the boomers discover the joys and sorrows of becoming grandparents, they're putting their own generational stamp on a role that's as ancient as parenthood. Read more

Constant Uncertainty about who's a friend and who's a foe, the mundane chaos of the classroom, rules that always seem to be changing—an ordinary day at... Read more

You think the toboggan ride of your 401(k) has been rough? A survivor of the Great Depression muses on what that era taught her about managing the unmanageable. Read more

Many of us struggle to achieve some balance between our work and the rest of our lies. But in today's world, living a more fulfilled life may actually require... Read more

What does the newly passed mental health parity law mean for your practice? Read more

Now that we've been frightened into prudence, our shopping habits have become more deliberate and fraught with anxiety. But with this new economic pressure... Read more

The creation of "the other" is the dynamic at the heart of racism, sexism, homophobia, and persecution. The first step in altering that dynamic is the struggle... Read more

The consolation prize for boys who feel deeply but can't express or even decipher their own emotions is the universe of "electronica," a womb of... Read more

Too much is at stake these days for us to take refuge in our practices after the election. In such challenging times, therapists need to create for themselves... Read more

Some years ago, Rwanda was the hellish scene of one of the most ferocious genocides in history. A therapist who traveled there reports on what it's like to... Read more

When disaster strikes close to home, the emotional shock waves make business as usual impossible for both therapists and clients. Read more

In a world where differences between people have become increasingly demonized, more than ever, the therapist's job is to help people expand their circle of... Read more

This article first appeared in the September/October 2008 issue. Q: I’m seeing more parents who live in safe, middle-class communities and protect their... Read more