Clinical Practice & Guidance

Shame is an emotion that isn’t healthy. Unlike guilt–which causes remorse for something you did wrong–shame can cause someone to feel as... Read more

While the number of people in psychotherapy keeps declining, surveys reveal that potential clients would still rather talk to a therapist than fill a... Read more

It’s time we address the psychological toll of the daily bombardment of information that permeates our lives. Read more

To stay relevant in a changing world, we need to address the engagement styles of today’s prospective clients. Read more

Anticipating endings may encourage us to grasp the present with greater vitality. Read more

Seven myths about meditation for clinicians to ponder. Read more

When an adult is in your consulting room, it’s understandable if you use adult language and logic. But at certain points in the healing process, you may need... Read more

Over several thousand years, different cultures around the world have discovered how to nurture the seed of a specifically human capacity for mentally stepping... Read more

Anxiety attacks anything and everything in a person's life. Sometimes the targets are the mundane activities that others take for granted. At other times, it... Read more

Therapists aren't supposed to discuss personal problems, or even acknowledge having any. While preaching congruence, who among us has never pretended fondness... Read more

According to Eugene Gendlin, legendary originator of Focusing, exploring thoughts on the body can lead us to a new kind of wisdom. Read more

 A few decades ago, when young therapists like myself watched Salvador Minuchin, Virginia Satir, Carl Whitaker, or other leading lights, it was like... Read more

While widely acknowledged to be the most empirically supported therapy ever invented, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is often criticized for being too... Read more

Many therapists define the type of therapy they practice by taking a head count: if one person is present, they're practicing individual therapy; if two or... Read more

How couples behave in bed is a remarkablv authentic expression of their emotional connection-or lack of it. Read more

We've become so focused on keeping children safe that we exaggerate the dangers they face despite the fact that they’ve never been safer. Still, no amount of... Read more

Some guidelines for bringing the creative power of therapeutic journaling into your work. Read more

A therapist shares about handling a client when attraction pushes the boundaries. Read more

In this brief video clip, Mary Jo explains why bringing the family into therapy should be our first stop when treating trauma. Read more

In this brief video clip, Richard explains how trauma survivors can have a dialogue with the damaged inner parts—the “Exiles”—by first consulting their... Read more

Anxiety is a demanding beast, with a long list of conditions that must be met to keep it at bay. It forces anxious children and their families to banish... Read more

The increasing popularity of neurofeedback is based on the growing evidence that a wide variety of psychological disorders can be understood as firing mistakes... Read more

Part of the epidemic of misdiagnosed ADHD in young children today results from a failure to understand how trauma often leads to difficulty learning in school. Read more

Most therapists find it relatively easy to feel empathy for the usual hyperaroused, vulnerable trauma client. But it can be a lot tougher to remain... Read more

We all know that the collaboration between therapist and client is the keystone of therapy. What many therapists may not realize is how much clarifying... Read more

What does inventive therapy look like? We often overlook that for all skilled therapists, there are well-established patterns and techniques underlying even... Read more

John Norcross gives us a clear and compassionate take on reactance—what it is, how it’s different from resistance, and how to begin with each extreme. Read more

Terry talks about grandiosity and the destructive behaviors it leads to, thus making leverage a part of the therapeutic process. Read more

When we find ourselves haunted by a particular case, it may mean that we’re more invested in the client making changes than the client is himself. Read more

The vice chair of the DSM-5 Task Force is bemused that the release of what was intended to be a more accurate and rigorously researched manual has raised such... Read more