Trauma

Rewriting the Story

Entering the World of the Abused Child

Therapists must offer abused children a different felt experience of who they are. Read more

One of the Guiding Principles of Depth-Oriented Brief Therapy Illustrated in a Client’s Panic Attack Treatment. Read more

Developmental Trauma Disorder: Distinguishing, Diagnosing, and the DSM

How One Tenacious Task Force Worked to Separate Developmental Trauma Disorder from PTSD in DSM-5

In 2005, a complex trauma task force began working on constructing a new diagnosis called Developmental Trauma Disorder, which, they hoped, would capture the... Read more

Shaking & Dancing in Dharamsala

A Group of Tibetan Refugees Find their Inner Guides

How do you help 200 teenagers who’ve had to flee their country find a path to peace in a new place? A psychiatrist who’s traveled across the world to help... Read more

A Suicide Note In Crayon

Expecting the Unexpected at PS 48

To work as a school social worker in the Bronx’s high-crime, low-income Hunt’s Point neighborhood is to become an expert at expecting the unexpected. Read more

Finding the Missing Link to Chronic Pain

Maggie Phillips On The Levels Of Unreleased Trauma

Maggie Phillips describes how attachment issues can play a big part in unreleased trauma. Read more

Becoming a Part of the Child Client’s Story

Dan Hughes on the Effectiveness of Psychological Hand-Holding

Daniel Hughes has many techniques to suggest when working with troubled children who have put up a wall. Read more

How the Brain’s Negativity Bias Impedes Change

Rick Hanson On Understanding Why We Focus On The Negative

Psychotherapy Networker Founder Rich Simon talks to Rick Hanson about negativity bias and how it can be one of the biggest challenges to helping clients... Read more

Creating Adventure And Play In Therapy

How to Vitalize Your Therapeutic Style

The more we learn about the emotional brain, the clearer it becomes: to have real therapeutic impact, we need to create experiences that help clients learn to... Read more

Depathologizing the Borderline Client

Learning to Manage Our Fears

Inevitably, given their history of trauma, many borderline clients will trigger their therapists from time to time. But forgoing the urge to blame these... Read more

Finding the Hero Within

Exploring the Link Between Trauma and Oppression

Kenneth Hardy believes that the experience of trauma is too often unacknowledged by therapists struggling to help troubled minority youth. Read more

VIDEO: Our Bottom Line Responsibility as Therapists

Rick Hanson on Working with the Brain for Lasting Change

People seek us out because they want change. Some want to be less anxious or less depressed, some want to be better able to control themselves in interactions... Read more

Driven Crazy

TBI is Claiming the Hearts and Minds of Too Many Vets

With the U.S. Army suicide rate at an all-time high, there’s a greater need than ever to understand the struggles of soldiers returning from war zones and... Read more

Reinventing Your Life

Finding Self-Renewal in the Himalayas

Tens of thousands of miles away from his practice, a therapist accidentally discovers a new sense of purpose, unable to distinguish the act of giving from the... Read more

With nearly eight million Americans affected by the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and tens of thousands of troops returning from military... Read more

The Anatomy of Self-Hatred

Learning to Love Our Loathed "Selves"

With stalemated cases in which the task of self-acceptance feels impossible, the therapist needs to offer more than compassion and encouragement. Read more

In Praise of Therapeutic Crying

Therapy’s Best Kept Secret

Too many therapists today confuse the healing release of tears with the helpless despair triggered by reliving traumatizing memories in therapy. Read more

Connecting with the Shut-down Client

Helping A Combat Vet Face His Vulnerability

Resonating with clients’ inner experience is key to working effectively with emotion in therapy. With traumatized and shutdown clients, however, it is easy... Read more

- Chilean miners' long-term trauma - Training good therapists - The question of bullying Read more

The Attuned Therapist

Does Attachment Theory Really Matter?

In recent years, attachment theory, with its emphasis on early bonding, connection and relationship, has exerted as much influence over the field of... Read more

The Specter of the Big "C"

A Modern Look at an Age-Old Malady

A modern look at cancer treatment through the ages. Read more

The Puzzle of PTSD

Does the PTSD Diagnosis Do More Harm Than Good?

Does the diagnosis of PTSD actually hamper therapists' ability to help combat veterans do the hard work of coming to terms with their war experiences? Read more

It Takes a Community

Therapy-As-Usual Can't Serve the Needs of Our Returning Troops

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

Rules of Engagement

A Civilian Therapist’s Guide to the Military Mindset

What civilian therapists need to know about military culture and life in a combat zone to best serve veterans struggling with war trauma. Read more

The Case for Energy Psychology

Snake oil or therapeutic power tool?

A wizened, seen-it-all psychologist describes how he came to embrace an approach that much of the orthodox psychotherapy world considers the latest incarnation... Read more

The Health Implications of Early Trauma

How Research into ACES is Shaping Our Understanding of Childhood Adversity

While it's common knowledge that childhood trauma can have far-reaching consequences for adult mental health, its impact on adult physical health is less... Read more

The Stages of Trauma Recovery

Principles of Effective Treatment

My intent in sharing my story was to help therapists understand the needs of a trauma victim and to suggest techniques and strategies to meet these needs at... Read more

The Long Shadow of Trauma

Childhood Abuse May Be Our Number One Public Health Issue

As the battles and controversies over the forthcoming DSM-V heat up, a determined group of trauma experts and researchers are mounting a passionate challenge... Read more

Therapy in the Danger Zone

Breaking the Cycle of Family Trauma

There's no more emotionally demanding work than that with an incestuous family. A therapist offers an uncensored look at the fear, loathing, and fascination of... Read more

The Trauma Myth

Understanding the True Dynamics of Sexual Abuse

Twenty-five years ago, it was considered a great advance when therapists first began to approach childhood abuse as a form of trauma. Now new research suggests... Read more