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How Do You Maintain Compassion and Respect for Your Clients?

by Nicole Arzt, LMFT & Jeremy Arzt, LMFT
In an excerpt from their book, For the Love of Therapy, Nicole and Jeremy Arzt guide fellow clinicians in a journey of empathy.

Nothing Left to Give: A Psychologist's Path Back from Burnout

by Shannon Swales
In this excerpt from her biography, Nothing Left to Give, psychologist Shannon Swales journals her descent into burnout and her successful return to health and balance.

Integrating Generative AI and Digital Play Therapy into Clinical Practice

by Jessica Stone
For clinicians, using tools like ChatGPT, the potential of generative AI in clinical psychotherapy practices spans from administration to creating visual representation of clients’ experiences.

Can You See Me? Arab Immigrants’ Quests for Identity and Belonging

by Lama Khouri
A Palestinian analyst shares her poignant experiences as an immigrant, and the personal and professional challenges they brought. 

When Symptoms Overshadow a Diagnosis: Psychotherapy as Archeology

by Anthony Smith
Working with underlying personality dynamics in therapy can lead to a more effective outcomes than focusing solely on diagnoses and presenting symptoms.

How to Avoid Burnout and Find Joy in Corporatized Care Settings

by Ezra Lockhart
A look at the paradox of providing mental health care in corporatized settings, and what it would take to improve the wellbeing of providers and those they serve.

The Bad and Good Ghosts: A Story of Reauthoring in Narrative Therapy with Children

by Adriana Bellodi Cosa César
With the help of a creative narrative therapist a child and his mother chase away the ghost of anger.  

Breaking Down Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: The Heart of the OCD

by Michael Alcee
A therapist shares his own history of OCD, clinical experiences treating clients with OCD, and thoughts on pop-culture depictions like “Turtles All the Way Down.” 

Effects of Social Media on Child Development: Healthy Strategies

by Ezra Lockhart
Social media can threaten children’s emotional and psychological health; a family therapist shares how to identify the benefits and pitfalls, and ways to intervene. 

Facing the Fear of Flying Together: Reconsidering Exposure Therapy

by Jelena Kecmanovic
A Cognitive Behavioral Therapist moves beyond her avoidance of exposure therapy to create an effective CBT intervention that helps a client face their fear of flying.

Gardening Narratives and Storyliving Ones Life

by Adriana Müller
A Brazilian narrative therapist takes us on a journey through a lush garden of metaphors she uses in her clinical work to add enthusiasm and imagination to her questions.

Existential-Spiritual Techniques for Fostering a Healthy Perspective on Aging

by Robert Gordon
Using existential-humanistic therapy, a psychotherapist helps older clients navigate the presenting problem of grief and loss while celebrating life.

Psychodynamic Therapies: How Did We Get Here & Where Are We Going?

by Allen Frances, MD
Psychiatrist Allen Frances reviews the past and present contributions of psychodynamic therapies, and offers hope for therapists pursuing this rewarding career path.

Losing the Atmosphere, A Memoir: A Baffling Disorder, a Search for Help, and the Therapist Who Understood

by Vivian Conan
In a poignant memoir chronicling her return to wholeness, Vivian Conan, with the help of her therapist, Jeffery Smith, shares her tortuous yet liberating journey. 

Teaching Prisoners to Lead Grief Support Groups

by Helene Chen, M.D & Marilyn A. Mendoza, PhD
A talented and compassionate clinician teaches prison inmates innovative support group methods to comfort their terminally ill peers.

Avoiding Burnout Traps: Managing the Conflict between Empathy and Exhaustion

by David Prucha
A seasoned clinician explores how caring too much can lead to exhaustion, and offers suggestions for avoiding common burnout traps.

Psychotherapy Status Report: Past Achievements/Current Failures/Future Disruptions

by Allen Frances, MD
Taking the long view, behavioral sciences expert, Allen Frances offers a pointed review of psychotherapy’s failures and achievements, with suggestions for a hopeful future. 

The Disconnection of Depression: How to Restore Attachment Using Cognitive Interventions

by David Prucha
Paradoxical cognitive interventions in therapy can help free depressed clients of self-destructive ruminations and behavioral habits.

The Wisdom of Therapist Uncertainty

by Maggie M. Jackson
Internationally renowned author, Maggie Jackson, tells us that developing “uncertainty tolerance” in both clinician and client is key for building better outcomes.

Terminally Ill Pediatric Patients and the Grieving Therapist

by Sara Loftin
A pediatric clinician shares the rewards and challenges of working with terminally ill children and their families.

Coming Full Circle: Helping a Young Couple Through Their Grief

by Liz Tingley
A therapist who lost a sibling during childhood shares her sense of gratitude when she has an opportunity to help parents who are grieving the loss of their own child.

How a Missed Therapy Session and Self-Disclosure Led to Therapeutic Gains

by Kevin Naidu
After accidentally missing a session, a therapist uses the here-and-now to repair the ruptured bond with his client and in doing so, opens the door to deeper insight.

Sidestepping the Dependency Dance in Psychotherapy

by David Prucha
Four steps mental health professionals can use to directly address client dependency in this digital age and set the stage for positive therapeutic outcomes.

Our Time is Up

by Roberta Satow
Share a deeply intimate relationship between patient and therapist in this excerpt from Roberta Satow’s newest book, “Our Time is Up.”

How to Use Structured Writing to Help Clients Unclutter

by Pamela Garber
Using a structured, written, organizational map can help clients disentangle their many problems, so they may begin effectively addressing them in therapy.

Challenging a Beloved Therapist: A Catalyst to Growth

by Vivian Conan
Poignant and instructive for both clients and clinicians, Vivian Conan shares her 29-year therapeutic journey from fragmentation and fear to wholeness and connection.

Mapping the Heart Of OCD: Going Beyond the Conditions We Know

by Michael Alcee
A creative therapist helps a client struggling with OCD by focusing on her heart rather than her mind.

Supporting Recently Traumatized Youth in a Crisis of Dissociation and Self-Harm

by Julian D. Ford
A skilled therapist guides us through a riveting session with a young, brutally traumatized client as she struggles to regain a foothold into her previous life.  

Suicidal Debates with Clients in Psychotherapy

by David Prucha
A clinician learns five invaluable truths about depression from his clients on the road to helping them avoid the dark alley of suicide.

What Can Therapists Offer the Larger World?

by William J. Doherty, PhD & Tai Mendenhall, PhD
In this excerpt from “Becoming a Citizen Therapist: Integrating Community Problem-Solving into Your Work as a Healer,” Bill Doherty and Tai Mendenhall lay out a roadmap for helping clinicians transition from private practitioner to community educator therapist. 

Rick Miller on the Clinical Challenges of Working with Gay Sons, Mothers, and Families

by Rick Miller
Psychotherapist Rick Miller discusses the challenges and benefits of working with gay men and their mothers.

Dialogue 1: How Do We Define Collaborative Writing?

by Daniel X. Harris and Trish Thompson
In the spirit of Irvin Yalom’s “Every Day Gets a Little Closer,” a therapist and her client share the richness of the therapeutic journey through collaborative writing.

Deploying Therapeutic Airbags to Enhance Clinical Outcome

by David Prucha
Therapy carries inherent risk, and eventually we’ll get into accidents, but what if we abandon the “do no harm creed” and build strategies into therapy for damage-reduction?

My Romance with Narrative Letters: Counter-Storying Through Letter Writing

by Kay Ingamells
A creative clinician shares her romance with – and successful use of – narrative letter writing in therapy to deepen the therapeutic bond with her clients.

A Small Hope: Co-creating a Narrative of Grief - Part II

by Sasha McAllum Pilkington
Following the loss of her husband, a client finds her way back to living fully for herself and her children through narrative storytelling.

A Small Hope: Co-creating a Narrative of Grief – Part I *

by Sasha McAllum Pilkington
In the shadow of grief, Sasha Pilkington helps a couple embrace the gift of life along with their impending loss.

Awareness: Attunement, Access, and Affirmation

by Bette Freedson
Explore how to tune into and access the flow of information that comprises your psychic mind by developing your Intuitive attunement and receptive access. 

When the Therapist Turns Out to be Human

by Paula Bamgbose-Martins
A Black female therapist learns important lessons while working at the intersection of gender, race, and racism with her clients.

Using A Holistic Approach to Therapy with Clients Experiencing Chronic Illness, Disability, and Mental Health Challenges

by Lavinia Magliocco
Working with clients at the intersection of chronic health problems, disability, and mental health issues offers great challenges and powerful benefits.

Deciding How to Die: Narrative Therapy in Palliative Care with Someone Considering Stopping Dialysis

by Sasha McAllum Pilkington
Working with dying clients demands that clinicians honor their choices and desires in end-of-life care.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

A Shared Diagnosis: Managing Breast Cancer Together

by Maggie Mulqueen
What clinical choices does a therapist have when both they and their clients are navigating cancer treatment?

Narrative Therapy in a Cross-Cultural Conversation with Someone Approaching Death

by Sasha McAllum Pilkington
Bridging the distance between herself, a Pakeha" New Zealander, and her client, a Maori" New Zealander, Sasha McAllum Pilkington shows how relationships can mean the difference between life and death.

Providing Culturally Sensitive Narrative Therapy and EMDR to Original Peoples

by Juliette Jacobs & Linda Moxley-Haegert
A culturally sensitive therapist connects deeply with an indigenous client, using Narrative Therapy techniques and EMDR to support her in healing herself and her community. 

Strengthening the Therapy Relationship with Gay Men

by Rick Miller
The keys to successful therapy with gay men are connection, support, and attunement. Excerpted from Unwrapped, Integrative Therapy with Gay Men...the Gift of Presence. 

Stealing a Passage Home: Narrative Therapy to Re-claim Honesty

by Kay Ingamells, David Epston
Kay Ingamells uses playful Narrative Therapy techniques to help a young client regain his honesty.

Katja-Writing: Being Author and Audience to Fictionalized Stories of Trauma- Part II

by Christoffer Haugaard, Irene and David Epston
Join Christoffer Haugaard and David Epston as they deepen and conclude their powerful work with Irene to build stories through which she heals from brutal childhood trauma.

Katja-Writing: Being Author and Audience to Fictionalized Stories of Trauma- Part I

by Christoffer Haugaard, Irene and David Epston
Join Christoffer Haugaard and David Epston as they work with Irene to build stories through which she heals from brutal childhood trauma

Using Common Sense Problem-Solving and Worry Containment to Subdue Ruminations

by Nicholas Sarantakis
 Simple problem-solving techniques can be powerful weapons against ruminations and the ravages of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The Realm of Our Industry

by Larisa A. Garski, MA, LMFT & Justine Mastin, MA, LMFT
Knowing the evolution of the mental health industry can prepare clinicians for what may be its rocky future.

Seven Lessons for Making a Meaningful Life: A Therapist’s Guide

by Andrew Marshall
A therapist shares his quest to define a “meaningful life” and insights that therapists can use to improve their clinical efficacy and help clients live richer lives.

Mommy Liked Me Best (And Why It Matters as a Gay Son)

by Rick Miller
What psychotherapists and counselors should know about the bond between gay sons and their mothers, and why it’s critical to healthy identity development.

Love is Not All You Need: A Revolutionary Approach to Parental Abuse

by Kay Ingamells, David Epston
Using a “revolutionary” Narrative Therapy approach, Kay Ingamells and David Epston free a family held hostage by their daughter’s manipulative behavior.

Wrapped in Care: Narrative Therapy in the Time of COVID

by Kay Ingamells
A clinician uses Narrative Therapy to work within a client’s native culture while counselling her through the painful grief of losing her grandmother to COVID.

How To Map the Toxic Impact of Social Media on Families in Therapy

by Richard J. Lally
Successful family therapy must consider social media and app use — the empty chair in the room — to draw a complete map of the family.

Imagined into Agency: Goth Lolita Comes to Life

by Chelsey Morton
A creative Narrative therapist helps a lonely, depressed client liberate herself from lifelong depression through poetry and imagination.

How to Help Clients Change the Narrative of Aging

by Bill Randall
By viewing aging as an adventure, gerontologist William Randall offers alternative narratives to counselors and clinicians working with older adults.

Addressing Countertransference in Grief Counseling

by F. Diane Barth
A therapist shares her experiences working with two grieving clients and how attending to countertransference improved her ability to help them address anger and pain

Seven Mistakes in Clinical Supervision and How to Avoid Them

by Daryl Chow
Clinician, researcher and author Daryl Chow asks us to consider what really works in clinical supervision and how therapists and counselors can optimize client outcomes in the process.

How to Use Play Therapy in Prisons to Create Hope

by Kevin Hull
A therapist shares his experiences with The Play in Prison Project, and how play therapy fostered growth and created hope for one group of incarcerated men.

Building on Family Strengths to Solve the Puzzle of Child Protection Work

by Jay Lappin, MSW, LCSW and Lauren McCarthy
Explore the systemic nature of child protection casework with troubled families and learn a useful clinical exercise that therapists, counselors, and social workers can use to connect with family strengths.

In the Shadow of COVID, It’s Play Therapy to the Rescue

by Jennifer Baggerly
Researcher, educator, and child clinician Jennifer Baggerly leads a child from the shadow of COVID’s isolation to connection and security through play. 

Spitting Truth from My Soul: A Case Story of Rapping, Probation, and the Narrative Practices- Part II

by Travis Heath
In part two of “Spitting Truth from My Soul”, Narrative Therapist Travis Heath and his client Ray The Philosopher continue their healing beat. 

Should Transgender Youth Care be Guided by Beliefs or Science?

by Stephen B. Levine
In the volatile domain of transgender care, science often clashes with beliefs and values, leaving mental health professionals with many unanswered questions.

Spitting Truth from My Soul: A Case Story of Rapping, Probation, and the Narrative Practices- Part I

by Travis Heath
In part one of Spitting Truth from My Soul, Narrative Therapist Travis Heath and his client “Ray the Philosopher” use rapping to forge a bond of connection and hope.

Critical Counseling Tips for Guiding Parents of Gifted Children

by Paula Prober
Learn invaluable therapeutic strategies for guiding parents of gifted children.

Healing Conversations: Giving Life to the Life of a Person Who Died by Suicide*

by Linda Moxley-Haegert
A compassionate therapist gently and skillfully guides suffering parents through the shadow of their son’s suicide.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality *

by Ron Purser
In a provocative excerpt from his “McMindfulness” treatise, Ronald Purser suggests that mindfulness training without societal change does little more than fuel capitalism and deflect responsibility from society to the individual.

The Existential Importance of the Penis: A Guide to Understanding Male Sexuality - Daniel N. Watter, EdD

by Daniel Watter
In this excerpt from “The Existential Importance of the Penis: A Guide to Understanding Male Sexuality”, sex therapist Daniel Watter helps us to appreciate how existential issues often lay just below the surface in sex therapy. 

In a Volatile Post-Roe World, Morals and Medicine Clash

by Lawrence Rubin
Psychotherapists working with women's healthcare professionals should understand the conflicting paths of medicine and morality.

How to Successfully Navigate Cultural Challenges with Filipino Clients

by Roanne de Guia-Samuels
In order to work effectively with Filipino clients, clinicians must respect the cultural value of utang na loob.

Self-Esteem is Overrated. Here's Why Self-Compassion is Better

by Robert N. Johansen
Ditch the binary metrics of good and bad self-esteem. When you and your clients focus on self-compassion instead, you’ll build better outcomes, nurture empathy and develop a more authentic therapeutic presence.

How to Focus on Emotions to Help Volatile Couples Reconnect

by Blake Griffin Edwards
Therapeutic empathy and an emotional focus are a powerful blueprint for successfully counseling volatile couples.

Surrounded by the Village Idiots

by Catherine Gildiner
In an excerpt from Good Morning Monster, psychotherapist Catherine Gildiner recalls the painful lesson learned from her first day as a therapist.

Keeping or Ending Commitments, Excerpted from The Ethical Lives of Clients: Transcending Self-Interest in Psychotherapy

by William J. Doherty
In this excerpt from The Ethical Lives of Clients: Transcending Self-Interest in Psychotherapy, William Doherty helps therapists address their client’s relational ethical dilemmas.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Need Management Therapy: A Clinical GPS for Couples Work

by Robert N. Johansen
Discover a new tool for navigating a successful, safe therapeutic route through the volatile atmosphere of couples therapy.

Full Container

by Sylvia Johnson
Couples therapy can unlock and heal the deepest of pains, those related to the loss of a child.

Our Masturbation Machines

by Anna Lembke
In this excerpt from Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke introduces us to Jacob, who, like many of our clients, struggles with his own unique form of over-overconsumption.

Working Therapeutically with Generational Conflict

by F. Diane Barth
Clinicians can help families with elderly parents in crisis heal by addressing and revising their “go-to” stories.

Dr. Shelley F. Diamond: A Psychotherapist Facing Death

by Shelley Diamond
After being diagnosed with aggressive terminal cancer, a psychotherapist shares how she addressed grief, gratitude and loss professionally and personally.

On the Continuum of Real to Imagined Abandonment

by Pamela Garber
A therapist’s personal struggles can provide a roadmap not only for their own growth, but for that of their clients.

Survival Strategies

by Louis Cozolino
The challenge of therapeutic competence requires basic survival strategies that Louis Cozolino shares in his latest, The Making of a Therapist: A Practical Guide for the Inner Journey.

The Challenge of Retirement: Finding Meaning and Self-Esteem in New Ways

by Geraldine K. Piorkowski
A twice-retired clinician and educator shares insights from 50 years of working with and attempting to understand the human condition.

An Existential-Spiritual Journey During COVID-19

by Robert Gordon
In the shadow of COVID, a therapist and his client address their own uncertainties in order to experience freedom and deeper meaning.

Truth and Fiction in Psychotherapy

by Keith Fadelici
Therapists can best serve their clients by listening for their realities rather than pursuing elusive truths.

Confusion of Tongues

by Galit Atlas
Therapists working with abuse survivors will learn invaluable lessons about the intergenerational transmission of trauma in this powerful excerpt from Galit Atlas’ Emotional Inheritance.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Listening for Meaning in the Voices Nursing Home Clients Hear

by Tom Medlar
Therapists working in nursing homes can better help by listening to the voices in their client’s heads.

Setbacks in Psychotherapy

by David Jobes
Explore how to use therapeutic setbacks as powerful learning opportunities for both clinician and client.  

Confessions of a Student Counsellor

by Andrew Dib
Counselors can most definitely benefit from the age-old adage “Healer, heal thyself!”

Successful Intervention with a Family Impacted by Treatment-Resistant BPD

by Daniel Lobel
Work more effectively with teens with Borderline Personality Disorder by being consistent, setting boundaries, and allying with parents.

That Tipsy Session: The Power of Self-Disclosure

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
Help your clients move from shame to self-acceptance by accepting your own personal vulnerability.

A Path Towards Self-Compassion and Healing

by Teresa Gill
Help victims of childhood abuse thrive by giving them the opportunity to value themselves and teaching them how to create compassionate connections with the people in their lives.

Unlocked: Online Therapy Stories

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
In an excerpt from “Unlocked: Online Therapy Stories,” Anastasia Piatakhina Giré shares intimate reflections on her work with Laila, whose harrowing escape to freedom is a tale of personal empowerment and the power of connection.
  

Therapeutic Reflections of a Former Gang Member

by Steve Alexander, Jr.
Learn from a former gang member, now therapist, how to capitalize on hard-learned life lessons.

A Matter of Death and Life

by Irvin D. Yalom, MD & Marilyn Yalom, PhD
In this excerpt from A Matter of Death and Life, Irvin Yalom speaks from the depths of pain over losing his beloved wife and co-author, Marilyn; not only to fellow therapists but to all of us who have lost loved ones. 

Counseling Gifted Clients: Journeys through the Rainforest Mind

by Paula Prober
Working with gifted clients is a challenging and fascinating opportunity to appreciate those with a “rainforest mind”.

Long-Term Psychotherapy and BPD, Part 2: A Dialogue on Trust

by Daniel X. Harris and Trish Thompson
Return to the intriguing therapeutic dialogue between Trish and Anne as they deepen bonds of trust, using humor and their unique relationship for healing and growth.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Finding the Goldilocks Zone: An Antidote to Black-and-White Thinking

by Jeremy Shapiro
In the spirit of Goldilocks, clinicians can help clients find their way to thinking styles that are “just right.”

Long Term Psychotherapy and BPD, Part 1: A Dialogue on Hope

by Daniel X. Harris and Trish Thompson
Join a therapist and client as they share their intimate work and insights in the experience of borderline personality disorder.

Holding Two Worlds Together—Apart: On the Duality of Being a Therapist

by Anna Zonen
Safeguarding our clients’ stories is a rare privilege that enhances our therapeutic bond and deepens our humanity. We take them with us and carry them outside of the therapy room. The resonances that work to create neural circuitry and bond the hearts and minds of our clients do the same for us—if we allow them to.

Interpersonal Connection: Noticing the Needs of Others

by David H. Rosmarin
Noticing others’ needs goes beyond improving their wellbeing; our own connection benefits as well when we develop finely-tuned empathy for other people.

Countertransference to Sexual and Developmental Trauma in the Psychoanalysis of a Disabled Patient

by Roberta Satow
At the fascinating and complex intersection of polio, psychoanalysis and sexuality, healing begins.

Emergent Anxiety: Facing a Post-COVID Life

by Jeffrey Chernin
As COVID recedes, new anxieties emerge and therapists will be on the front line to help.

Existential-Humanistic Therapy in the Age of COVID-19 in Vulnerable Populations

by Robert Gordon
Discover how Existential-Humanistic therapy techniques can be used as a catalyst for hope when working with clients who are struggling with the anxiety and fear left in COVID’s wake.

Caring for those Who Care for Our Pets

by Fay Roseman and Christine Sacco-Bene
Explore the unique mental health challenges that veterinarians face and identify opportunities for proactively supporting those who care for our pets.

A Therapist’s Best Friend

by Daniel Fryer
Dogs may well be peoples’ steady companions, but they can also be a therapist’s best friend.

Treating the Compulsive Personality: Transforming Poison into Medicine

by Gary Trosclair
Helping clients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder may seem like an uphill battle. Get tools for increasing your efficacy with these often misunderstood clients.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Understanding the Pandemic’s Impact Through a Developmental Lens

by Maggie Mulqueen
COVID has had devastating effects across the lifespan, but there has also been hope and renewal.

Accurate Empathy is the Heartbeat of Rogerian Psychotherapy

by Blake Griffin Edwards
Keep your clinical practice vital by mastering empathy, the heartbeat of therapeutic change.

How an Anti-Tech Group Therapist Became a True Believer

by Sean Grover
A self-professed techno-dinosaur share the lessons he learned evolving to meet the demands of online group therapy.

The Story is Everything

by Peter Allen
Learn how to tap into the power of your clients' stories to promote meaningful change and deepen the therapeutic bond.

The Therapist and the Marriage

by James Rudes, PhD & Guillermo Cancio-Bello, LMFT
Marriage, as a two-headed entity, can be doubly challenging for a therapist to treat. Here's how to find a focus that works.

Healing the Authoritarian Wound Through Writing: 8 Writing Exercises to Share with Clients

by Eric Maisel
Experiencing authoritarian wounding leaves lasting scars, but Eric Maisel offers useful therapeutic insight and tips to help clients mitigate its impact.

Introducing Grief: How My Clients and I Have Embraced the Exploration of Loss

by Stephen Grigelevich
Tips for helping your clients embrace grief and get unstuck from loss in their lives.

A Silent Dialogue: Coming Together During Troubling Times

by Tori Lester, MA & Lawrence Rubin
Join an unspoken silent dialogue between patient and therapist for some insight on the role self-disclosure plays in the therapeutic relationship.

Has Psychotherapy Lost Its Mind?

by Natan P F Kellermann
Despite “the era of the brain,” the mind is still kicking. Here are some thoughts allowing neuroscience to inform your work with clients.

Us Versus It: Racism, Family Treatment, and Eco-Systemic Considerations

by Paula Bamgbose-Martins
Clinician Paula Bamgbose-Martins shares important insights gained in her work with African American children and their families.

Dangerous Intimacies: Racism, Risk, and Recovery

by Rebecca J. Lester
Rebecca Lester shares her powerful clinical work with a client at the intersection of social work and cultural anthropology.

Imagine If We Could All Love This Way: Connection, Healing and Love in the Therapeutic Relationship

by Anna Zonen
Therapist Anna Zonen is not afraid to love her clients.

Family Therapy in the Age of Zoom: What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been

by Jay Lappin
An old-school family therapist attempts to reconcile the distancing forced upon us by the pandemic.

Treating the Somatic Sequelae of Moral Injury

by George Kraus
Psychotherapist George Kraus utilizes dynamic integrative somatic psychotherapy to help his client overcome moral wounding rooted in childhood abuse.

Helping Domestic Abuse Victims During Quarantine

by Lois Nightingale
Therapeutic planning with victims of domestic violence is even more challenging during the pandemic.

Psychotherapy with Coronavirus: A Novel Experience

by Natan P F Kellermann
What if Coronavirus were a patient seeking psychotherapy? Warning: Contains irony. Read at your own risk. Not approved by CE credentialing boards.

Countertransference: How Are We Doing?

by Peter Allen
Self-care, while helpful, is not the royal road to countertransference management.

Blind Side

by Pamela Garber
Empathy is a critical component to effective therapy, except when it contributes to a clinician’s blind side.

Beyond Resilience: Addressing Moral Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Melissa Abraham, PhD & Rachel E. Smith, MS, PA-C
In the coming months, psychotherapists will need to work knowledgeably and compassionately with clients wrestling with moral distress. 

Integrating Technology into Mental Healthcare: Theory and Practice

by Russell DuBois
Integrating technology into mental health care is no longer a distant frontier.

En Attente (On Hold)

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
A therapist struggles with her feelings of being put “on hold” by one of her more challenging clients.

Ego Liberation: A Buddhist Guide to Escaping Your Mental Prison

by Adam Brandt, LPCA & Drew Brandt
Perhaps, Adam Brandt ponders, therapeutic healing is predicated not in defining the ego, but rather in its liberation. 

Who's Listening? Smartphones and Psychotherapy

by Maggie Mulqueen
Maggie Mulqueen asks fellow therapists to consider the good, bad and ugly of client cell phone use in session.

What’s the Limit? Maintaining and Understanding Boundaries in Psychotherapy

by F. Diane Barth
Psychotherapist F. Diane Barth takes a critical look at boundaries, both personal and therapeutic, as an essential ingredient to healthy relationships.

Trauma and the Reproductive Story

by Janet Jaffe
Clinician Janet Jaffe works with clients who have experienced traumatic reproductive loss, helping them to rewrite their narrative on the road to healing.

Grasping at Optimism: When Helping a Suicidal Client Means Letting Life Happen

by Pamela Garber
Psychotherapist Pamela Garber looks back over her work with a suicidal client and wonders if the therapeutic path she chose was correct.

The Performing Art of Therapy: Acting Insights and Techniques for Clinicians

by Mark O'Connell
An actor/therapist explores the converging demands of each role on stage and in the clinical space.

How to Master the Art of Developing Your Therapeutic Voice

by Michael Alcee
Effective psychotherapy requires that the clinician find their true voice, much like the artists’ journey.

My First Private Patient

by Valery Hazanov
As a young therapist, Valery Hazanov reflects on his therapeutic relationship with an elder fellow Russian, and wonders if he made a difference.

Unlearning to Learn

by Pooja Gala, MA & Urvi Paralkar
Clinicians Pooja Gala and Urvi Paralkar reflect on the challenges of unlearning cherished notions about therapy in order to be fully present for their clients.

The Murder of Hope

by Kayla Rees
Relatively new to her career as a psychotherapist, Kayla Rees mourns the loss of a young client to suicide.

How Self-Disclosure of Learning Differences Guides My Clinical Relationships

by Benjamin Meyer
Benjamin Meyer believes that disclosing his struggles with learning differences to clients has strengthened his therapeutic relationships.

Addressing Common (and Reasonable) Myths About Exposure-Based Therapy for Child Anxiety

by Deepika Bose
Doctoral student and former non-believer Deepika Bose explores and dispels the myths around using exposure therapy with children, confronting her own anxiety about the process.

Why I Hate Alzheimer’s

by Christine Hammond
Reflecting upon personal experience, therapist Christine Hammond takes us into the personal and professional world of working with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Advanced Harm Reduction: Managing Intoxicated Clients

by Dr. Stanton Peele & Dolores Cloward
Clinician Stanton Peele and Coach Dolores Cloward challenge the notion that abstinence is the best policy for those with substance use disorders.

What Do I Say Now? Coping with Uncertainty in Unstructured Psychotherapy

by Michael R. Jackson
A seasoned clinician and psychology instructor explores his professional relationship with clinical uncertainty…and wonders.

Responding to an Immediate Negative Transference

by Roberta Satow
A psychoanalytic psychotherapist wrestles with her analysand’s challenging negative transference.

Train Professionals, Not Just Therapists

by Sarah Epstein
The fantasy of moving into a lucrative career may be just that for newly graduated clinicians lacking professional savvy.

Online Therapy: An Unexpected Space of Freedom

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
International psychotherapist Anastasia Piatakhina provides a place of refuge and healing through online therapy with women living in oppressive societies.

Therapy with a Condom On

by Lori Gottlieb
A therapist confronts a clinical imbroglio when she discovers her own therapist is treating her client’s spouse.

Changing Places

by Maggie Mulqueen
Veteran therapist Maggie Mulqueen relocates her practice and unpacks surprising insights about change. 

Introducing Multi-Lens Therapy

by Eric Maisel
Multi-lens therapy guides clinicians and clients to the root causes of their problems, offering pathways to change.

Let’s Meet in the Middle

by Bill Macaux
Bill Macaux combines his executive coaching and clinical experience with Penberthy’s Interpersonal Circumplex to help a professional couple struggling to free themselves from the pull of family of origin issues.

Embracing Chronic Anger: A Prescription for Disempowerment

by Bernard Golden
Asking us to consider whether chronic anger is or is not a choice, psychotherapist Bernard Golden shares his clinical expertise with a chronically angry client.

Language as Boundary

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
Multilingual, multinational therapist Anastasia Piatakhina bridges language and music with a client struggling to find his true voice.

The Value of Evidence-Based Treatment That Fails

by Seth Gillihan
Considering both the successes and limitations of his methods, psychotherapist Seth Gillihan concludes that it is the caring that counts.

Hotel Room Therapy

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
Self-described ‘displaced-person’ and therapist Anastasia Piatakhina shares her online work with a restless and disconnected hotel-session client.

Therapy with Latinx DACA Clients and Their Families: A Therapist’s Primer

by Jason Linder
Bilingual family therapist Jason Linder shares his first-hand experience getting to know and appreciate the resilience of DACA clients, and discusses how to work with them therapeutically. 

Deliberate Practice in Psychotherapy

by Tony Rousmaniere
Psychotherapy researcher and clinician Tony Rousmaniere teaches us that 10,000 hours of psychotherapy doesn’t make you an expert; focused deliberate practice is the path to excellence.

Working with Teens: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

by Donna C. Moss
While shepherding her own children through adolescence, Donna C. Moss soon realized that working therapeutically with teens was a whole different challenge.

Superiority and Contempt

by Joseph Burgo
Recounting a failed relationship with an emerging psychotherapist, veteran clinician Joseph Burgo explores the origins, anatomy and far-reaching impact of toxic childhood shame.

Reflections of a Psychology Resident in Trauma and Acute Care

by Nina Silander, PsyD
En route to becoming a psychologist, a resident reflects on her clinical trials by fire in a Level-1 trauma center.

Give Me that Feedback

by Heather Clague
Loyal to psychoanalytic practice, psychiatrist Heather Clague ventures into the unfamiliar territory of CBT for the sake of her client…and herself.

In Praise of the Life of a Psychotherapist

by Catherine Ambrose
Looking beyond day-to-day rigors and challenges from behind the couch, seasoned clinician Catherine Ambrose reflects on the gratitude and growth she continues to experience helping others.

Bare: Psychotherapy Stripped

by Jacqueline Simon Gunn, PsyD
A psychotherapist bares all as she reluctantly accepts the referral of a troubled and troubling client who has had a long, hard fall from glory.  

The Not-So-Great Gatsby: An Illustrative Look at the Use of Literature in a Therapy Session

by Dan Williams
Dan Williams recounts a session with a suicidal teenage girl in which he attempts to use a discussion of The Great Gatsby story to help her understand her own story. 

PhDs in Therapy

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
A therapist reflects on her work with PhD students doing field work abroad and the healing that can happen doing online therapy at such a vulnerable moment in people's lives.

Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist’s Memoir

by Irvin Yalom
After decades of writing about his patients' lives as they journey with him through therapy, Irvin Yalom finally puts himself on the couch in this touching memoir—his final book. 

Drug Dealer, MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop

by Anna Lembke
In this excerpt from Anna Lembke's book, Drug Dealer, MD, she illustrates the dangers early access to prescription opioids can have even for kids who are not at high risk for addiction.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Are High-Risk Clients Suitable for Online Psychotherapy?

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré & Joseph Burgo, PhD
Two psychotherapists seasoned in long-distance Skype therapy discuss the unique challenges—and advantages—to treating high-risk clients online.

Straight Life Cycle/Queer Life

by Mark O'Connell
Queer therapist and writer Mark O'Connell shares a psychotherapy vignette about navigating traditional heterosexual milestones as a gay man.

If You Kill Yourself, Don’t Make a Mess: Paradoxical Intention with a Suicidal Client

by Dan Williams
In this raw but compelling clinical vignette, therapist Dan Williams uses paradoxical intention in an all-out effort to save his client from committing suicide.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Ayahuasca Is My Therapist (Or Is It?)

by Sean O'Carroll
Can Ayahuasca or other psychedelic medications aid or replace traditional psychotherapy, or is there a danger of "spiritual bypass"?

Tea with Freud: An Imaginary Conversation About How Psychotherapy Really Works

by Steven B. Sandler
In this delightfully imaginative excerpt from Tea with Freud: An Imaginary Conversation About How Psychotherapy Really Works, psychiatrist and author Steven B. Sandler, travels back in time to consult with Freud on some of his most challenging cases, and challenges Freud to think about his famous theories in new ways.

Queer Couch for the Straight Girl

by Mark O'Connell
Queer therapist, Mark O'Connell, describes therapy with a heterosexual woman client, and how claiming his queerness, rather than playing a role of "expert," helped his client create a new story for her life.

Bad Therapy: When Firing Your Therapist Is Therapeutic

by Charlotte Fox Weber
Therapist Charlotte Fox Weber describes an agonizing 5-year therapy as the client of a cold and withholding therapist, and the lessons she learned about what NOT to do with her own clients.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

The Imprisoned Brain: Psychotherapy with Inmates in Jail

by Sudhanva Rajagopal
Sudhanva Rajagopal, a clinical psychology graduate student, ponders our animal nature as he relates the poignant complexity of working with inmates in jail.

Whiteness Matters: Exploring White Privilege, Color Blindness and Racism in Psychotherapy

by Margaret Clausen
Explore White privilege in the psychology profession and the importance of confronting it with education, curiosity & humility.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Losing Faith: Arguing for a New Way to Think About Therapy

by Scott Miller
Psychologist Scott Miller, who has spent years researching what works in psychotherapy, details the dark days after losing his faith in the profession, and his long journey back to loving and believing in his vocation once again.
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

In Bed With Your Therapist: The Paradoxical Intimacy of Online Psychotherapy

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré & Joseph Burgo, PhD
Psychotherapists Anastasia Piatakhina Giré and Joseph Burgo, who conduct therapy with clients around the world over Skype, share about the unique aspects of being let into the intimate spaces of their clients homes.

What Remains: The Aftermath of Patient Suicide

by Margaret Clausen
Psychologist Margaret Clausen shares poignantly about the loss of her client to suicide,  the steps she took to heal her grief, and the isolation and shame that many clinicians needlessly suffer in the wake of client suicide.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Brooklyn Zoo: The Education of a Psychotherapist

by Darcy Lockman
In this excerpt from psychologist Darcy Lockman's book, Brooklyn Zoo: The Education of a Psychotherapist, follow Lockman through an ordinary day as a post-doc at a notorious Brooklyn psychiatric hospital. 

Creatures of a Day

by Irvin Yalom
Read a story, "The Crooked Cure," excerpted from Irvin Yalom's new book, Creatures of a Day, about a peculiar client with writer's block.

The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry

by Gary Greenberg
In this excerpt from his best-selling exposé, The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry, psychotherapist Gary Greenberg pulls back the curtain on the DSM's surprising evolution and deconstructs the very notion of "diagnosing" our clients.

Psychotherapy and the Care of Souls

by Thomas Moore
Famed Care of the Soul author, Thomas Moore, offers insights into what makes a good therapist. Hint: You can't learn it from a manual.

When the Therapist Loves and Hates

by Chris Peterson
Psychotherapist Chris Peterson makes a strong case for welcoming all of our intense feelings—both loving and hateful—into the therapy process with clients to deepen the therapy relationship and its healing potential.

Bad Therapy: What You Didn't Learn in Grad School

by Deb Kory
Psychologist Deb Kory pulls no punches in critiquing what is missing from our training programs, and calls for more authenticity, humor and humility in the ways we teach and learn to practice therapy.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

by Bessel van der Kolk
Read an excerpt from the highly acclaimed new book by world renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk, MD.

On Quitting The Practice of Psychotherapy

by Michael Sussman
Former psychotherapist Michael Sussman discusses the perils of psychotherapy practice and the wisdom of knowing when to quit.

Therapy: A Poem

by Kerry Mulholland
A poem about the therapy experience from the vantage point of a client.

Psychotherapy with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Clients

by Karisa Barrow
With attempted suicide rates greater than 40% in the transgender community, it's important for clinicians to be aware of the issues gender nonconforming clients bring to therapy, and to be knowledgeable about how best to support them. Karisa Barrow challenges therapists to deconstruct the gender binary, identify and work through prejudices, and seek guidance from gender specialists to ensure that we "do no harm."
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

After the Diagnosis: Helping Patients Cope With their Emotions

by Gary McClain
Psychotherapist Gary McClain discusses the importance of understanding clients' reactions to new diagnoses, the three main responses they have, and advocating for them with healthcare providers.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Psychotherapy with Alien Beings: Cultural Competence (and Incompetence) in Psychotherapy Practice

by Laura Brown
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.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships

by Sue Johnson
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.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving

by Pete Walker
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.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Infertility on Both Sides of the Couch

by Wendy Iglehart
A psychotherapist treats a client struggling with infertility while facing it herself.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Paradise Lost: When Clients Commit Suicide

by Marian Joyce*
A psychologist describes the trauma of losing a patient to suicide.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Our Hungry Selves: Women, Eating and Identity

by Kim Chernin
Famed feminist and psychotherapist, Kim Chernin, discusses her work with women, body image and eating disorders over the past 40 years. Not surprisingly, eating disorders are at an all time high in our culture. She discusses what has changed and what seemingly never will.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Psychiatry by the Dumpster: One Man's Struggle with OCD

by Elias Aboujaoude
Psychiatrist and OCD specialist Elias Aboujaoude gives a poignant account of one man's struggles with severe OCD and his journey to recovery.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

The Dark Intruder

by Esther W. Wright-Wilson
Psychotherapist-poet Esther Wright-Wilson muses about the moment an insect intrudes on a therapy session.

Embracing Your Demons: An Overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

by Russell Harris
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.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Transforming War Trauma: The Healing Power of Community

by Joseph Bobrow
Psychoanalyst and Zen master, Joseph Bobrow, PhD, describes his groundbreaking work providing healing retreats for traumatized veterans and their families. 
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The God of Psychoanalysis

by Simon Yisrael Feuerman
A psychotherapist shares the agonies and ecstasies of being in psychoanalytic group therapy and asks: Is psychoanalysis a religion after all?

The Tao of Anger Management: A Yield Theory Approach

by Christian Conte
Anger management expert, Christian Conte, PhD, describes his unique and highly effective approach to teaching and counseling violent offenders.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart

by Tara Brach
Clinical Psychologist and Buddhism expert Tara Brach, PhD, shares her insights about working with pain and suffering, meeting our edge and softening, and the simple but profound technique she uses with clients to bring mindful awareness into their daily lives.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Encounters with Suicide: A Psychotherapist Remembers Not to Forget

by Catherine Ambrose
A psychotherapist treating a suicidal client struggles with memories--and forgetting--of suicide in her own family.

The Anxiety Disorder Game

by Reid Wilson
Anxiety Disorder expert Reid Wilson, PhD, offers a unique twist on traditional cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders. 
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

Grief and Gratitude: Working with Stroke Survivors

by Carol Howard Wooton, MFT & Gwyn Fallbrooke
After suffering from a stroke herself, a therapist recounts her journey from patient to professional, culminating in her leading  groups for other stroke survivors.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Motivational Interviewing in End-of-Life Care

by Ellen Young
A social work intern grapples with a situation that would challenge even an experienced clinician: helping a loving wife decide whether to stop feeding her dying husband of 64 years.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Spinoza Problem: An Excerpt

by Irvin Yalom
By imagining the unexpected intersection of Jewish philosopher Spinoza’s life with that of powerful Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, bestselling novelist Irvin Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years. Psychotherapy.net is pleased to publish this exclusive excerpt.

Psychotherapy with Older Adults: Unjustified Fears, Unrecognized Rewards

by George Kraus
A geriatric clinical psychologist debunks the stereotypes about working with elderly populations, and shares his discovery of the joy and gratitude that come from intimate contact with wise elders.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Two Therapy Poems

by Esther W. Wright-Wilson
Poems by Esther Wright-Wilson about those unsettling moments in therapy that we can all relate to.

Assessing Partner Abuse in Couples Therapy

by Albert Dytch
Learn how to spot the often subtle signs of partner abuse in couples therapy, and how to take effective action. This article includes the author's Abusive Behavior Inventory as a free download.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Whole Truth: Coping Creatively with the Dark Side of Therapeutic Practice

by Lisa Mitchell
A therapist reflects upon the dark side of the profession—stress, anxiety, and burnout—and offers helpful insights as well as activities for combating these negative states using professional community building and art making.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Interrupting the Conversation: Gestalt Therapy Here and Now

by Norman Shub
Using a case study with a disconnected client, a contemporary Gestalt therapist debunks myths that have lingered from the heyday of Fritz Perls. 

The God of Hellfire Will See You Now

by Matt Wolff
How often does a proto-Goth heavy metal rock star become a psychotherapist?

Sleep and the Therapist: A Poem

by Esther W. Wright-Wilson
A therapist poetically chronicles an underreported occupational hazard.

Psychotherapy with Former Cult Members

by Patrick O'Reilly
A specialist in cults discusses a real-life example of a former cult member's struggle to recover from his traumatic experiences within the group, and offers treatment advice for this unusual and challenging population.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Awakening to Awe: A Book Review

by Bob Edelstein
A review of existential psychologist and author Kirk Schneider’s latest work, which explores the nature and power of awe through interviews of people personally transformed by an emotion which has been much neglected by psychology.

Couch Fiction

by Philippa Perry and Junko Graat
Couch Fiction allows you to peep through the key-hole of the therapy room door and read the mind of the protagonists.

The Gossamer Thread: My Life as a Psychotherapist

by John Marzillier
Using three different case studies with clients, a British therapist describes his personal journey from his early career as a behavioral psychologist, to his later years, where he embraced a more intuitive and reflective psychodynamic approach.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Working in the Here-and-Now of the Therapeutic Relationship

by Nancy Gunzberg
Working in the here-and-now of the therapeutic relationship requires therapists to be fully engaged, and take risks in revealing themselves. But utilizing the transference and counter-transference makes for rewarding and powerful therapy.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Preventing Psychotherapy Dropouts with Client Feedback

by Tony Rousmaniere
One beginning therapist shares his success with the Session Rating Scale in improving his practice.

Trusting the Client as the Agent of Change

by Tracy A. Knight
Reflections on the client's capacity for change, including a case study of a successful single-session therapeutic intervention.

It's Over Now: Termination and Countertransference

by Melissa Groman
A therapist explores the complex feelings that arise when a client terminates abruptly.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Duped and Recouped

by Nancy Fishman, PhD and Jeffrey Kottler, PhD
Empathy and compassion generally serve us well with our clients, but aren't necessarily the skills we need to navigate the world of running a practice. This story, excerpted from Duped: Lies and Deception in Psychotherapy serves as a cautionary tale.

How Therapists Fail: Why Too Many Clients Drop Out of Therapy Prematurely

by Bernard Schwartz, PhD and John Flowers, PhD
If we could learn from all of our less-than-optimal therapy outcomes, we'd really acquire some true clinical wisdom.  Here are some practical tips to increase your odds of success.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Walking A Tightrope: Family Therapy with Adolescents and Their Families

by Kenneth V. Hardy
Hardy brings family therapy to life with this compelling and instructive case vignette of his work with an African-American family.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Psychotherapy with Medically Ill Patients: Hope in the Trenches

by Tamara McClintock Greenberg
Working with clients who are medically ill not only requires us to learn more about the seemingly distant and disembodied relational aspects of medicine, but also forces us to confront painful existential realities on a daily basis.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

A Psychotherapist's Guide to Facebook and Twitter: Why Clinicians Should Give a Tweet!

by Keely Kolmes
Dr. Kolmes offers firsthand insights into the uses of social media as a professional tool.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Healing Trauma Through the Body: The Way In is the Way Out

by Ariel Giarretto
Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Approach is brought to life in this in-depth case study of body oriented therapy.

Getting Off to a Powerful Start in Couples Therapy

by Ellyn Bader
Dr. Bader, a renowned couples therapist, gives an overview of essential first steps in therapy with every couple.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

H2O Under the Bridge: A Case of Trichotillomania

by Elias Aboujaoude
Dr. Aboujaode provides an engaging and informative account of hair-pulling, in this exclusive excerpt from his book, Compulsive Acts: A Psychiatrist's Tales of Ritual and Obsession.
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

Beyond Psychotherapy: Working Outside the Medical Model

by John A. Martin
Dr. Martin shares his reasons for leaving the insurance game.

Weekends At Bellevue: A Memoir

by Julie Holland
A no-holds-barred account from the front lines of the psychiatric emergency room at America's oldest public hospital.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Emotional Flashback Management in the Treatment of Complex PTSD

by Pete Walker
Pete Walker provides a convincing argument for the recognition and proper treatment of emotional flashbacks and complex PTSD, which result from childhood neglect and emotional abuse.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Looking Out the Patient's Window Redux: Self-disclosure and Genuineness

by Irvin Yalom
Yalom is confronted to live up to his ideals of therapist self-disclosure and authenticity. Excerpted from the recently updated version of The Gift of Therapy.

Family Therapy and Resistant Parents: The Child Cannot Wait

by Leon Rosenberg
When do we shift from trying to work within the parent-child relationship to seeing the child as a separate entity needing to cope with a destructive parent?
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Man with the Beautiful Voice

by Lillian B. Rubin
Lillian Rubin's moving account of her challenging psychotherapy with a man struggling with his disability. Reprinted from the book of the same title.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

A Crash Course in Psychotherapy: Moving through Anxiety and Self-Doubt

by Charlotte Dailey
A challenging client plunges a beginning therapist into a state of anxiety.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Supershrinks: What is the secret of their success?

by Barry Duncan, PhD and Scott Miller, PhD
Clients of the best therapists improve at a rate at least 50-percent higher and drop out at a rate at least 50-percent lower than those of average clinicians. What is the key to superior performance?
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Cancer and The Secret

by Regina Huelsenbeck
Positive thinking isn't everything; life has a rhythm we must honor for our own mental health.

Lowering Fees in Hard Times: The Meaning Behind the Money

by Melissa Groman
One therapist's good, hard look at the question of negotiating therapy fees with clients.

Lessons from the Depths: Scuba Diving and Psychotherapy with Men

by Jeff Sharp
An insightful look into working with typical male concerns in therapy, including pride, shame, armoring, and competitiveness.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

When a Patient Dies . . . Should the Therapist Attend the Funeral?

by Richard P. Halgin
Richard Halgin shares the story of a long-term client's unexpected death, and how he managed his professional boundaries around this tragic event.

"When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad I'm better": A New Mantra for Psychotherapists

by Barry Duncan, PhD and Scott Miller, PhD
Barry Duncan and Scott Miller provide a comprehensive summary of the Outcome-Informed, Client-Directed approach and a detailed, practical overview of its application in clinical practice.
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

Words Against the Void: Poems by an Existential Psychologist

by Tom Greening
Humorous yet profound musings on psychotherapy and the human condition, excerpted from his recent book, Words Against the Void.

Where's the Bear?

by Susan S. Hardy
Marriage and family therapist Susan Hardy explains the usefulness of "acting as if" in changing emotions and behavior.

My, How Couples Therapy has Changed! Attachment, Love and Science

by Sue Johnson
Renowned family therapist Sue Johnson discusses Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) in light of new research on attachment in adult love relationships.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Black and White Witchcraft: A Cultural Crossroads in Paris Inspires Therapeutic Innovation

by Tamar Kaim
An American psychology student reflects on her year of research at an ethnopsychiatric clinic in Paris, France.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Shades of Gray: When a therapist and her client are survivors of child abuse

by Lisa Cassidy
When are we far enough down the path of our own healing that we can safely go back and help someone else along? A therapist shares the story of confronting this urgent question with a traumatized client suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Hollywood on the Couch

by Dennis Palumbo
An entertaining look behind the the scenes of the entertainment industry.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Psychotherapy in China: Western and Eastern Perspectives

by Stephen F. Myler, PhD & Hui Qi Tong, MD
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

Practical Psychoanalysis for Therapists and Patients

by Owen Renik
Renik argues that psychoanalysis must move beyond theory and focus instead on effectiveness.
Earn 3.0 CE Credits

Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death

by Irvin Yalom
In this exclusive excerpt from his latest book, Irvin Yalom delves into the ultimate existential concern, and how therapists can help clients in facing death anxiety. 
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

In Search of Self: My Therapy with Rogers, Satir, Bugental, Polster, Yalom, & Maslow

by Deb Hammond
A psychotherapy student assembles her dream team for guidance toward self-actualization.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Therapist Mourns His Mother's Death: Being With Clients While Heartbroken

by Bob Livingstone
Therapist Bob Livingstone offers grieving therapists advice about the effects of mourning upon therapeutic practice.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Transforming the Wounds of Racism: An Autoethnographic Exploration and Implications for Psychotherapy

by Saira Bains
A therapist explores her experiences of racism by investigating her family's history of racist trauma, and shares how autoethnography can help therapists disentangle their own experiences with racism so they can more openly engage painful areas of the client's story.
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

When the Therapist Leaves: A Personal Account of an Unusual Termination

by Amy Urdang
A psychotherapist explores client-therapist boundaries and termination issues in a particularly intensive course of therapy.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Clinical Wisdom: A Psychoanalyst Learns from his Mistakes

by Herbert Rabin
Dr. Rabin shares lessons culled from 40 years of psychotherapy teaching and practice.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Tyranny of Niceness: A Psychotherapeutic Challenge

by Evelyn Sommers
Dr. Sommers discusses the prevalent problem of cultural silencing called "niceness," and offers case studies and advice for addressing associated client issues of anxiety and helplessness.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Angels in Crisis: How Mobile Crisis Intervention Changes Lives

by Bill Martin
A psychologist's poignant account of a challenging case referred by Child Protective Services while working on a mobile mental health crisis team.

Self-Help Snake Oil and Self-Improvement Urban Legends

by Steven Kraus
A psychologist's skeptical look at the science (or lack thereof) behind much of the self-help industry,
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Resistant Clients: We've All Had Them; Here's How to Help Them!

by Clifton Mitchell
Encountering resistance is likely evidence that therapy is taking place. In fact, successful psychotherapy is highly related to increases in resistance, and low resistance corresponds with negative outcomes.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Psychotherapy for Oppositional-Defiant Kids with Low Frustration Tolerance—and How to Help Their Parents, Too

by David Rice
Dr. Rice offers a new perspective on oppositional-defiant children based on temperament, and suggests effective therapeutic interventions for both parent and child.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Family Therapy with Families Facing Catastrophic Illness: Building Internal and External Resources

by Ellen Pulleyblank Coffey
Dr. Coffey discusses common challenges and interventions for families coping with terminal illness.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Tao of Direction: Structure and Process in Clinical Supervision

by Jay Reeve
Therapist Jay Reeve offers advice on balancing structured, direct instruction and process-oriented exploration in supervision sessions with new therapists.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Existential Poems

by Tom Greening
Lyrical reflections on psychotherapy.

Therapeutic Alliance, Focus, and Formulation: Thinking Beyond the Traditional Therapy Orientations

by Robert-Jay Green
The main elements of successful therapy include a positive therapeutic alliance, a clear focus, a coherent problem formulation, and improvised techniques—not a particular theoretical orientation.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Letting the Patient Matter: Some Thoughts on Irvin Yalom's View of the Therapeutic Relationship

by Barbara Jamison
Jamison reviews highlights of Yalom's book, The Gift of Therapy. focusing on his willingness to engage fully and reveal himself in the therapeutic relationship.

A Few Simple Questions

by Saul Spiro
A satiric take on the Mental Status Exam.

Food for the Soul

by Myrtle Heery
Dr. Heery travels to Russia at the summoning of her soul, and rediscovers the living moment.

9/11 One Year Later: A Psychotherapist Reflects on His Experiences at Ground Zero

by Tab Ballis
We weren't expected to have any words of wisdom... and nobody did.

How To Be A Grown-up Even Around Your Own Parents

by Frank Pittman
People don't become grown-ups until they realize that their parents, however wonderful, were badly misinformed and sometimes stark, raving mad.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Empty Chair: Making Our Absence Less Traumatic for Everyone

by Ann Steiner
What happens when a therapist becomes ill or dies? Dr. Steiner provides a valuable blueprint for therapists to prepare for unexpected absence and termination.

The Gift of Therapy

by Irvin Yalom
Existential psychotherapist Irv Yalom offers insights into the therapist's role as an obstacle remover and fellow traveler. Excerpted from his book The Gift of Therapy. 

Work Is Life: A Psychologist Looks at Identity and Work in America

by Ilene Philipson
In a discussion of the growing problem of work-life balance in American culture, Dr. Philipson shares the stories of clients whose overidentification with work ended in disaster.

Psychotherapy Isn't What You Think: Bringing the Psychotherapeutic Engagement into the Living Moment

by James Bugental
In this exclusive excerpt from his book, renowned existential-humanistic psychologist Jim Bugental reflects on his philosophy of psychotherapy.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Breaking Barriers to Doing Corporate Consulting

by Louis A. Perrott
"Today's most enterprising therapists are realizing that the most promising opportunities for new business lie outside of the healthcare system."
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Path to Wholeness: Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy

by Natalie Rogers
Therapist Natalie Rogers shares an overview of this growing field of humanistic psychotherapy.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Transition Into Sports Psychology

by Joan Steidinger
Dr. Steidinger discusses the benefits of joining the growing field of sports psychology.

The Family Research Project: A Summary

by Stephanie Brown
Renowned substance-abuse specialist Stephanie Brown discusses effective therapeutic interventions for families of alcoholics during the recovery process.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Gottman and Gray: The Two Johns

by Hara Estroff Marano
One is the gold standard; the other the gold earner. Take a wild guess which is which.

The Schopenhauer Cure

by Irvin Yalom
An excerpted introduction to psychiatrist Irv Yalom's new novel about the challenging reunion between a therapist and his long-ago patient, who is now a philosophical counselor. 

What Do We Believe and Whom Do We Trust?

by Jeffrey Kottler
We all know that clients may withhold critical information, but what do we do when they deliberately lie? Jeffrey Kottler explores this in an excerpt from his latest book, The Assassin and the Therapist: An Exploration of Truth in Psychotherapy and in Life.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Psychiatric Repression of Thomas Szasz: Its Social and Political Significance

by Ron Leifer
Psychiatrist Ron Leifer gives a compelling account of the historical context of Thomas Szasz's career as the leading critic of the medical model of psychiatry, along with its implications for the profession of psychiatry and for free thought and speech in the United States.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits