Tuesday is for Therapists: Biweekly Essays

TIFT #51: The Adolescent Mental Health Crisis, A Fresh View tift May 14, 2022

*Notice:  I would like to discuss therapist's most troublesome cases. Email or use the communication form.

The New YorkTimes recently published an article on the adolescent mental health crisis. They cited many factors but missed the center of the problem. Yes, puberty comes...

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TIFT #50: Notes on Anger tift Apr 26, 2022

This post started out with curiosity about why fathers are often antagonistic towards their children. There isn’t much talk about this often unjustified anger, so why is it common? One important answer came when that observation connected with the way self-made successes tend to look upon...

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TIFT #49 Unilateral Mariage Counseling Apr 12, 2022

 

In a way, this post is a follow-up on TIFT #48, in which I explored the power of needing to belong to one another. Here’s how it relates.

When couples seek help, the situation is almost always like this: Each partner is focused on “getting the other to…” And if...

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TIFT #48 Cozy Close, Icy Distant, and In Between Mar 29, 2022

We talk a lot these days about attachment, but there is a more pervasive and powerful influence on everyday behavior. Attachment is what counteracts the threat of existential aloneness. But in our daily lives, and in therapeutic relationships, the interplay between cozy closeness...

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TIFT #47 The Future of Psychotherapy tift Mar 15, 2022

 

Until very recently, psychotherapy’s future has been obscure. Just as in the early years, schools and orientations have continued to build their private troves of findings and techniques, while hoping to recruit new acolytes and ultimately triumph over the others. Every year, new...

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TIFT #46 Adult Temper Tantrums tift Mar 01, 2022


This post was originally published six years ago and is updated here. As indicated in TIFT #1, I continue to be impressed with the value of seeing people as a kind of sandwich with an adult self layered on top and a very active child. Once open to the concept, it is remarkable how often one finds...

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Attachment to Your Therapist Feb 28, 2022

Originally Published 7/10/2010.

 

*** Now Available: Attachment to Your Therapist: A Conversation. This series of posts in expanded E-Book form, on Amazon.***

A reader submitted this wonderfull comment:

Anyway, I've been in therapy, on and off, for about 12 years. Dealing with "neurosis" I...

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TIFT #45 A Window on the Mind tift Feb 15, 2022


How can we observe what goes on outside of consciousness? When we humans do things clearly against our own best interests and even against own free will, we can safely surmise that some other agency in the mind is at work. I call that agency the "nonconscious problem solver."...

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TIFT #44. Good Theory Improves Technique Feb 01, 2022

 

A theory is only a theory, a plausible explanation of reality. But, when a theory grows out of one area of science, then comes full circle and confirms a completely independent set of observations, we gain confidence. In the case of psychotherapy, knowledge coming out of teaching rodents...

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TIFT #43 The "Dread" in Perspective Jan 18, 2022

 

In TIFT #42, I introduced the idea of dread. It may have seemed dark, but It’s really hopeful. Why? Because at the time, long ago, when the mind first sought to avoid, there didn’t seem to be any alternative. But those bad times are over and now we have a better way. By facing...

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TIFT #42 "Following the Dread" Jan 04, 2022

 

 With this post, I’m proposing practical guidance to make psychotherapy more effective. The idea is simple. Giving ourselves and our clients the task of discovering what it is they most dread will turn out to be surprisingly helpful. Here’s why.

Essentially all of the EMPs...

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TIFT #41 It's the Love IIā€“Bracing Dec 14, 2021

 

Thanks so much to the readers who commented on “It’s the Love,” Post #36. How often does a therapist get to participate in a genuine dialog with clients outside of a therapeutic relationship? I hope many therapists are taking the time to read the 25 comments on that...

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*** Residents and Fellows in Psychiatry Course enrollment ending Sunday***