This conundrum is often the log jam that gets in the way of emotional healing: “When you’re a child, you have very little power to change your environment. You can’t move away, or force somebody to stop hurting you. So, you have two choices. You can admit to yourself that you are powerless ― that…
In our culture of mandatory happiness, wise words from Svend Brinkmann, author of the Danish bestseller Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze: “I believe our thoughts and emotions should mirror the world. When something bad happens, we should be allowed to have negative thoughts and feelings about it because that’s how we understand the world.”…
From the New York Times, on the importance of working with an LGBTQ-affirmative therapist: “Having a gay-affirmative therapist really changed my life in a lot of ways,” said one student therapist. “I had always thought, ‘I’m just like my straight friends, only I’m attracted to men.’ But what I found out is that there’s a…
Here are 4 things that competent therapists do, according to Michael Karson at Psychology Today. I agree. 1. The therapist understands that a therapeutic relationship is very different from a social relationship. My view is that good therapy requires the patient to take off the social mask, and therapist behaviors that are social keep the…
This week, author and war correspondent Sebastian Junger (Perfect Storm, War) talks about PTSD and soldiers on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show. He discusses the importance of a cohesive, communal social network and treatment for healing from trauma. Listen here: EMDR is one therapy that has been studied and proven to work well with veterans and…
