By Patrick Dougherty - In the sea of trauma that surrounds us in our daily lives and in our offices, self-care is a life jacket. But collective trauma needs a collective response. Being part of a group of therapists dedicated to talking about vicarious trauma and sharing their own experiences is more than a life jacket—it's a human lifeboat, one with more resilience than we could ever generate alone. 

Stephen Porges, originator of the Polyvagal Theory, transformed the way we understand the underlying mechanisms of traumatic response and how safety, caring, and trustworthiness are conveyed unconsciously. Here, he explains how to spot healthy connection in the body.

By Dafna Lender - The kinds of interventions that are most effective with children are based in play. Play is a remarkably powerful therapeutic tool, backed up by cutting-edge research, and teaching families how to apply it at home can bring about profound systemic changes.

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By Lauren Dockett and Rich Simon - Gabor Maté's TED talk on “The Power of Addiction and the Addiction of Power” has had almost 700,000 views. He insists that addictive patterns of behavior are rooted in alienation and emotional suffering. In the interview that follows, Maté explores the meaning of addictions.

When he introduced Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to the West, Jon Kabat-Zinn transformed the way we regard the Self, and the psychological ailments that befall it. In this video clip from his 2015 Networker Symposium Keynote, he explains the transformative power of mindfulness in clinical work and your own life.

Sandra has been struggling with depression for many years. A psychiatrist has prescribed her an antidepressant, but she’s told her therapist she doesn’t like the “idea” of meds and doesn’t take them regularly. He's not sure how best to explore the issue with her. Five clinicians share how they'd proceed.

By Jennifer Freeman - We humans are not separate from nature, we are nature. Leaving behind the sense of grim, pressured responsibility that can accompany our climate crises, how extraordinary if we, with our clients, become part of the collective who are creating a counter-tsunami of responsive love for our exquisitely beautiful earth.

By Wendy Maltz - The explosion in porn use has happened so fast that many therapists have been caught unprepared. And despite the increase in the number of people suffering from serious consequences of habitual porn use, few therapists feel comfortable and confident addressing porn-related concerns.

By Dafna Lender - When difficulties arise between parent and child, most therapists naturally focus treatment on the child. But the parent–child bond is a two-way street, and parents come with their own history. In these situations, I can often find ways to help parents and children connect through attachment-based games that involve elements of silliness, movement, and surprise.

What keeps clients coming back? Lynn Grodzki—psychotherapist, business coach, and author—encourages therapists to be proactive in helping clients understand what to expect from the therapy process. This might seem simple, but it requires clear communication at two critical junctures.

By Jeff Nalin - October is National Bullying Prevention Month. As a father and a clinical psychologist working with teens, I’ve seen the shape of bullying change over the years. The old stereotypes around bullies and those they torment no longer fit the bill. So, as incidents of bullying continue to rise and shift shape, it’s important for clinicians to understand the how we can work effectively with bullied teens and their parents.

By Jerome Price and Judith Margerum - When working with teens, a therapist must become comfortable with the idea of dealing with power tactics rather than communication skills. Here are four common errors that therapists commonly make with teenagers, and how to avoid them.

By Janine Roberts - When I've asked people who've gone to therapy what was most helpful, again and again, they've described times when their therapists shared something about their own personal struggles. Today, with the informality of our culture, both therapists and clients are likelier to step across previous professional guidelines.

Our relational lives are undergoing a radical shift, says Esther Perel, couples therapist, bestselling author, and TED speaker. In the following video clip from her 2018 Symposium Keynote, "The Future of Modern Love," Perel explains why today's romantic landscape—and the questions we're asking ourselves about desire and couplehood—are unprecedented, and what therapists have to offer clients who come to us for guidance.

By Lynn Lyons - Lately, I’ve become aware of just how much of my practice is made up of young adults who return to therapy after leaving the nest. This pattern is also indicative of a generation of young people stuck in the transition between childhood and adulthood. Here's what I do with "long-term" clients who swing back.

By Susan Pollak - Often when we have an intense emotion, we respond to it as a call to action. We feel we have to “do” something. Yet emotions reveal important information, and they’re here for a reason. It’s good to get curious about them, to notice them, to allow ourselves to feel them in the body, rather than push them away. Here's an eight-step process for doing so.

By Mary Jo Barrett - Families suffering from trauma, abuse, and neglect can begin to make the crucial distinction between a chronic state of overarousal and vigilance and "reality" only once a sense of physical and psychological safety has been established. Only after this first stage is it even possible to focus on changing dysfunctional mindsets, counterproductive behavior, and destructive family patterns.

By Brad Sachs - The current generation of families is confronted with what appears to be a substantial upsurge in young adults who can't seem to make the transition from home-centered adolescent to independent adult. Here's why, and what we can do about it.

Many people wonder how therapists manage to do the work they do. Of the thousands of meaningful sessions that take place in a therapist’s office, certain ones stand out. Here, therapist Courtney Armstrong shares the story of working with her most memorable client.

It’s the rare therapist who hasn’t experienced his or her own eureka moments. Here, therapist Frank Anderson shares his story a particularly challenging⁠—and enlightening⁠—client experience.

By Gabor Maté - Several years ago, I began to receive inquiries about what I knew regarding the use of ayahuasca in the healing of addiction. Since then, I've developed deep respect for the collaborative power of shamanic medicine allied with the insights and practice of depth psychology. Respect may be too mild a word—awe hits closer to the mark.

By Michael Alcée - Why have we lost sight of the fact that introversion, extroversion, or ambiversion (the middle ground between the two) are seminal parts of who our clients are and how they make sense of life? And how can we do a better job of shining a light on their personality types and helping them validate their own ways of being and belonging in the world?

When therapists work with anxious kids and their families, they’re often solving immediate problems, not envisioning a clinical relationship that could last for decades. But that’s what happened for brief therapist Lynn Lyons. Here, she talks about the unexpected pleasures of being there for her youngest clients as they grow into teens and young adults.

By Esther Perel - America, in matters of sex as in much else, is a goal-oriented society that prefers explicit meanings, candor, and "plain speech." I often suggest an alternative with my clients: "If you want to create more passion in your relationship, why don't you play a little more with the natural ambiguity of gesture and words, and the rich nuances inherent in communication."