Editor's Note
May/June 2019
In the true tales published in this issue, the storytellers made a leap of faith, dropping all pretense of professional omniscience and trusting their colleagues to listen from the heart.
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Embracing the Other
From Symposium Storytelling Evening 2019
May/June 2019
“Jeremy, we’ve never talked about it, but I cover my head for many reasons,” I told him. “One of them is to keep the energy contained—the heat doesn’t escape."
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Family Matters
An Apple Seed and Trained Monkeys: Growing Up Under the Influence of My Big Sister's Imagination
May/June 2019
Whether as playmate, protector, or tormentor, a big sister looms large in the imagination of her younger sibling.
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Flourishing as We Age
Highlights from Symposium 2019
May/June 2019
Mary Pipher, author of the classic Reviving Ophelia and nine subsequent books, was this year’s recipient of the Networker’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her many contributions to broadening the perspective of the field and expanding its moral imagination.
Magazine Article
Healing as a Subversive Act
Highlights from Symposium 2019
May/June 2019
In his opening keynote, Canadian physician Gabor Maté called on therapists to expand their frame of reference and recognize how their job is too often a kind of mopping up after the cruelties and injustices of the larger systems that shape our lives.
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In Consultation
Truths and Consequences: Helping Teens Make Good Decisions
May/June 2019
When it comes to high-risk behaviors, therapists can find themselves caught between boundary-testing teens and their concerned parents.
Magazine Article
Learning to Draw the Line
From Symposium Storytelling Evening 2019
May/June 2019
"In one session, she said that her life outside of therapy was going great, and seeing me was her main problem."
Magazine Article
Piercing the Illusion of Intimacy
From Symposium Storytelling Evening 2019
May/June 2019
“Whoops,” I said, thinking this was a lighthearted moment. “Looks like you should’ve gone with that other psychologist.” But Ted didn’t joke back.
Magazine Article
Point of View
A Therapist Switches Chairs: From Clinician to Client to Author
May/June 2019
In her latest bestselling book, Lori Gottlieb offers an unusually intimate look at her experience as both a therapist and a client.
Magazine Article
Suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge
BONUS Video: Watch Malcolm's full keynote from Symposium 2019
May/June 2019
In his many bestselling books, author Malcolm Gladwell has achieved renown for upending conventional thinking about the forces that shape people’s lives. His keynote, beginning with a surprising look at poet Sylvia Plath's suicide, underscored the Symposium theme of the interplay of social and personal issues.
Magazine Article
The Best Love Story Ever
Highlights from Symposium 2019
May/June 2019
Clinical psychologist, researcher, and developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy, Sue Johnson—challenging the idea that commitment and exclusive relationships have become passé in a world skeptical of traditional values—made an impassioned case for the deeply healing power of intimate connection.
Magazine Article
The Inheritance Within
Coming Face to Face with Our Ancestors
May/June 2019
For decades, Bert Hellinger and his Family Constellations approach have been a lightning rod for controversy. But the latest research on epigenetics and the multigenerational impact of trauma have given new credibility to some of the underlying principles of this work.
Magazine Article
The Politics of Mental Health
Highlights from Symposium 2019
May/June 2019
Pioneering trauma specialist Bessel van der Kolk took aim not only at the politics within the therapy field that determine what diagnoses get into the DSM, but the politics in the larger arena that lead people to ignore the prevalence of trauma in society.
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Therapy in a Challenging World
Highlights from Symposium 2019
May/June 2019
Rich Simon, Networker editor, tried to highlight the role therapists can play in a world so turned upside down that "crazy has become the new normal."
Magazine Article
What Greg Taught Me
From Symposium Storytelling Evening 2019
May/June 2019
"Even though I’d been out as a gay man for decades, I still felt disgust at my erotic interests. Although several therapists over the years had told me I wasn’t a sex addict, I fired all of them until I found one who agreed with my self-diagnosis."
Magazine Article
When Therapy Changes the Therapist
Five Tales of Self-Discovery
May/June 2019
Although it’s not usually acknowledged, change in the consulting room goes both ways. Even as they help clients wrestle with their issues, it’s the rare therapist who hasn’t experienced his or her own eureka moments. Five therapists share their tales of personal transformation.
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An Interview with Peter Levine
Turning Psychotherapy Bottom Up
March/April 2019
Peter Levine, developer of Somatic Experiencing, takes us inside his seemingly intuitive approach and reveals the guiding principles that inform his work.
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Bookmarks
Where the Trauma Never Ends: Inside Chicago’s Urban War Zones
March/April 2019
Chicago’s inner city has long been termed an “urban war zone.” A new book by acclaimed journalist Alex Kotlowitz reveals the personal stories of trauma and grief, as well as solace and support, that unfold over one summer.
Magazine Article
Case Study
Storm Damage: Angry Words Can Sink a Relationship
March/April 2019
Even though partners may forgive each other after a heated argument, the hurtful words that were hurled can be haunting nonetheless.
Magazine Article
Character Work
What Therapists Can Learn from Actors
March/April 2019
Therapists can flop in their “performance” with clients, coming off as inauthentic or over the top. One former actor discovers how to embody the kind of “scene partner” his clients need him to be.
Magazine Article
Clinician's Digest
ASMR Videos: A New Tool for Therapists?
March/April 2019
Videos designed to elicit ASMR, a physiological state some people find soothing, get millions of views online. Now clinicians are debating whether they could be a useful therapeutic tool.
Magazine Article
Dying Well
Humanizing Our Overmedicalized System
March/April 2019
Hospital protocols have replaced the time-honored customs that once enabled the dying to be lead actors in their life’s final drama. Why do we spend so much on last ditch medical treatments while depriving so many of what they need to die with dignity and peace?
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Editor's Note
March/April 2019
For many years after, body therapy remained a semi-underground movement within the field. Now increasing numbers of clinicians are utilizing highly interactive, body-based approaches to help clients locate the somatic sources of their pain as well as discover new pathways to aliveness and joy.
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Family Matters
The Shopping Trip: Showing Up Is Its Own Reward
March/April 2019
Sometimes you learn your most important life lessons from the person who most frustrates and disappoints you.
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