Is Therapy About Transformation, or Small Breakthroughs?
Learning to Separate Our Hopes for Our Clients from Their Goals for Themselves
By William Doherty - Are therapists more like shamans or family doctors? Explorers of human depths or more like Siri on your iPhone, just directing you from one place to another? I'm a skeptic about whether any clinical approach is good at getting clients consistently to the promised land of transformation. Maybe therapy is better understood as being about breakthroughs—small, medium, and large—rather than about transformation.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Bill Doherty on Deepening Our Therapeutic Vision
The Importance of Cultivating a New Kind of Self
At the 2016 Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, Bill Doherty offered his take on how psychotherapy can reassert its cultural relevance by deepening its vision of what constitutes a meaningful life in today's world.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Becoming a "Citizen Therapist"
Working Beyond the Consulting Room
Most therapists would consider themselves agents of change for their clients. But can (and should) they become voices for change in the larger community? What about when it comes to weighing in on political matters? According to therapist Bill Doherty, clinicians have the capability—and sometimes a duty—to speak up.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Is Therapy Really a Science?
...Or is It a Conversational Craft?
What do the masters of truly good therapy have in common? According to couples therapist Bill Doherty, they know how to balance their desire to guide therapy with their ability to empathically listen. It's this quality that drives home the truth about therapy—at its heart, this work isn't a science. It's a craft.
Daily Blog
Psychotherapy's Role in the Wider World
The Case for a New Kind of Self
By William Doherty - At this time of fragmentation and division, therapists need to recognize that we’re in the glue business. We know something about helping people connect, about how to form a healthy “we” out of self and other. But first our society needs us to recover our conviction and passionate intensity as a profession, our belief that we have something to offer beyond symptom reduction.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: What Therapy and Surgery Have in Common
Crafting the Right Language for the Right Outcome
Choosing the right words to open and close therapy sessions is one of the most important skills a clinician can master. But very few of us were taught how to do it. In this short video clip, Bill Doherty explains how to jump start therapy from the very first minute of the very first session.
Daily Blog
Therapy, the Conversational Craft
Strategies for Improving Your Therapeutic Conversation Skills
By Bill Doherty - In this era of medical necessity and evidence-based therapies, it's easy to lose sight of the basic truth that psychotherapy is a special form of conversation: we heal not through prescriptions and procedures, but through talking and listening. What if we think of therapy as a conversational craft that we hone over a career with our clients and with a community of conversational healers?
Daily Blog
Why We Shouldn't Be Neutral about Divorce
Divorced Couples Are Saying Something Important about Regret
By William Doherty - When I began my therapy practice, I was strictly neutral about divorce. It was the clients’ decision, not mine. But eventually, I was propelled out of my denial about the seriousness of divorce. We have a hundred ways to ask “What would be right for you?” and hardly any to ask “What would be right for others in your life?”
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Bill Doherty on Becoming a "Citizen Therapist"
How to Have a Conversation About Politics in Therapy
In the following clip from his Symposium Keynote address, William Doherty offers an expanded vision of therapy and explains why clinicians are uniquely suited to serving as “connectors and trust-builders” to address the stress and anxiety many clients—and therapists—are feeling in the current political climate.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Addressing Political Stress in the Consulting Room
Reevaluating What's Appropriate to Discuss in Therapy
It's no surprise that, with all the political infighting going on, many people are anxious about the direction of our country. But is there room to discuss political matters with clients, or does this constitute an ethical breach? According to therapist Bill Doherty, clinicians are not only well-equipped to discuss politics, but sometimes have a duty to do so. In the following video clip from his 2017 Networker Symposium Keynote address, Doherty explains how to get the ball rolling.
Daily Blog
Copyright:
6/20/2018
Authors:
WILLIAM DOHERTY, PH.D.
RICHARD C. SCHWARTZ, PHD
ESTHER PEREL, MA, LMFT
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
RICHARD SIMON, PH.D.
Product:
NRS001262
Copyright:
6/20/2018
Authors:
WILLIAM DOHERTY, PH.D.
RICHARD C. SCHWARTZ, PHD
ESTHER PEREL, MA, LMFT
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
RICHARD SIMON, PH.D.
Product:
NRS001262
Copyright:
10/2/2015
Authors:
TERRENCE REAL, LICSW
WILLIAM DOHERTY, PH.D.
ESTHER PEREL, MA, LMFT
TAMMY NELSON, PH.D.
RICHARD SIMON, PH.D.
MICHELE WEINER-DAVIS, MSW
PATRICIA PAPERNOW, EDD
Product:
NRS001076
Copyright:
10/2/2015
Authors:
TERRENCE REAL, LICSW
WILLIAM DOHERTY, PH.D.
ESTHER PEREL, MA, LMFT
TAMMY NELSON, PH.D.
RICHARD SIMON, PH.D.
MICHELE WEINER-DAVIS, MSW
PATRICIA PAPERNOW, EDD
Product:
NRS001076
Protecting Yourself When Boundaries Blur
Copyright:
5/21/2015
Authors:
LESLIE KORN, PH.D., MPH, LMHC, ACS, RPP, NTP, NCBTMB
WILLIAM DOHERTY, PH.D.
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
FREDERIC G. REAMER, PHD
RICHARD SIMON, PH.D.
LISA FERENTZ, LCSW-C, DAPA
KENNETH V. HARDY, PH.D.
Product:
NRS001061
Copyright:
5/21/2015
Authors:
LESLIE KORN, PH.D., MPH, LMHC, ACS, RPP, NTP, NCBTMB
WILLIAM DOHERTY, PH.D.
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
FREDERIC G. REAMER, PHD
RICHARD SIMON, PH.D.
LISA FERENTZ, LCSW-C, DAPA
KENNETH V. HARDY, PH.D.
Product:
NRS001061
Page 1 of 1 (3 Items)
Is Therapy About Transformation, or Small Breakthroughs?
Learning to Separate Our Hopes for Our Clients from Their Goals for Themselves
By William Doherty - Are therapists more like shamans or family doctors? Explorers of human depths or more like Siri on your iPhone, just directing you from one place to another? I'm a skeptic about whether any clinical approach is good at getting clients consistently to the promised land of transformation. Maybe therapy is better understood as being about breakthroughs—small, medium, and large—rather than about transformation.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Bill Doherty on Deepening Our Therapeutic Vision
The Importance of Cultivating a New Kind of Self
At the 2016 Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, Bill Doherty offered his take on how psychotherapy can reassert its cultural relevance by deepening its vision of what constitutes a meaningful life in today's world.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Becoming a "Citizen Therapist"
Working Beyond the Consulting Room
Most therapists would consider themselves agents of change for their clients. But can (and should) they become voices for change in the larger community? What about when it comes to weighing in on political matters? According to therapist Bill Doherty, clinicians have the capability—and sometimes a duty—to speak up.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Is Therapy Really a Science?
...Or is It a Conversational Craft?
What do the masters of truly good therapy have in common? According to couples therapist Bill Doherty, they know how to balance their desire to guide therapy with their ability to empathically listen. It's this quality that drives home the truth about therapy—at its heart, this work isn't a science. It's a craft.
Daily Blog
Psychotherapy's Role in the Wider World
The Case for a New Kind of Self
By William Doherty - At this time of fragmentation and division, therapists need to recognize that we’re in the glue business. We know something about helping people connect, about how to form a healthy “we” out of self and other. But first our society needs us to recover our conviction and passionate intensity as a profession, our belief that we have something to offer beyond symptom reduction.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: What Therapy and Surgery Have in Common
Crafting the Right Language for the Right Outcome
Choosing the right words to open and close therapy sessions is one of the most important skills a clinician can master. But very few of us were taught how to do it. In this short video clip, Bill Doherty explains how to jump start therapy from the very first minute of the very first session.
Daily Blog
Therapy, the Conversational Craft
Strategies for Improving Your Therapeutic Conversation Skills
By Bill Doherty - In this era of medical necessity and evidence-based therapies, it's easy to lose sight of the basic truth that psychotherapy is a special form of conversation: we heal not through prescriptions and procedures, but through talking and listening. What if we think of therapy as a conversational craft that we hone over a career with our clients and with a community of conversational healers?
Daily Blog
Why We Shouldn't Be Neutral about Divorce
Divorced Couples Are Saying Something Important about Regret
By William Doherty - When I began my therapy practice, I was strictly neutral about divorce. It was the clients’ decision, not mine. But eventually, I was propelled out of my denial about the seriousness of divorce. We have a hundred ways to ask “What would be right for you?” and hardly any to ask “What would be right for others in your life?”
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Bill Doherty on Becoming a "Citizen Therapist"
How to Have a Conversation About Politics in Therapy
In the following clip from his Symposium Keynote address, William Doherty offers an expanded vision of therapy and explains why clinicians are uniquely suited to serving as “connectors and trust-builders” to address the stress and anxiety many clients—and therapists—are feeling in the current political climate.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Addressing Political Stress in the Consulting Room
Reevaluating What's Appropriate to Discuss in Therapy
It's no surprise that, with all the political infighting going on, many people are anxious about the direction of our country. But is there room to discuss political matters with clients, or does this constitute an ethical breach? According to therapist Bill Doherty, clinicians are not only well-equipped to discuss politics, but sometimes have a duty to do so. In the following video clip from his 2017 Networker Symposium Keynote address, Doherty explains how to get the ball rolling.
Daily Blog
Therapy and Transformation
What Are We Promising Our Clients?
Decades ago, trainees in our field were imbued with the notion that therapy was about transformation: big, dramatic changes in the direction of self-actualization. Was this an overpromise? And now, when the average length of therapy in the United States is less than eight sessions, is it even desired by clients anymore, or necessary for successful therapy?
Magazine Article
Is There Hope for a Divided America?
Tales from the Better Angels Bus Tour
There’s a troubling trend toward viewing people who differ from us politically not just as uninformed or misguided, but as ill-motivated and dangerous. Through an organization called Better Angels, a couples therapist and an intrepid group of other concerned citizens embark on a bus tour to see what they can learn about shifting the standoff between Red and Blue America.
Magazine Article
The Courage to Connect
Highlights from the 2017 Symposium
Year after year, therapists have come to the Networker Symposium expecting to escape the turbulence of everyday life and the real world. But this year, attendees came seeking something more—a renewed vision of what we stand for and what our role might be in a toxically polarized society. Here are some of the moments that captured the distinctive flavor of this year’s gathering.
- The Search for Connection by Rich Simon
- The Physics of Vulnerability by Brené Brown
- Therapy in the Age of Trump by William Doherty
- Psychotherapy of the Heart by Joan Borysenko
- The Science of Consciousness by Dan Siegel
Magazine Article
Psychotherapy's Pilgrimage
Shaping the Consciousness of Our Time
Despite what grad school textbooks may imply, therapy movements are more than a set of theories and techniques. They’re about what it means to be a human being at a particular time amid all the forces that shape a culture. Here, a therapist who entered the field at the same time the Networker made its debut brings to life 40 years of the key moments in psychotherapy’s unfolding, exploring both how the field was influenced by social changes and how the consciousness of our times—and our view of what it means to be a fully realized person—have been transformed by the intimate conversations that take place in our consulting rooms.
Magazine Article
Reflections on the Divorce Revolution
Assessing Our Impact
When it comes to helping couples considering divorce, therapists have a hundred ways to ask “What’s right for you?” but often find themselves tongue-tied when it comes to asking “What’s right for the others in your life?” Is it possible to talk about interpersonal responsibility without shaming clients and driving them away?
Magazine Article
New Choices for New Times
To stay relevant in a changing world, we need to address the engagement styles of today’s prospective clients.
Magazine Article
When Therapy Is Going Nowhere
Escaping the “Groundhog Day” Cycle
Why do we get stuck in “Groundhog Day therapy”—cases in which we spin our wheels from session to session? Before lurching on to alternative treatment strategies, the key to progress is recognizing the need to shift the therapist–client relationship.
Magazine Article
One Brick at a Time
Therapy is More Craft Than Art or Science
In this era of medical necessity and evidence-based therapies, it’s easy to lose sight of a basic truth. We heal not through prescriptions and procedures, but through talking and listening.
Magazine Article
In Or Out?
Treating the Mixed-Agenda Couple
At least 30 percent of couples coming to therapy have fundamentally different agendas about whether to try to save the marriage. If we’re ever going to improve our success rates, we need to address that ambivalence from the moment they arrive in our offices.
Magazine Article
Beyond the Consulting Room
Therapists as catalysts of social change
Too much is at stake these days for us to take refuge in our practices after the election. In such challenging times, therapists need to create for themselves a new professional role as agents of social change, not just critics of what isn't changing.
Magazine Article
William Doherty, Ph.D., is a professor and director of the Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project at the University of Minnesota. His books include Helping Couples on the Brink of Divorce: Discernment Counseling for Troubled Relationships, with Steven Harris. He is cofounder of Better Angels, an initiative to depolarize America.
