While most clinicians know that self-care is a personal and professional responsibility, and we all want to prevent burnout, we don’t always fully accept and commit to this goal. Since our profession is unique in that one of the most essential “instruments” of our work is ourselves, staying fine-tuned through ongoing self-awareness and regular, mindful personal-battery recharging is imperative.

If a client repeatedly complained about the negative side effects of their anti-anxiety medication, what would you do? Advocate for or against the meds, even though you're not a psychiatrist? Do some deep exploration around those complaints? Schedule a call with the client's prescriber? Something else? Here, five therapists share how they'd proceed.

When clients cry in therapy, should you pass the tissues? And what do you say? One clinician worries his clients might interpret passing tissues as him rushing them through whatever they're feeling. To tissue, or not to tissue? Five therapists share how they usually respond.

According to psychoanalysis, we all carry an imago—an image of our parents inside of us. But what do you do when the negative, traumatic, or unconscious aspects of that image end up directing your behavior?

If more of your clients are bringing up the subject of domestic and intimate partner violence, you’re not alone. Increasing media coverage and discussions about domestic violence on social media is opening the door. Before talking to your own clients about domestic and intimate partner violence, here are three myths you should know about.

I’ve been finding a particular short meditation practice helpful in supporting my clients during this period of sadness, loss, and exhaustion. It’s more gentle than many traditional breath practices of meditation, which can be difficult for people to do, even during good times. Here's how it works.

Encouraging anxious clients to face their fears is widely accepted as the gold-standard approach for treating anxiety-related disorders, including OCD. But a growing body of research suggests that our emphasis on habituation can undermine the real goal of exposure therapy. 

When the pandemic first struck, I was concerned about its impact yet able to handle the anxiety about infection pretty well. After all, managing anxiety is my stock-in-trade ability. But two years later, what I feel most of the time now is anger, so I’ve been using my anxiety management skills to figure out what exactly is going on with me.

For a few years now, I’ve worked with groups around the world to address collective trauma. Our focus is usually on something that had happened elsewhere and in the past: never had I imagined that, with the advent of COVID, I’d find myself so deeply entrenched in an immediate and ongoing collective trauma. One group of men, with whom I’d been working for many years, was particularly affected.

Andrew has started showing symptoms of OCD. He’s struggled with anxiety for a while, but the pandemic seems to have been a tipping point for him. His therapist, who works in a rural area and doesn't specialize in treating OCD, doesn’t have many options for referrals and isn't sure how to help. Five clinicians share how they'd handle the situation.