We've gathered Psychotherapy Networkers most popular posts and arranged them here by topic.
VIDEO: Depression Is Not a Disease, It’s a Wake-Up Call
James Gordon on Healing without Antidepressants
Depression is not a disease, so the promise of antidepressants as a cure just doesn’t hold water. That’s the assessment of James Gordon, M.D. and he should know. Jim is the author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey out of Depression.
VIDEO: Changing the Brain to Take In the Good
Rick Hanson on 5 Simple Steps to Use Right Away
Our brains are very good at learning from the negative—that's what helped our distant ancestors learn what to avoid of they wanted to stay alive. But it interferes with our lives today when we react to stressful situations as if they were life and death. They're usually not.In this brief clip, Rick Hanson, author of Buddha's Brain and Hardwiring Happiness, walks us through surprisingly simple steps that can shift our memory systems to internalize positive experiences and states with equal efficiency.
The Healing Potential of Childhood Memories
The Power of Guided Meditation in the Therapy Room
Helping clients directly taste the kind of spontaneity, freedom, and untethered happiness that’s often left behind in early childhood, while not in itself offering an instant cure, can become a powerful beacon illuminating the path toward healing. As a result, I've developed ways of helping clients access intense memories of positive childhood experiences that can jump-start the therapy process.
Connecting Body Awareness and Couples Therapy
Using Mindfulness to Explore Emotion in Couples Conflict
If we can bring awareness into our own pulsing bodies, we get a chance to explore the hidden well of physical discomfort caused by our memories and emotions and our crazy defenses against that discomfort. The body, you might argue, is the unconscious. No one welcomes discomfort, but the fear of becoming overwhelmed, the fear of unleashing strange forces, of "wallowing" in negativity, can funnel our energies away from tolerating even the mildest turbulence of our felt experience. In my therapy practice, I've learned that being present to the rich physical substrate of the body can be especially useful in couples work.
The Therapeutic Value of Buddhist Meditation
A Meditation Retreat Helps a Therapist Confront Cancer Trauma
I've been working hard on integrating Buddhist teachings and meditation practice into my life for six years now. But none of my spiritual practice prepared for my stage IV non-Hodgkins lymphoma that turned my life upside down two years ago. I was extremely sick and given a small chance to survive. In the first weeks, I spoke easily about the transformational power of illness, the gift of cancer. I thought I'd become enlightened. But in reality, I was out of my mind, quite dissociative. Buddhism doesn't mean being detached, uncaring, disengaged. I came to this retreat out of desperation. I'm here to learn how to live again.
Adopting Healthy Habits for Happiness and Wellbeing
How Therapists Can Teach Habits for Happiness
Once in a while, we may make concerted attempts to be kinder, less impatient, or more attentive to our own self-care. But our chaotic 21st-century lives often lack the structure, discipline, and even the raw physical energy required to make the changes stick. After a few weeks of trying something as simple as swimming at lunchtime, we sag beneath the weight of too much distraction and too little sleep. We know everything except how to live. In this postmodern world of infinite choice and incoherent structure, what practical steps should we take now---a personal trainer? More therapy? Feng shui? Zen meditation?---to become the self we see shining in our best moments?
The Mind-Body Magic of Jon Kabat-Zinn
One Man's Quest to Bring Therapeutic Mindfulness to Medicine
In 1966, Jon Kabat-Zinn, a graduate student in molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spotted a flyer advertising a talk about Zen. Today, nearly 40 years after that portentous afternoon talk, Kabat-Zinn is acknowledged as one of the pioneers in mind-body medicine---a field that integrates ancient spiritual traditions like yoga and meditation with mainstream medical practice. In 1979, Kabat-Zinn established the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, the first center in the country to use meditation and yoga with patients suffering from intractable pain and chronic illness.
VIDEO: Breathing Techniques that Reduce Anxiety and Stress Quickly
Integrate this Powerful Mood-Regulating Technique into Your Work
Are you at a loss when it comes to helping your high-strung, distressed clients? Maybe you’ve made some progress in helping your clients reduce anxiety, but think they could do even better with the right techniques.
VIDEO: Focusing Techniques in Therapy
A New Practice of Inner Listening
How can you more effectively work with a client whose emotions have become all-consuming?
According to Joan Klagsbrun, author of Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy, Focusing techniques are especially effective for helping distressed clients navigate their inner repository of memories, feelings, emotions, and bodily sensations.
According to Joan Klagsbrun, author of Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy, Focusing techniques are especially effective for helping distressed clients navigate their inner repository of memories, feelings, emotions, and bodily sensations.
