We all want to build strong relationships with our clients, but when working with adolescents, don’t overdo the empathy, says therapist Janet Edgette. Edgette says a common pitfall in working with young adults is being too nice and too eager to be liked. Use too much "therapy talk" and ignore obnoxious behavior, and you run the risk of seeming unnatural and alienating them.

According to Dan Siegel, understanding the connection between the brain and the miraculously various operations of the human mind and body is the first step in applying the findings of brain science in clinical practice. In the following video clip, he explains why integration is the critical brain function for supporting that healing connection.

Our depressed clients don’t only exhibit their symptoms through speech and vocal tone. You see them in their body language too—in slouching torsos, folded arms, and shallow breathing. But according to Jim Gordon, Director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, that's exactly why interventions that engage the body—like the breathing exercise he explains in the following video clip—are so effective.

When Maggie Phillips and Peter Levine co-authored Freedom from Pain, they aimed to explore what’s been missing from the field’s treatment of chronic pain. According to Phillips, trauma can hide in the body and manifest as lingering pain that doesn’t respond to conventional medical treatment. In the following video, she explains how the two conditions intertwine, and shares her approach to dealing with this unusual side effect of trauma.

Are you working with partners who can't seem to escape cycles of criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling? According to renowned couples therapist Julie Gottman, there's actually a right way for couples to argue that moves partners out of conflict quickly and effectively. In the following video clip, she explains the four points of the Gottmans' Conflict Blueprint.

Think all traumatized clients are shut-down and energy-sapped? Think again. In this clip from her Networker Symposium Keynote, "Creating a Corrective Emotional Experience," trauma specialist Diane Poole Heller shares a clip from an actual session, where she guides a client in tapping into a hidden wellspring of energy that leaves them feeling refreshed, happy, and safe.

Emotion is the most important motivating force bringing clients to our offices in the first place. Nevertheless, therapists are often strangely queasy in the presence of strong emotion. In this clip from her 2013 Symposium keynote address, Susan Johnson offers a vivid picture of how we can take full therapeutic advantage of the emotional force field to propel the process of change.

Poet, essayist, naturalist, teacher, polymath, and all-around creative genius, Diane Ackerman has for decades been writing extraordinarily rich, scientifically informed, and compulsively readable books of astonishing variety. In the following video clip, she describes the advancements, challenges, and insights for therapists in the new "Human Age."

According to David Burns, MD, one of the originators of CBT and an expert in treating depression and anxiety, too often therapists ignore clients’ aversion to change. So he's developed a powerful approach to overcoming client resistance — once and for all. In our new online Master Class, Overcoming Resistance with Dr. David Burns: The Secret to Better Outcomes in Less Time, you can learn how David applies his evidence-based TEAM approach to motivate clients toward change and increase positive outcomes.

Have you ever wondered if some men in your practice are simply unable to listen, connect, and empathize with their partners? According to Pat Love, it’s more likely that our definition of empathy is just too narrow.