Frank Pittman
Frank Pittman, MD, was a longtime contributing editor to The Family Therapy Networker.
Contributed by Frank Pittman
43 Results
The Playful Therapist
7 Clinicians Share Their Best Strategies
Life Without Father
A Son Looks for Answers from a Stoic Parent Back from War
Six Ways to Find Comedy in Even the Darkest Moments
Shaking Your Clients Loose from Their Tragic Stances
Therapy, in order to shake people loose from their tragic stances and bounce them into the human comedy, is at its best when it is funny, when the tragic family story being acted out is rewritten to provide a happy ending. I urge therapists to keep these simple guidelines in mind as they go through their day. Read More
The Liberating Power of Honesty
What People Don't Know Can Hurt Them. What They Don't Reveal Can Hurt Even More
When we therapists believe a secret's revelations would be dangerous, the client receives a frightening message about him- or herself and about the world. We may accept our patients and make psychodynamic, systemic or sociological excuses for them, while still conveying that their secret is unacceptable. Thus, while explicitly "supporting" them, we implicitly undermine their sense that they are fundamentally decent, acceptable people. Read More
Coping and Learning After a Client's Suicide
A Therapist Reflects on What He Might Have Done Differently
Turns in the Road
Highlights from the Networker Journey
Out of all the hundreds and hundreds of articles that have appeared in the Networker over the past four decades, we’ve chosen a small sampling that captures the magazine’s most journalistic side, conveying not so much the eternal verities of our profession, but the sense of reading a first draft of the field’s history. Among other things, you’ll find therapeutic methods that, as exciting as they seemed at the moment, didn’t stand the test of time as well as initial forays into discussing complex issues we’re still struggling with today. We’ve also added in a few examples of writing so immediate and compelling that they have an air of timelessness. Prepare yourself for an interesting journey. Read More
Blood and Guts
Violence is central to some of the year's best films
Voices of Truth
When TV finally came, in the early '50s, the world it brought into our living rooms was black and white, and dumbed way down. Newsmen now had faces, and, as eyewitnesses, we could now determine who had an honest face and who didn't. The most honest of the talking heads seemed to be the revered war correspondent Edward R. Murrow. Now the actor George Clooney has put together a reenactment of the public clash between Murrow and the rabid senator Joe McCarthy. It's called Good Night and Good Luck. Read More
Move Over, Meryl
Kate Winslet Ascends to Center Stage
Inside Out
Frost/Nixon and Milk Hold a Mirror to Our Fears