Contributed by Lauren Dockett
Is Climate Change an ACE?
The Global Neglect of Our Children’s FutureHow do we empower kids in the midst of big environmental challenges? Read more
A New Generation of Analysts
Why Depth Work Still WorksModern psychoanalysts are breaking free of old tropes, helping diverse clients and communities—and they still believe change takes time. Read more
Emotional Support Animals
Cures or Crutches?In the last few decades, pets who offer company and calm have become therapeutic tools to help people manage their mental health. Read more
The Return of the Enneagram
A Pop-Psych Gimmick or a Path to Self-Knowledge?The Enneagram is an ancient self-help tool that seems to be experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Does it have a place in the therapy room? Read more
Honoring the Choice to Be Single
Have We Gotten Past Our Relationship Biases?Americans are choosing to remain single in unprecedented numbers—and contrary to commonly held assumptions in our field, they're not unhappy about it, not... Read more
Allen Frances, formerly of Duke University, wrote the clinical diagnosis for narcissistic personality disorder that first appeared in the third edition of the... Read more
Supporting Women's Voices
Carol Gilligan on Today's PatriarchyMore than 50 years after feminist psychologist Carol Gilligan's pivotal study on how women think about the choices in their lives, she speaks up about our... Read more
Fair Play at Home
Are Women Still Carrying the Heavier Load?Eve Rodsky is on a mission: to rebalance the "mental load" that many women still unfairly shoulder in domestic life, affecting their physical health... Read more
Sexual Intimacy and the Aging Client
A Conversation with Dr. Regina KoeppBased on her article from our September/October issue, Dr. Regina Koepp talks about how to have "the talk" with your aging couple clients. Read more
VIDEO: Wartime Trauma Treatment
An Interview with Elaine Miller-KarasNetworker sits down with Elaine Miller-Karas about the trauma resources for individuals in wartime. Read more
Senior writer Lauren Dockett speaks with feminist author and psychologist Carol Gilligan about the future of women's reproductive rights. Read more
Free Play with Neurodivergent Kids
Insights from DIRFloortimeIs there an alternative to applied behavioral analysis for children on the spectrum? Read more
The Healing Power of Community
A Conversation with Shawna Murray-BrowneNetworker talks with Shawna Murray-Browne about ways to bridge racial barriers in and outside of the therapy room. Read more
Humility First
Avoiding Transcultural OverreachThere’s no recipe book when it comes to working with another culture. Read more
Couples Therapy Around the World
Putting EFT to Work in Two CulturesWith its Western focus on secure emotional bonds and demonstrative, healthy attachment in couples, how does Emotionally Focused Therapy fit into ancient and... Read more
Mental Health or Marxism?
Therapists on the Fight over Social Emotional Learning in SchoolsSocial-emotional learning isn’t entirely new, but as more districts emphasize the curricula in the wake of COVID, confusion from parents appears to be on the... Read more
Access for All
Tackling Therapy’s Biggest ChallengeDenise is slumped in her chair, declaring that she’s not a believer in therapy. A middle-aged, Indigenous, transgender woman, she’s heard too many bullshit... Read more
“Everything Mike Touches Turns to Fun”
A Paean for Psychotherapy Networker’s Epic SweetheartFunny and flagrantly caring in a way the muttering writers and editors around him can only marvel at, Mike’s long been the company’s warmest heart, always... Read more
"Networker Live" with Frank Anderson
Parenting During a PandemicThe Networker's senior writer, Lauren Dockett, sat down for a live conversation and Q&A with psychiatrist, therapist, and program consultant at the IFS... Read more
Families Under Pressure
Helping Relieve Today’s Parents & KidsThe pandemic has created an emotional petri dish for kids and parents who are stuck in place, terribly stressed, and feeling alone. How are families supposed... Read more
Overeating Issues in Quarantine?
How to Relate To Food and Weight Now and Let the Shame GoWhen COVID-19 hit and many of us began stocking up on food and sheltering in place, I grew deeply concerned for my clients. How were they going to handle the... Read more
The Agreement
Tackling a Teachable Moment on RaceIn the days after George Floyd’s murder, and amidst their work to address gang-related trauma and violence, a white therapist and her Black cofacilitator... Read more
Confronting Inherited Trauma
My Journey into Family ConstellationsEvery clinical approach has its stories of sudden, life-changing breakthroughs. But a relatively obscure therapeutic school called Family Constellations... Read more
The Addict in All of Us
Gabor Maté's Unflinching VisionCanadian physician Gabor Maté believes that addictive behaviors are woven into the very fabric of our materialistic society. Read more
What We Need is Awe
Cultivating Wonder in a Time of LockdownFeelings of awe can have strongly prosocial effects and provide us with an existential and lasting sense of calm. Building our capacity for awe could not only... Read more
A Need for Speed?
How Therapists Can Meet a Growing DemandThe push in popular culture to raise awareness about mental health means more and more people are seeking help. With resources limited, often where they’re... Read more
VIDEO: Helping Teen Clients Make Good Decisions
...And What to Do When They Talk About Risky BehaviorAre teen clients entitled to confidentiality? How should therapists discuss confidentiality with their teen clients? What’s the therapist’s role... Read more
VIDEO: Handling Microaggressions in Therapy
An Eight-Step Process for Talking About It With Your ClientsLet's say your client lets a microaggression slip during a session. Do you bring it up? Therapist and author Anatasia Kim shares her eight-step process for... Read more
Walk and Talk
Psychotherapy Takes a StrollWhat if a park bench was your waiting room, and nature your co-therapist? A growing group of practitioners, who stroll with their clients not just every once... Read more
VIDEO: Continuing to See Kids for Therapy as They Age
...And Why They Need Ongoing Connection Now More Than EverWhen therapists work with anxious kids and their families, they’re often solving immediate problems, not envisioning a clinical relationship that could last... Read more
High Times in Therapy
Are We Ready to Talk Pot?Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized medicinal or recreational marijuana, or both. But sizeable protests against legalization are... Read more
VIDEO: Why EMDR Works
What Therapists Need to Know to Treat Trauma EffectivelyWhile EMDR is best known for the treatment of PTSD, it’s evolved into a comprehensive, attachment-based approach that addresses a broad range of clinical... Read more
VIDEO: Becoming a "Citizen Therapist"
Working Beyond the Consulting RoomHow does your work as a therapist contribute to the wider world? It’s a question couples and family therapist Bill Doherty asks his colleagues... Read more
VIDEO: What Therapists Need to Know About Polyvagal Theory
...And How to Use Safe Touch in TherapyAlthough many therapists are wary of it, using touch in therapy can have a huge impact on your clients’ healing processes. Here, Deb Dana, author of The... Read more
The Inheritance Within
Coming Face to Face with Our AncestorsFor decades, Bert Hellinger and his Family Constellations approach have been a lightning rod for controversy. But the latest research on epigenetics and the... Read more
Fully Present Sex
How Mindfulness Can Heighten Desire, Arousal, and SatisfactionWhen sex becomes fraught or painful, fear and worries can overtake this important source of pleasure. But clinicians and clients are embracing a nonmedical... Read more
VIDEO: Breaking Rigid Thinking Around Intimacy
A Three-Part Solution for Couples TherapySex therapist Suzanne Iasenza talks about a three-part process that helps couples free themselves from the rigid narratives about sex that keep them from... Read more
VIDEO: Therapists Getting Real and Going Public
The Power of Transparency in the New Marketing LandscapeHow can therapists reduce stigma around getting mental health treatment? When it comes to marketing your practice, how much personal information should you be... Read more
VIDEO: Using the Arts in Trauma Treatment
Expressive Art Therapist Cathy Malchiodi Weighs InPsychotherapy Networker’s Lauren Dockett speaks with influential art and expressive art therapist Cathy Malchiodi about the broadening of her her field, how... Read more
From Margin to Mainstream
Peter Levine’s Bottom-Up Approach to HealingBody psychotherapy, once shrouded in controversy, has gained growing acceptance in the wider field. So how do these popular bottom-up approaches actually work? Read more
VIDEO: Addressing Climate Fears in Therapy
Moving Clients from Paralysis into ActionIn the following interview, ecotherapist Patricia Hasbach explains how practitioners can address the rise in eco-anxiety and depression. Read more
VIDEO: Talking Race in Psychotherapy
Deran Young’s Call for ActionDeran Young of Black Therapists Rock talks to Psychotherapy Networker’s Lauren Dockett about what the field can do to fight professional isolation and... Read more
VIDEO: The 3 Keys to Helping Clients Navigate Sexual Problems
You Don't Need to Be an Expert to Help Clients Get "Dumb and Happy"Sex and relationship therapist Stephen Snyder talks with Psychotherapy Networker's Lauren Dockett about three simple things to do when you find yourself... Read more
Increasing Access to Mental Health Care for Seniors
What Therapists Can Do to HelpAmerican seniors suffer disproportionately from mental health issues and suicide. And many, these days, are having trouble getting the therapy they need... Read more
The Rise of Eco-Anxiety
Climate Change and TherapyDire climate reports and grim environmental realities are generating a new kind of eco-anxiety. What can therapists do? Read more
The Masculinity Paradox
An Interview with Esther PerelThe #MeToo movement has returned the field to many of the issues feminists raised decades ago. This time, however, there’s a new focus on avoiding... Read more
VIDEO: Michael Alcée on Doing Therapy with Introverts
What Works and What Doesn'tPsychologist and speaker Michael Alcée says therapists need to pay more attention to the introverts in their practice, to help them manage their anxiety and... Read more
The Man Who Became an Adjective
No One Writes about Psychology Like Malcolm GladwellNo one writes about psychology with more irresistible readability—and book sales—than 2019 Symposium featured speaker Malcolm Gladwell. Read more
VIDEO: Dafna Lender on Harnessing Your Social Engagement System
Strategies for Building the Therapeutic Alliance More EasilyWe all know therapists who seem magically able to establish a powerful sense of trust and connection with even the most distrusting clients. But are there... Read more
Supreme Testimony
What Christine Blasey Ford Could Mean for SurvivorsBy Lauren Dockett - As trauma specialist Mary Jo Barrett explains, Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony has been empowering for many survivors of sexual... Read more
VIDEO: Doing Therapy with MDMA
A Chat with Pioneer Marcela Ot'alora G.What's it like to be a therapist on the front lines of treating trauma with MDMA? Psychotherapist Marcela Ot'alora G., a principal investigator in... Read more
Therapy’s Psychedelic Renaissance
A Different Kind of Healing JourneyIt’s been nearly 30 years since SSRIs came on the scene, but despite their ubiquity and pairing with a variety of talk- and body-centered treatments, the... Read more
VIDEO: Valeria Chuba on Male Sexuality in the Age of #MeToo
Is Male Sexuality Inherently Violent?In the wake of the #MeToo movement, men are reevaluating the way they approach courtship, relationships, gender roles, and love. Their therapists must switch... Read more
Athletes Get Real About Mental Health
What’s Behind the Recent Slew of Confessional Essays?A growing list of professional athletes have begun going public with personal mental health concerns all on their own. They contain unflinchingly honest... Read more
Silent and Confused
Opening Conversations with Men in the Wake of #MeTooMost men publicly support #MeToo, but privately—very privately, often too privately even to share with their intimate partners—some are disoriented and... Read more
Therapists Talk Gun Violence
Brainstorming Ways to Make a DifferenceAs an estimated half-a-million protestors poured into downtown Washington, DC for the March for Our Lives, therapists who were in town for their field’s... Read more
#MeTooManyTimes
How the Latest Movement Against Sexual Predation is Rattling Some Therapy ClientsMany therapists who specialize in sexual abuse and trauma are reporting that the #MeToo movement and the ongoing accusations of sexual assault and harassment... Read more
Who's Steering the Boat?
Navigating Therapy with Today's ClientsToday’s clients are shifting out of their customary position of mannerly deference and asserting far more specifically what they want—and don’t... Read more
Everywhere at Once
Esther Perel Is Becoming Therapy's Most Visible PresenceBy questioning some of the fundamental premises of traditional marriage, couples therapist Esther Perel has become, at least for the moment, psychotherapy’s... Read more
Loving Our Devices
When Does Attraction Turn into Addiction?More and more therapists, regardless of how they feel about internet addiction as a diagnosis, are advising clients about the healthy use of their digital... Read more
Lauren Dockett
Lauren Dockett, MS, is the senior writer at Psychotherapy Networker. A longtime journalist, journalism lecturer, and book and magazine editor, she’s also a former caseworker taken with the complexity of mental health, who finds the ongoing evolution of the therapy field and its broadening reach an engrossing story. Prior to the Networker, she contributed to many outlets, including The Washington Post, NPR, and Salon. Her books include Facing 30, Sex Talk, and The Deepest Blue. Visit her website at laurendockett.com.