Contributed by Ryan Howes

89 Results
Point of View March 1, 2024

What Story Does Your Voice Tell?

Insights from a Speech Coach

When we can explore our relationship to our own voice, we can harness one of the most direct paths to authenticity and connection. Read more

Point of View January 3, 2024

Existentialism for a New Era

The Millennial Therapist on Self-Creation

Sara Kuburic, the Millennial Therapist, invites new clients to take a deep look at age-old existential concerns. Read more

Point of View November 3, 2023

Babette Rothschild on What’s Missing in Trauma Work

Choosing the Tools that Fit Your Client

Author Babette Rothschild reminds us that humans have recovered from trauma for thousands of years without our favorite therapy approaches. Read more

Point of View September 1, 2023

An Emotionally Focused Path to Healing Trauma

Accessing the Resource of Relationships

Sue Johnson, developer of EFT, argues that because we’re socially bonded beings, trauma is always about relationships—and relationships are key to healing... Read more

Point of View July 1, 2023

Were You Raised by a Four-Year-Old?

The Impact of Emotionally Immature Parents

Author Lindsay Gibson reveals how exploring our parents’ emotional lack of maturity can free us up to become more emotionally mature ourselves. Read more

Point of View April 28, 2023

Enhancing Meditation with Neurofeedback

Innovations in Training the Brain

How can neurofeedback help people tailor their meditation practice to help with their mental health concerns? Read more

Point of View March 1, 2023

The Social Roots of Trauma

Staci Haines on Where Our Bodies, Culture, and Healing Intersect

Therapists may feel overwhelmed by how little it seems they can do for clients suffering within large, oppressive systems. Read more

Point of View January 25, 2023

Teaching Kids Resilience through Storytelling

A Conversation with Psychologist and Children's Book Author Amy Howell

For a therapist who writes children’s books, story time provides what might be the most important parenting opportunity of the entire day. Read more

Point of View January 4, 2023

Processing Trauma in a Flash?

A Conversation with Philip Manfield

With roots in the EMDR protocol, the Flash Technique claims to offer a pleasurable path to processing trauma. Read more

Point of View November 30, 2022

Rethinking PTSD

How Should We Be Defining Trauma?

Amid what some are calling "an age of trauma," have we lost sight of what clinical trauma really looks like? Read more

Point of View September 14, 2022

Confronting the Climate Crisis

Helping Clients Face Uncertainty and Fear

Psychologist Elizabeth Allured is helping therapists and their clients contend with anxieties about the world’s climate crisis. Read more

Point of View July 27, 2022

The Mental Health Gym

An Interview with Emily Anhalt

Mindfulness apps, thought trackers, CBT courses, and the Uberization of therapy has flooded headlines. But what about psychodynamic or relational approaches... Read more

Point of View July 14, 2022

Author Karen Kleiman argues that postpartum distress is normal—and should be normalized more in our society. Read more

Point of View May 22, 2022

Reframing Complex PTSD

Can Trauma Symptoms Be Assets?

Author Stephanie Foo discusses how she and other C-PTSD survivors have learned to adapt and even thrive. Read more

Point of View March 22, 2022

Getting Past You and Me

Cultivating the “Us” in Intimate Relationship

Terry Real is on a mission: leading couples into increased intimacy by moving them beyond a culture of individualism. Read more

Point of View January 7, 2022

Burnout and the Body

Emily Nagoski on Naming the Real Enemy

Self-care has long been touted as a panacea for burnout. Emily Nagoski has a different solution. Read more

Point of View November 11, 2021

Total Liberation

A Buddhist Approach to Healing

What would therapy look like if the focus was on liberating a client from their setbacks, rather than simply diluting their symptoms? Read more

Point of View November 5, 2021

On Turning Pain into Power

An Interview with Dr. Shefali

The clinician and bestselling author discusses her new book and what it means to "alchemize" pain. Read more

Point of View September 15, 2021

Unhealed Bodies

Looking at Ancestral Trauma

Resmaa Menakem, author of "My Grandmother’s Hands," discusses racialized trauma and a body-based path to healing. Read more

Point of View July 15, 2021

The Angry Therapist

Transparency as a Therapeutic Tool

John Kim believes that a therapist’s own vulnerability helps clients feel comfortable enough to bare their own souls—and he practices what he preaches. Read more

Point of View May 19, 2021

Casting a Wider Therapeutic Net

Dr. Joy on Therapy for Black Girls

The founder of a rapidly growing online community helps young Black women candidly discuss and destigmatize mental health issues. Read more

Point of View March 2, 2021

The Grief We Hold

Loving in the Midst of Loss

Our soul and our psyche know how to grieve. We don't need to learn it. It's not a technique. What we need to learn is not to avoid it. Read more

Point of View December 30, 2020

Psychologist Ali Mattu is on a mission to bring therapeutic principles to the mainstream. Read more

Point of View November 3, 2020

The Narcissism Trap

Navigating High-Conflict Personality Styles

An expert on narcissism discusses how to help clients get clear about gaslighting and other abuses in their relationships. Read more

Point of View October 27, 2020

Therapy From the Podcast Studio

Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch discuss “Dear Therapists”

The therapists and writers have teamed up to produce a podcast that addresses a listener’s problem, provides specific advice, and then checks in to see... Read more

Point of View August 26, 2020

30 Is Not the New 20

Helping Clients Value Their Defining Decade

Why our 20s are a developmental sweet spot, and what therapists should know about helping clients make the most of them. Read more

Point of View August 6, 2020

Helping Clients in Toxic Relationships

How to Unravel Trauma Bonds

Ryan Howes interviews Laura Copley, licensed professional counselor and owner of Aurora Counseling about toxic relationships. Read more

How Private Practice Can Survive COVID-19

Discovering New Possibilities in a Time of Upheaval

Discovering new possibilities for private practice in a time of upheaval—and planning for more uncertainty. Read more

Point of View May 1, 2020

Listening to Suicidal Clients

How to Get Beyond our Fears

A suicidologist opens up about her personal struggles and what actually helps when working with suicidal clients. Read more

Point of View March 5, 2020

Depathologizing ADHD

A VAST Difference

Rather than a curse, Ned Hallowell believes an ADHD diagnosis can be a blessing. Read more

Point of View December 27, 2019

Community Matters

New Possibilities for Mental Health

A passionate advocate for mental health in underserved communities confronts the question, “Why don’t more black people go to treatment, and why don’t... Read more

Point of View October 28, 2019

Research or Reality?

The Flawed Science of Psychotherapy

As academic researchers continue the push for manualized, protocol-driven therapy, a psychodynamic therapist pushes back. Read more

Point of View September 4, 2019

Immigration and Trauma

How Can Therapists Help?

How therapists can help the traumatized community of immigrants and asylum seekers. Read more

Point of View July 3, 2019

Terminal Illness and the Choice to Die

What's the Therapist's Role?

A number of states have passed legislation giving terminal patients the option of medical aid in dying. What therapists need to know about helping patients and... Read more

Symposium Highlight May 6, 2019

Piercing the Illusion of Intimacy

From Symposium Storytelling Evening 2019

“Whoops,” I said, thinking this was a lighthearted moment. “Looks like you should’ve gone with that other psychologist.” But Ted didn’t joke back. Read more

Point of View May 6, 2019

A Therapist Switches Chairs

From Clinician to Client to Author

In her latest bestselling book, Lori Gottlieb offers an unusually intimate look at her experience as both a therapist and a client. Read more

Point of View March 7, 2019

ACEs and a New Vision for Healthcare

Bringing Therapists and Physicians Together

When it comes to addressing the profound impact of trauma, pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is calling for primary care physicians and therapists to develop... Read more

Trauma Therapy Meets Theater

An Unusual Program is Helping Vets Rewire from War

Therapists know that words can heal. But what if the words were in iambic pentameter and delivered from a stage? Veteran and professional actor Stephan Wolfert... Read more

Point of View December 26, 2018

Theater as Therapy

Can Shakespeare Heal the Trauma of War?

Stephen Wolfert’s De-Cruit program is giving vets a chance to heal the trauma of war in creative ways. Read more

Point of View November 9, 2018

Resisting Matrimania

A Conversation with Bella DePaulo

Author and researcher Bella DePaulo says it’s time to start seeing the growing population of single adults as something more than just people unable to find... Read more

Point of View September 5, 2018

The Suicide Epidemic

What Can We Do?

Author and therapist Kay Redfield Jamison explores what we can do to address the suicide epidemic. Read more

Point of View July 6, 2018

Developing Racial Literacy

How to Confront Our Unconscious Taboos

Howard Stevenson’s program promotes “racial literacy” through skills that help us confront unconscious taboos and more effectively read and resolve... Read more

Point of View May 9, 2018

Not a Panacea

Therapy and the Limitations of Mindfulness

For Buddhist therapist Mark Epstein, mindfulness is just the beginning. Read more

Point of View March 9, 2018

Art and Trauma

Accessing Creative Paths to Healing

A leader in expressive arts therapy explains why it’s increasingly being used to help combat vets find relief from trauma. Read more

Point of View January 8, 2018

When Less Is More

The Art of Minimalizing Our Stuff

Even as many of us are drowning in material possessions, a new minimalist movement is sweeping across popular culture. Read more

Point of View November 1, 2017

The Rise of Neurofeedback

Technology in the Treatment Room

Neurofeedback has brought a powerful new technology into the consulting room. Read more

Point of View September 7, 2017

Using drugs like MDMA (aka Ecstasy) may be the new frontier of trauma treatment. Read more

Point of View July 12, 2017

Absolutely Fabulous!

Getting Beyond Stereotypes with Teenage Girls

Helping teenage girls navigate the tumultuous terrain of adolescence in today’s world. Read more

Point of View May 8, 2017

Everyday Heroism

A Researcher Noted for Studying the Psychology of Evil Has Shifted His Focus

Philip Zimbardo, the researcher famous for shining a light on our worst authoritarian impulses, has shifted the focus of his work. Read more

Point of View March 13, 2017

Feeling Anxious?

A Longtime Researcher Weighs In

How can you keep on top of the proliferation of anxiety treatments today? Read more

Point of View November 3, 2016

Food and Mood

What Every Therapist Needs to Know about Nutrition

What therapists should know about nutrition and the food-mood connection. An interview with Joan Borysenko. Read more

Point of View August 30, 2016

Point of View: Creatures of Habit

How Do We Change Our Most Rigid Routines?

Discover the key to becoming less of a creature of habit. Read more

Point of View June 30, 2016

Introvert Power

Susan Cain Wants to Correct a Cultural Bias

Susan Cain, the bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, believes that our world has been ruled by extroverts... Read more

Point of View May 9, 2016

The Five Love Languages

Translating Intention into Connection

An interview with the author of The 5 Love Languages, a book that's sold over 8 million copies, explains its remarkable success. Read more

Point of View March 8, 2016

New Technologies for Today’s Practitioners

Using Virtual Reality to treat PTSD

The increasingly accessible and inexpensive technology of virtual reality now enables us to incorporate digital Skinner boxes in our practices that can enhance... Read more

Point of View January 11, 2016

Losing Our War on Stress

It’s time to reconsider our approach

Psychologist Kelly McGonigal believes that stress isn’t the public health menace it’s usually made out to be—our compulsion to avoid it is often the... Read more

Point of View November 18, 2015

Destigmatizing Autism

The Future of Neurodiversity

Author Steve Silberman discusses what it means to view autistic people as individuals seeing the world in a different way, rather than just a checklist of... Read more

Moments of Meaning

Unexpected Lessons from Practice

Three clinicians share stories of challenging cases that show how the most surprising outcomes often have nothing to do with therapeutic brilliance or... Read more

Point of View September 1, 2015

Smart Growth

Developing a mindset for life

A conversation with motivation expert Carol Dweck on the importance of the “growth mindset” and how to enhance people’s ability to tackle adversity and... Read more

Point of View July 1, 2015

Personality and Habit Change

Are You an Upholder, Obliger, Questioner, or Rebel?

In her first book, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin tried to answer the question “How do I become happier?” With her new book on changing the habits... Read more

Point of View May 1, 2015

Brave New Couples

What Can Science Tell Us about the Changing Face of Couplehood Today?

Susan Johnson, developer of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, discusses what the science of love says about what couples can expect when they rebel too much... Read more

Point of View March 1, 2015

The Power of Commitment

Mindfulness Is Only the Beginning

Despite its popularity among therapists, mindfulness is only a beginning in the process of change. Read more

Point of View January 1, 2015

Reinventing Couplehood

Intimacy and Commitment in the Age of Consumer Marriage

Esther Perel, a couples therapist whose TED talk has had more than 5 million views, believes that it’s time to challenge the mismatch between the romantic... Read more

Point of View November 12, 2014

The Malleability of Memory

Putting Psychotherapy on the Witness Stand

During the false memory controversies of the 1990s, many therapists saw Elizabeth Loftus, one of the most honored psychologists in the history of the field, as... Read more

Point of View September 11, 2014

The Tribal Classroom

Applying attachment theory in schools

Lou Cozolino believes that attachment theory and neuroscience may offer the key to transforming our troubled educational system. Read more

Point of View July 11, 2014

When Talk Isn’t Enough

Easing Trauma’s Lingering Shock

Pioneering trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk shares his thoughts on the differences between public and private trauma. Read more

Point of View May 12, 2014

Brain Imaging and Psychotherapy

Why is it so controversial?

For nearly 20 years, psychiatrist Daniel Amen has led a controversial crusade to make brain imaging an accepted part of psychotherapeutic practice. Read more

Point of View March 7, 2014

The Little Things

Love in the Consulting Room

Barbara Fredrickson’s research on the biology of love and positivity demystifies our ideas about the role of intimacy, connection, and resilience in our... Read more

Point of View January 8, 2014

Emotional First Aid

Looking Beyond the DSM

In Emotional First Aid, Manhattan psychologist Guy Winch provides an instructional manual for handling the bumps and bruises of life. Read more

Point of View November 5, 2013

Grief as a Gift

Carrying on the Legacy of Kübler-Ross

David Kessler has spent his career helping people all over the world deal with death. In the process, he’s learned that—as much as we may resist... Read more

Point of View September 5, 2013

Wearing Your Heart on Your Face

The Polyvagal Circuit in the Consulting Room

Psychophysiologist Stephen Porges’s research on the polyvagal nervous system provides insight into the evolutionary roots of trauma and anxiety, and how... Read more

Point of View July 1, 2013

Talking with God

Religion as a Therapeutic Experience

Anthropologist and author Tanya Luhrmann explains how many evangelicals experience the kind of support in their connection with God that others find in their... Read more

Point of View May 1, 2013

Is Technology Changing Our Minds?

What Therapists Need to Know in the Digital Age

Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Gary Small on what therapists should know about how technology is altering our brains, for both good and ill. Read more

Point of View March 1, 2013

Finding the Hero Within

Exploring the Link Between Trauma and Oppression

Kenneth Hardy believes that the experience of trauma is too often unacknowledged by therapists struggling to help troubled minority youth. Read more

Point of View January 1, 2013

The Power of Forgiveness

Cutting the Bonds of Resentfulness

Frederic Luskin has spent the last 20 years studying forgiveness and why achieving it can be so difficult. Read more

Point of View November 1, 2012

Tribal Politics

Moral Issues are at the Heart of Elections

Social psychologist Jonathon Haidt offers a perspective on why we vote the way we do that you’re unlikely to have read about in the deluge of mainstream... Read more

Point of View September 1, 2012

Psyche and Soma

How Our Bodies Reveal Our Inner Experience

For more than 25 years, Pat Ogden has been at the forefront of developing somatic approaches that can succeed where the talking cure fails. Read more

Point of View July 1, 2012

Irvin Yalom on Psychotherapy as Craft

Looking Back to Move Forward

In an age when all eyes seem constantly riveted on the Next Big Thing, celebrated therapist-novelist Irvin Yalom takes a different approach. Read more

Point of View May 1, 2012

Mary Pipher on Activism

Applying our Healing Skills in the Wider World

Bestselling author and retired psychotherapist Mary Pipher makes a case for therapists’ having the know-how to become effective social activists---and for... Read more

Point of View March 1, 2012

Igniting Excellence in Psychotherapy

Top performers are made, not born

When it comes to achieving excellence, author Daniel Coyle has found a common pattern of focused, guided practice and instruction that leads to success. Read more

Point of View January 1, 2012

Learning How to Learn

Communities of Practice can reveal new paths to excellence

While therapists often lead quite isolated professional lives, social-learning theorist Etienne Wenger has shown how a community of practice is perhaps the... Read more

Point of View November 1, 2011

Our Potential for Good

Altruism as an Evolutionary Imperative

Psychologist Darcher Keltner believes that underestimating our capacity for altruism does human nature a disservice. Read more

Point of View September 1, 2011

The Alphabet Soup

Diana Fosha on the Convergence in Today’s Therapies

Diana Fosha talks about why so many acronymic therapies—ADEP, DBT, IFS, ACT—resemble each other, and what that says about the therapy field today. Read more

Point of View June 1, 2011

Neil Clark Warren, the founder of the successful matchmaking site eHarmony, talks about what’s necessary to find a good, compatible match. Read more

Point of View May 1, 2011

Red Speak, Blue Speak

The Psychology of Political Rhetoric

The work of linguist George Lakoff on the psychology of political rhetoric has become must reading for anyone who wants to understand how candidates get... Read more

Point of View March 1, 2011

Gender and the Brain

Louann Brizendine's Work Stirs New Controversy

Neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine has stirred up plenty of controversy by arguing that men and women have very different brains. Read more

Point of View January 1, 2011

Whatever Became of Feminism?

Harriet Lerner on the Legacy of the Women's Movement

Psychologist and bestselling author Harriet Lerner speaks about her body of work and addresses the question of the continuing impact of feminism on... Read more

Point of View November 1, 2010

Telling It Like It Is

Donald Meichenbaum Doesn't Mince Words

Long an acerbic critic of the trendy and faddish, Don Meichenbaum, one of the founders of CBT, is still determined to separate myth from reality in the world... Read more

Point of View September 1, 2010

Embracing Life, Facing Death

An interview with Irvin Yalom

For existential therapist Irvin Yalom, even depth-oriented therapy doesn't go deep enough. Read more

Ryan Howes

Ryan Howes, Ph.D., ABPP is a Pasadena, California-based psychologist, musician, and author of the “Mental Health Journal for Men.” Learn more at ryanhowes.net.