These days, when psychotherapy is supposed to be “evidence based” and “empirically validated,” standardized and manualized up the wazoo, therapists often aren’t encouraged to be in the business of story-birthing.

The self-assurance of expert practitioners who publicly present their work can lead everyday therapists to believe that psychotherapy is a far more predictable craft than it actually is. The reality, of course, is much muddier. Therapists on the ground eventually learn that only one mantra applies to every case—it's more complicated than that.

Year after year, therapists have come to the Networker Symposium expecting to escape the turbulence of everyday life and the real world. But this year, attendees came seeking something more—a renewed vision of what we stand for and what our role might be in a toxically polarized society. Here are some of the moments that captured the distinctive flavor of this year’s gathering.

With traumatized adolescent clients, it’s emotion that gradually changes emotion—not rational explanation or interpretation, not snazzy techniques or “fake it till you make it” exhortations.

How have the practitioners in rural communities been responding to America’s opioid epidemic?

What therapists can learn from performers.

Cross-cultural couples face challenges that often aren’taddressed in therapy.

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

The waking-nightmare stories of people wrongfully imprisoned, often for decades, for crimes they didn’t commit expose the flaws in our criminal justice system.

The life of a seemingly frail 94-year-old takes a surprising turn.