In much long-term therapy, breakthrough experiences seem to come almost randomly, and then only after months or years. In briefer therapies, on the other hand, deeply rooted emotional realities are often ignored altogether in favor of "reframes" and other forms of cognitive or behavioral change.

On the day I understood that something had to change, I was sitting in a newspaper editorial meeting, feeling the slight, probing pressure behind my right eye that signaled the onset of a migraine headache. Stay cool, I firmly told myself. You can handle this. "Handling this" meant doing what I had been doing for the past 18 years or so of persistent migraines--dosing myself with drugs and resolutely pretending to be fine.

A hunger for the sacred permeates much of Western culture now, along with a willingness to learn from what was once called the primitive and the superstitious. We are not sure what we are missing, but we know we are missing something.

Questions have been raised about whether the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy, the field’s most researched treatment model, has been overstated.

Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body

Conditioned by the experience of life on the screen, clients today find it harder to concentrate on face-to-face conversation. They may not even see its value, feeling more comfortable with the self they can present through their digital devices. More than ever, the mores of therapy—the value therapy places on being with, forming an empathic bond, and the quiet attention necessary to do this—has become a crucial cultural corrective.

To date, virtual reality’s most visible therapeutic role has been in the treatment of phobias and other conditions where it’s served as an adjunct to imaginary and in-vivo modalities. However, newer applications have started to move beyond the idea of altering our sense of place to emphasize altering our very sense of self. So what will that mean for our field?

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

Eugene Gendlin and his work on Focusing and the “felt sense” left an indelible mark on modern mind–body approaches to psychotherapy.

Four steps to help clients take new practices learned in the consulting room back into their everyday lives.