Living Brave
From Vulnerability to Daring
September/October 2016
With millions of people having seen her TED talks and read her books, researcher and bestselling author Brené Brown is a phenomenon. But aside from her talents as a speaker, teacher, and writer, why is she such a runaway hit? Haven’t therapists been writing about her professional specialty—the malign impact of shame—for decades? Perhaps her vast appeal has to do with how she’s turned the concepts of shame and vulnerability on their heads.
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Editor's Note
September/October 2016
Clearly, therapists must always respond with empathy, understanding, and attuned clinical expertise to clients’ suffering. But the theme of this issue is that in their urgency to relieve pain, therapists must not overlook the rich possibilities for health and growth within every person, without which even the most skilled clinician in the world can do nothing. In the end, all clients must, to some extent, be their own healers.
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Hiding in Plain Sight
Clients' Symptoms Offer Clues to Their Strengths
September/October 2016
As therapists, we’re taught to be master detectives who methodically investigate our clients’ symptoms in search of a “culprit”—the source of their pain. But if we spend too much time preoccupied with symptoms, we’re likely to miss important clues to hidden strengths, which can transform the experience of psychotherapy.
Family Matters
Kendall’s Prom: A Special Daughter’s Special Night
July/August 2016
An young woman with autism celebrates a very special night.
Family Matters
The Voices We Hear: Giving up the Illusion of Specialness
May/June 2016
A big part of growing up is letting go of our need to prove to the world, and ourselves, that we're special.
What's Your Most Memorable Therapeutic Moment?
Six Master Clinicians Share Their Reflections
May/June 2016
Of all the meaningful sessions that take place in a therapists's career, what makes certain ones stand out? We asked six widely respected clinicians to tell the story of a particular experience that lives on for them. This special feature collects those tales of taking creative leaps in the dark and stumbling toward insight.
- "Crossing to Safety" by Courtney Armstrong
- "Happy New Year?" by Ron Taffel
- "Keeping the Faith" by Mary Jo Barrett
- "In the Valley of the Shadow" by Margie Nichols
- "The Uninvited Guest" by Hedy Schleifer
- "The Found and the Lost" by Terry Real
From Attachment to Creativity
Highlights from the 2016 Sympoium
May/June 2016
At a time in which our society seems immersed in a toxic stew of fear and anger, this year's Symposium provided a celebration of human values and ideas that seem to be vanishing from our public discourse. Here's a taste of a few of its particularly stellar moments.
- "Our Trichotillomania of the Soul" by Rich Simon
- "The Path of Surprise and Discovery" by David Whyte
- "The View from Black America" by Kenneth Hardy
- "The Dance of Sex" by Susan Johnson
- "The Wisdom of Mad Men" by William Doherty
- "How Hard Times Can Open the Heart" by Rick Hanson
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Family Matters
The Last Dance: Awakening a Mother’s Joyful Spirit
January/February 2016
Toward the end of her life, a woman turns back the clock by performing the goofy ballet of her youth.
In Search of the Big Story
Learning to Ask the Beautiful Question
January/February 2016
This March, poet, storyteller, and philosopher David Whyte—this year’s Symposium keynoter—returns to Washington DC to share his wisdom. Whyte specializes in helping people make sense of their life’s journey in a way that ordinary psychology can’t. In his latest book, he uses redefinitions of some familiar words to jog us awake and say, “Open your eyes! Watch! Listen! Smell! Pay attention!”
