Jay Haley has been so successful in setting the terms for how we think about therapy and change (whether one agrees with him or not) that it may be hard to understand what the field of psychotherapy was like before he began commenting upon it. Probably more arguments about therapy have started by invoking Haley's name ("You know what Haley would say about this, don't you?") than that of any other figure in the field.

A son remembers a distant father and the bittersweet ritual that bonded them.

Therapists need to be prepared to go against the conventional clinical wisdom in helping later-life recouplers and stepfamilies handle the unique challenges they face.

What parent doesn’t know the ache of helplessness that comes when you can’t do anything for your child but feel entirely responsible anyway?

OCD in children can operate like a kind of cult leader, demanding acceptance of an extreme view of a perilous reality and offering solutions that can’t be resisted, no matter how absurd they may sound. Given the overwhelming fear and worry the condition generates, falling in line with the cult leader can seem like the best strategy—except that it doesn’t work.

When it comes to eating disorders, therapy can be a matter of life and death.

A son’s decision to get married is a rite of passage for the entire family.

It’s difficult enough to offer an apology when we see the need for it and believe it’s the right thing to do. It’s far more difficult when we’re confronted with criticism we didn’t see coming, and that we don’t believe is fair.

There’s a crucial point in the parenting life cycle that’s not often discussed in the literature.

A stepson reconsiders a long-held resentment.