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.

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.

Is teen suicide contagious? Clinicians weigh in on the controversy around 13 Reasons Why.

How to use the therapeutic play zone to help young children face difficult situations.

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

This issue doesn’t try to resolve all the myriad challenges of couples work. Instead, it opens up a conversation about the things couples therapists rarely talk about with clients or with each other, a conversation that we need to encourage if our profession is to keep its cultural relevance.

Although they make up nearly a quarter of the population, children are rarely a central part of therapists’ practices. Why? The most effective interventions are based in play, an approach that seems less sophisticated than purportedly deep and transformative adult-centered talk therapies. It’s time to give play therapy the fuller attention and expanded application that it deserves.

Helping families move past stalemates often means teaching parents to earn their children’s respect.

A challenging client, who won't speak or swallow, teaches a therapist just starting out how to find her own voice.

How to give boys more choices about the kind of men they want to be.