Although happiness is widely beneficial, organizing one’s life around it can lead to a great deal of effort and time being spent unwisely. Trying too hard to... Read more

Bessel van der Kolk, a leading trauma therapist, takes on the New York Times. Read more

An investigation of some of history’s most famous creative teams leads to the conclusion that no artist is an island. Read more

We used to think that disordered attachment was the result of early parental neglect or abuse. But today, has a paradoxical mix of parental overinvolvement and... Read more

During Vietnam, there were proportionately far fewer reported cases of trauma on the actual battlefield than there'd been in previous wars. The primary reason... Read more

For many therapists, an air of mystery surrounds the role of psychopharmacology in mental health treatment. Here's a step-by-step tour of the complexities of... Read more

In the age of Big Pharma, meds have flattened all before them in their virtual conquest of the mental health field. Over the years, antidepressants have come... Read more

Over the last 150 years, we’ve seen waves of mass infatuations with psychotropic drugs—antidepressants being the latest. While all these drugs are... Read more

The authors of a provocative new book argue that, despite its sterling reputation, alcoholics anonymous has one of the worst success rates in all of medicine. Read more

No other single condition tests the therapeutic relationship quite so stringently, demands so much from the clinician, or combines so many disparate treatment... Read more

Part of the epidemic of misdiagnosed ADHD in young children today results from a failure to understand how trauma often leads to difficulty learning in school. Read more

Twenty-five years ago, we believed that helping trauma survivors dig into dark and unspeakable horrors would set them free. But in this new age of trauma... Read more

K. Anders Ericsson’s work on deliberate practice and client feedback explains studies showing that most of us grow continually in confidence over the course... Read more

The era of unchallenged male entitlement has come to an end, and many men are mad as hell. A new book provides context to help us deal with this anger in the... Read more

Barbara Fredrickson’s research on the biology of love and positivity demystifies our ideas about the role of intimacy, connection, and resilience in our... Read more

Labeling clients with DSM diagnoses is a ritual most of us perform to get reimbursed and pay our mortgages, but few of us actually believe in. Has the time... Read more

While the polemical debates over the new DSM have received widespread coverage, the reactions of ordinary clinicians have yet to receive much scrutiny. Read more

From small insignificant beginnings in 1952, when almost nobody read it, DSM has become a kind of sacred literary monster. Today, it’s the most detested and... Read more

As the man responsible for the previous edition, the foremost critic of DSM-5 is perhaps the last person you’d expect to trash this latest, biggest version. Read more

Since the publication of DSM-IV in 1994, a massive body of neurobiological research has accumulated, revealing how protracted childhood abuse and neglect can... Read more

Throughout the fall, news about the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA), designed to extend healthcare coverage to millions of the country’s currently... Read more

With his enormous success, Malcolm Gladwell has morphed from a darling underdog to a publishing juggernaut at whom it’s now trendy to sling insults. Read more

Learning even a little about nutrition and diet can greatly enhance therapists’ ability to help clients with mood problems. Read more

Labeling behavior in fancy neurophysiological terms can make what we do sound more scientifically rigorous than the notoriously fuzzy language of... Read more

If therapists are going to bring genuine insights—not just soundbites—from neuroscience into the practice of therapy, they need the nuanced, sophisticated... Read more

As parents become frustrated with officials who can’t help with bullying in schools, they turn to another source. Read more

Garry Cooper and Kathleen Smith Read more

Raising the issue of race in therapy can help African American clients connect their personal struggles to an enduring cultural legacy that many insist isn’t... Read more

Most clients have automatic habits of thinking, feeling, and verbalizing experiences that imprison them in a world of gray sameness. How do we help them... Read more

Most therapeutic progress comes from the painstaking process of continual practice that reinforces some behaviors while actively discouraging others. Read more