Psychotherapy too often fails to help clients like myself make changes in their lives because of the blind spot at its core—it undervalues the central role... Read more
Making yourself profoundly unhappy takes tenacity and creativity. But the real art of it is to behave in ways that allow you to claim yourself to be an... Read more
How do you help 200 teenagers who’ve had to flee their country find a path to peace in a new place? A psychiatrist who’s traveled across the world to help... Read more
Changes in the habitual attitudes and behaviors that shape our lives rarely happen as the result of psychological epiphanies or emotional catharsis. Most... Read more
To have real therapeutic impact, we need to help clients learn to relate to themselves and the world in entirely new ways. Read more
With all the recent developments in research, theory, and practice, we have more treatment options to choose from than ever before. Why then do so many... Read more
When we’re spinning our wheels from one session to the next, the key to progress often lies in shifting the therapist-client relationship. Read more
When therapy gets stuck, here are key questions therapists can ask themselves to broaden their vision and open clients to new possibilities. Read more
Actively cultivating creative power can be a revelation. It changes your brain, your outlook, your perception, and your problem-solving ability. Read more
Noticing a client’s nonverbal shifts isn’t enough. You must know what these shifts mean. Read more
Frederic Luskin has spent the last 20 years studying forgiveness and why achieving it can be so difficult. Read more
A therapist uses a Hollywood analogy to help a client learn an important lesson about distinguishing behavior from identity. Read more
You never get a second chance to have a first session, so it's important to make the most of it. Read more
Tens of thousands of miles away from his practice, a therapist accidentally discovers a new sense of purpose, unable to distinguish the act of giving from the... Read more
In this era of medical necessity, it’s easy to lose sight of a basic truth: We heal not through prescriptions and procedures, but through talking and... Read more
When we trust in ourselves to follow the signals of life that the patient emits in seemingly casual conversation, we increase chances of stepping outside the... Read more
With stalemated cases in which the task of self-acceptance feels impossible, the therapist needs to offer more than compassion and encouragement. Read more
Resonating with clients’ inner experience is key to working effectively with emotion in therapy. With traumatized and shutdown clients, however, it is easy... Read more
Therapists usually enter the field because they’re drawn to it and have innate capacities to do the work. But whether they excel depends largely on their... Read more
That first session with a new client can be crucial to the success or failure of treatment. Read more
In a memorable scene in Fiddler on the Roof, the main character, Tevye, pretends to have been awakened by a nightmare that he concocts to convince his wife to... Read more
We need Big Moments to move clients out of their ruts, their numbness, and their stuck places. But the Big Moment needs many little moments to make it stick. Read more
In a world where differences between people have become increasingly demonized, more than ever, the therapist's job is to help people expand their circle of... Read more
Many clients believe that the therapy process all by itself will magically improve their lives and relationships. We must help them recognize that without... Read more
Far from being a relic of Psych 101, the theory of cognitive dissonance may have more relevance in understanding today's world than ever. Read more
Regularly using a few simple feedback measures—plus paying close attention to your failures—can make you a better therapist. Read more
The search for the elusive experience of being "in the moment" isn't as complicated as you think. All it takes is a cup of tea, a walk, a question, a blessing... Read more
Among the more curious findings of the therapy-research literature is the failure to show that experienced clinicians get any better results than novices... Read more
When therapy stalls, it's usually time to investigate the undercurrents that nobody wants to talk about. Read more
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