In The Therapy Room

When we therapists believe a secret's revelation would be dangerous, the client receives a frightening message about themself and the world. Read more

Motivating couples to do their therapy homework may be the key to successful outcomes. Read more

Although they make up nearly a quarter of the population, children are rarely a central part of therapists’ practices. Why? The most effective interventions... Read more

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

Year after year, therapists have come to the Networker Symposium expecting to escape the turbulence of everyday life and the real world. But this year... Read more

With traumatized adolescent clients, it’s emotion that gradually changes emotion—not rational explanation or interpretation, not snazzy techniques or... Read more

Michele Weiner-Davis learns a surprising lesson when she reevaluates whether certain foundational rules for infidelity recovery really help her clients heal. Read more

How to keep it real with teenage clients. Read more

Diagnosing and treating mood disorders can be tricky, especially when it comes to an often overlooked, subtle form of bipolar II. Read more

Rather than just commiserating with clients’ misery, most therapists want to engage in more active forms of helping. So we try to persuade clients... Read more

While research indicates that most anti-bullying projects don’t work, a disarmingly simple approach has shown promising results. Read more

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

It’s now clear that much of what therapists do for people suffering from OCD actually worsens the problem. Providing empathic reassurance, rational... Read more

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... Read more

As a therapist, how do you work with conservative parents struggling to parent their trans child? Psychotherapist Jean Malpas shares three keys to acceptance. Read more

Parents typically view their children in the largely gendered terms society lays out for them. Rearranging that internal mind map requires tremendous effort... Read more

Until very recently, most families with transgender children had never met another family like theirs. Now parents and children from the trailblazing Ackerman... Read more

An innovative way of working with people who are hypersensitive to criticism. Read more

A school counselor’s patient work with a sad, uncommunicative young boy demonstrates what a difference just being there can make. * Commentary by Janet... Read more

If you’re like most couples therapists, you know how to help partners communicate more clearly, handle conflict with less uproar, and connect more... Read more

Since many of us grew up in sexual silence, therapists need to ask more probing questions for good couples therapy. Read more

If you’re going to help a couple get closer and really learn to work harmoniously with one another, whether in bed or anywhere else, the key is helping... Read more

Porn is polarizing. Porn is confusing. Porn can be alarming. For therapists, porn can push us out of our comfort zone and trigger negative countertransference... Read more

In a sex-starved marriage, one spouse longs for more physical touch or sex than the other, sometimes placing the marriage at risk of infidelity and divorce. Read more

Therapists too often ignore the importance of the longstanding, often unconscious stories that partners carry with them into their sexual relationship. Helping... Read more

How do you strike a balance between validation and empowerment in helping those afflicted with chronic resentment? Read more

IFS founder Dick Schwartz believes a genuine state of self-compassion entails a journey into multiple parts of yourself that may include the good, the bad, the... Read more

As the mindfulness movement sweeps through our field, many therapists are discovering that traditional contemplative practices grounded in detached... Read more

How to help the concerned parents of aggressive kids understand the complexities of moral development. Read more

Too often both clinicians and clients fall into the trap of pursuing weight loss as a therapeutic goal. Read more