In The Therapy Room

Pioneering trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk shares his thoughts on the differences between public and private trauma. Read more

When it comes to understanding your clients’ inner world, words can only go so far. Clients can use words to tell you what they’re conscious of (“My... Read more

Most therapists assume that, just as any rational person with a broken arm would be an eager customer for medical care, surely a person suffering from severe... Read more

If we don’t open up the one-on-one therapeutic cloister, trauma sufferers may never learn how to engage in the give and take of real-life relationships. By... Read more

Bill talks about a proactive approach that can lead to positive developments when therapy starts to stall. Read more

Ann explains how imbuing body parts with feelings can lead clients to more embodied and clarifying emotional experiences than talk alone can provide. Read more

Jeff explains the tools he uses to make therapy a true experience—including trance, novelty, and precision in his use of language, and resonant gestures that... Read more

How can a therapist cut through a couples’ intellectualizations, defensiveness, and ritualized use of language? The key is to bypass the language and explore... Read more

Using humor to help clients reconstruct their problems, even to the point of making parodies of their own dilemmas, can help some them get distance from their... Read more

Watch this clip to hear Courtney Armstrong talk about a specific client she saw who needed guidance more than she needed understanding. Read more

Part of the healing process is seeing and understanding how clients operate in their day-to-day existence, so a client who's being dishonest in their life... Read more

In this clip Janina Fisher talks about how years of experience do not guarantee easy clients and how she reacts when faced with a challenging case. Read more

To help depressed clients figure out what they need to heal, mindfulness specialist Elisha Goldstein has developed several effective self-compassion practices... Read more

Diane Poole Heller talks about one of her therapy techniques: Corrective experiences. Read more

Ann Randolph talks about one acting technique in particular that can easily be incorporated into therapy sessions to help clients express their emotions. Read more

Margaret Wehrenberg identified specific types of anxious/depressed clients and has honed different treatment techniques that are effective. Read more

Zin Segal discusses how clients can achieve mindful awareness of their emotional states in just three minutes. Read more

Diana Fosha uses an example from her own practice of how therapists can begin to catch incongruity Read more

David Burns talks about how to set an agenda for therapy. Read more

Elisha Goldstein asks clients what they need in tough moments and explains why it helps them learn to trust themselves. Read more

Judith Beck talks about an intellectual technique that she uses when doing childhood work with adult clients suffering from depression. Read more

Susan shares the latest research that backs up the central principle of EFT Read more

David Burns discusses the key to reaching resistant clients—and it's not a new technique. Read more

Jeff Auerbach discusses the differences between therapy and coaching. Read more

We frequently need to confront our clients, and putting aside a fear of confrontation—not to mention a fear of losing clients—means that we must risk the... Read more

Danie Beaulieu explains how panic can function as the voice of clients’ internal GPS, telling them when they are making a “wrong turn” in their lives. Read more

To work as a school social worker in the Bronx’s high-crime, low-income Hunt’s Point neighborhood is to become an expert at expecting the unexpected. Read more

James Gordon shares a technique he uses with clients to help them get out of hopeless thought patterns. Read more

Inevitably, given their history of trauma, many borderline clients will trigger their therapists from time to time. But forgoing the urge to blame these... Read more

You never get a second chance to have a first session, so make the most of it. Read more