Clinical Skills & Experience

VIDEO: Dafna Lender on Harnessing Your Social Engagement System

Strategies for Building the Therapeutic Alliance More Easily

We all know therapists who seem magically able to establish a powerful sense of trust and connection with even the most distrusting clients. But are there... Read more

My Clients and I Use the Same Dating Apps

Five Clinicians Give Their Take

A therapist recently joined a few online dating apps after finding herself newly single. She's seen several clients come up in these apps, and suspects they've... Read more

VIDEO: Dan Siegel on Embracing the Energy and Creativity of the Adolescent Mind

Why Adolescent Behavior is More Than Just Raging Hormones

In his Symposium address, Dan Siegel challenged some common myths about adolescence and suggested that the aspects of adolescence that can drive us... Read more

My Client Invited Me to a Family Barbecue

Five Clinicians Give Their Take
Psychotherapy Networker

A therapist recently moved to a new town and discovered that his client's daughter attends the same school as his son. The client recently... Read more

My Client Keeps Checking His Phone! (Part Two)

Five More Clinicians Give Their Take

Our last Clinician’s Quandary received an overwhelming number of responses. Here are a few more that didn’t make it into Part One but offer other useful... Read more

My Client Keeps Checking His Phone During Sessions

Five Clinicians Give Their Take on This Tricky Clinical Scenario
Psychotherapy Networker

Sometimes during sessions, Jonathan checks his phone for emails or updates, even though his therapist has asked him not to. She suspects Jonathan's... Read more

Between Two Worlds

Trauma Treatment on the Edge
Marcela Ot’alora G.

A clinician accustomed to treating trauma in her private practice is also an investigator of an MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research project. From this dual... Read more

As a researcher and outspoken advocate for therapeutic innovation, Bessel van der Kolk has been as influential as anyone in shaping the landscape of trauma... Read more

Chronic Pain Reconsidered

A New Role for Therapists

Only one percent of patients suffering from acute back pain have a significant structural abnormality in their back, and a remarkably low percentage of back... Read more

End-of-Session Bombshells

Handling Doorknob Moments

How to handle end-of-session bombshells therapeutically—and still wrap up on time. Read more

The Suicide Epidemic

What Can We Do?

Author and therapist Kay Redfield Jamison explores what we can do to address the suicide epidemic. Read more

Comfort Me

Embracing Grief in a Laundromat

Confronting grief in a laundromat. Read more

VIDEO: What to Do When Your Client Cries

Making Tears Your Therapeutic Ally

Many times, when clients cry, clinicians feel an urge to rush in and “fix things” that aren’t broken, which can actually make things worse. Watch as Jay... Read more

My Client Uses Me in Inappropriate Hypothetical Examples

Six Clinicians Give Their Take on This Tricky Clinical Scenario
Psychotherapy Networker

A male client uses his therapist in hypothetical examples, which the therapist finds inappropriate. Recently, when they were discussing healthy dating habits... Read more

In the Shadow of Depression

How Can We Manage to Stay Well?

Most clinicians know that if a person has suffered one bout of serious depression, he or she is much more vulnerable to another one. But most therapists still... Read more

Translating Coaching Into Therapy

The Benefits and the Boundaries

Clinicians interested in applying coaching skills in psychotherapy believe that working more from a collaborative partnership position—like a personal... Read more

Becoming a Therapist for Each Other

How to Deepen Couples Therapy

How to address one partner’s long-term issues in couples therapy without derailing work on the current relationship. Read more

The Challenge of Helping the People Pleaser

Setting Boundaries Can Be Risky

Helping clients set boundaries can be a risky business, especially when people pleasing has been a lifelong strategy. * Commentary by Courtney Armstrong Read more

The Labels We Use

When It Comes to Addiction, Sometimes a Diagnosis is a Client's Best Motivator

The labels we use to describe clients’ behaviors have important therapeutic implications. Sometimes using the word addiction and explaining its neurological... Read more

Changing Our Contract with Life

A Therapist's Story of Battling Chronic Pain

This is the story of one of the most turbulent storms in my personal and professional life. After the storm, I learned there’s something about healing from... Read more

VIDEO: The Hearing

A Therapist Shares Her Most Transformative Session

In our own small way, the Networker has tried to revive the ancient, tribal practice of storytelling. At our third annual Symposium storytelling event, Kirsten... Read more

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, men are reevaluating the way they approach courtship, relationships, gender roles, and love. Their therapists must switch... Read more

Taking on the largely unnamed complexities of the #MeToo movement for men, this issue explores how therapists can help men respond to women’s experiences in... Read more

Silent and Confused

Opening Conversations with Men in the Wake of #MeToo

Most men publicly support #MeToo, but privately—very privately, often too privately even to share with their intimate partners—some are disoriented and... Read more

What Really Heals and Awakens - Symposium

Highlights from Symposium 2018

Weaving together Buddhist philosophy and storytelling, clinical psychologist and spiritual teacher Jack Kornfield explored the nature of therapeutic... Read more

The Challenge of the Healing Apology

Highlights from Symposium 2018

At this cultural moment of the #MeToo movement, which has heightened awareness of a broad range of transgressions, psychologist and bestselling author Harriet... Read more

Our Myths about Sexuality

Highlights from Symposium 2018

Esther Perel called on the Symposium audience to challenge the various myths, especially those about male sexuality, that get in the way of deeper relational... Read more

The New Science of Couples Therapy

Highlights from Symposium 2018

In their featured address, the Gottmans explored what research has revealed about the crucial role the brain’s seven different command systems can play in... Read more

My First Client, My Best Teacher

From an Evening of Storytelling 2018

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

Jimmy

From an Evening of Storytelling 2018

What happens to a buttoned-up young therapist when things get out of hand in his office? Read more