Clinical Skills & Experience

The Five Love Languages

Translating Intention into Connection

An interview with the author of The 5 Love Languages, a book that's sold over 8 million copies, explains its remarkable success. Read more

The Power of the Unexpected

In Therapy, Both Ritual and Novelty Matter
Jerome Kagan

The brain endlessly churns out predictions about what will happen next, and when it comes to therapy outcomes, these expectations matter. Read more

Managing Hecklers in the Therapy Room

An Ex-Comedian Puts Her Old Skills to Use

What do the rules of comedy have to do with the practice of psychotherapy? More than you think. Read more

At this year's Symposium, we invited veteran therapists to tell their true stories of their “most unforgettable session,” and those stories are the focus... Read more

What's Your Most Memorable Therapeutic Moment?

Six Master Clinicians Share Their Reflections

Of all the meaningful sessions that take place in a therapists's career, what makes certain ones stand out? We asked six widely respected clinicians to tell... Read more

From Attachment to Creativity

Highlights from the 2016 Symposium

At a time in which our society seems immersed in a toxic stew of fear and anger, this year's Symposium provided a celebration of human values and ideas that... Read more

VIDEO: Making the Case for the Emotional Man

Pat Love Explains Why We Need to Rethink the "Empathy Gap"

Have you ever wondered if some men in your practice are simply unable to listen, connect, and empathize with their partners? According to Pat Love, it’s more... Read more

Detoxifying Criticism

How to Help Clients Gain Perspective

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

Supporting the Overwhelmed Child

Sometimes It Just Takes Time

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

New Technologies for Today’s Practitioners

Using Virtual Reality to treat PTSD

The increasingly accessible and inexpensive technology of virtual reality now enables us to incorporate digital Skinner boxes in our practices that can enhance... Read more

The Mystery of Eroticism

Rethinking Conventional Wisdom

It’s long been the conventional wisdom among couples therapists that if couples fix the emotional issues in their relationship, their sexual lives will... Read more

The Remarriage Triangle

Working with Later-Life Recouplers and their Grown Children

Therapists need to be prepared to go against the conventional clinical wisdom in helping later-life recouplers and stepfamilies handle the unique challenges... Read more

The Last Dance

Awakening a Mother’s Joyful Spirit

Toward the end of her life, a woman turns back the clock by performing the goofy ballet of her youth. Read more

In Search of the Big Story

Learning to Ask the Beautiful Question

This March, poet, storyteller, and philosopher David Whyte—this year’s Symposium keynoter—returns to Washington DC to share his wisdom. Whyte specializes... Read more

Destigmatizing Autism

The Future of Neurodiversity

Author Steve Silberman discusses what it means to view autistic people as individuals seeing the world in a different way, rather than just a checklist of... Read more

Saturdays Lost

Revisiting a Bittersweet Ritual

A son remembers a distant father and the bittersweet ritual that bonded them. Read more

Community Mental Health Today

Encompassing the Big & the Small

The promise of the community mental health movement of the 1960s, providing high-quality psychological and social services to poor families, remains unfullled... Read more

Lessons from the Love Lab

The Science of Couples Therapy

The pioneers who birthed couples and family therapy never paused to scienti cally study the relationships they treated. Now, after systematically observing and... Read more

Questions have been raised about whether the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy, the field’s most researched treatment model, has been overstated. Read more

Breaking the Chain of Resentment

How to Help Clients Move Past Old Wounds

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

A Cure for the Yips

Brainspotting and Performance Blocks
David Grand

Traumatic experiences are often the root of athletic and other kinds of performance blocks. Read more

Helping Therapy Clients Cope with the Reality of Death

Clinical Wisdom to Combat Fear, Anxiety, and Grief at the End of Life

For 17 years, managing responses to death has become part of my work, whether originally my intention or not. I’ve aspired to helping families hang tough... Read more

What the Financial Crisis Reveals About Our Psyche and Values

Confronting our Definitions of Wealth in the Therapy Room

The current economic crisis may be no more than a rather large bump in the golden road of endlessly self-renewing American prosperity. Still, it's hard not to... Read more

The Healing Power of Emotion

New Perspectives. New Approaches.

Emotion shapes and organizes our experience and connection to others. It readies us for specific actions and motivates us to change—research now confirms all... Read more

Are you a therapist that's "marriage friendly?" It's the inclination towards helping clients in good relationships stay together. Read more

VIDEO: Depression Is Not a Disease, It’s a Wake-Up Call

James Gordon on Healing without Antidepressants

Depression is not a disease, so the promise of antidepressants as a cure just doesn’t hold water. That’s the assessment of James Gordon, M.D. and he should... Read more

IFS for Self-Compassion

Some Forms of Self-Love Are Harder than Others

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

The 5 Myths of Self-Compassion

What Keeps Us from Being Kinder to Ourselves?

There’s now a growing body of research demonstrating that relating to ourselves in a kind, friendly manner is essential for emotional wellbeing. More... Read more

Moments of Meaning

Unexpected Lessons from Practice

Three clinicians share stories of challenging cases that show how the most surprising outcomes often have nothing to do with therapeutic brilliance or... Read more

After the unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore, the Emotional Emancipation movement offers a different way to address racial issues in the African American... Read more