Professional Development

Asha recently gave her therapist a homemade necklace, which he accepted, thinking it innocuous enough. Now, she brings it up almost every session... Read more

In this issue, we hear from therapists who are moving beyond the confines of their offices to work with traumatized communities with enormous needs and few... Read more

Therapists are always on the lookout for new approaches and techniques. But in a profession with alarming rates of burnout and professional isolation, the best... Read more

You may not be a certified sex therapist, but that doesn’t mean you have to shy away from helping clients with their sexual issues. Read more

After careful review of the usual stereotypes—technologically adroit, social media fixated, with a touch of narcissism—one 30-something therapist belatedly... Read more

Admitting her bafflement with some of her millennial clients, a veteran therapist accepts her ignorance and gets advice from some of the young people in her... Read more

A quick glance a therapist whose young clients rave about her. Read more

Podcasts have exploded in numbers and popularity. What do mental health professionals need to know about this way of expanding their audience and their... Read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Diane has just announced she intends to move overseas to marry a man she recently met online. This raises an alarm for her therapist, but he's unsure about... Read more

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

Enhancing emotional healing with visual images in your work. Read more

A therapist struggles to help an obsessive client with whom she develops an unusual preoccupation. Read more

Surprisingly, the bestselling Buddhist author and therapist Mark Epstein doesn't believe that mindfulness is a panacea. Read more

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

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

A highlight of this year’s Symposium was iconic therapist Irvin Yalom receiving the Networker Lifetime Achievement Award. In this excerpt from his recent... Read more

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

A therapist tries to ride to the rescue of an immigrant client in a desperate situation. Read more

How to give boys more choices about the kind of men they want to be. Read more

Therapy, in order to shake people loose from their tragic stances and bounce them into the human comedy, is at its best when it is funny, when the tragic... Read more

Most therapists were never coached about how to reconcile the closeness of the therapeutic encounter with the fact that therapy is also a business. Read more

A leader in expressive arts therapy explains why it’s increasingly being used to help combat vets find relief from trauma. Read more

The bad news? We all have a two-million-year-old brain that keeps us constantly anxious and self-critical. The good news? It doesn’t have to define who we... Read more