Sometimes therapy works even when the therapist does not think it leads to improvement.
Sometimes therapy works even when the therapist does not think it leads to improvement.I worked with a Latin American engineer for a few years who was paralyzed by perfectionism. He only got a fraction of his work done on lucrative projects, wasting...
Community Newspapers Editorial
Janet was an appealing young woman in her 20s experiencing depression for the second time in her life. In a series of interviews, we identified a prior depression that she suffered in her teens. The symptoms she described in adolescence sounded like...
The Importance of Shame
Watching Ken Burns' PBS documentary on the Vietnam War the other night. One clip showed Dr. Spock, the famous pediatrician, protesting the war because, he said, soldiers should not have to continue dying to keep President Johnson from "getting egg on his...
Psychodynamic Treatment of Addictions
Physical Addictions and Psychological Addictions Are Not the Same You can be physically addicted to a substance without being psychologically addicted to it. Vets in Robins et. al (1975) study: 90% heroin-addicted do not become addicted to narcotics back in U.S....
Talk to Him
I'm enjoying re-reading David Burns MD's classic book for professionals and non-professionals alike, Feeling Good: the New Mood Therapy (1980). I read it for the first time in graduate school in 1990. It becomes evident as one reads his descriptions of work with...
Legends in Their Own Minds
Whatever one's political views of Donald Trump, his candidacy for President has created an important discussion of Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the media. The specific narcissistic trait which Trump (and everyone with the disorder) exhibits is grandiosity. ...
Atlanta Child Therapy Conference
Attended thought-provoking child psychotherapy conference at Emory this past weekend. The main case presented was of a very bright child with various worrisome symptoms who benefitted greatly from intensive therapy over a 3-plus year period. Therapy provided...
Building Self-Esteem in your Children
Self-esteem is a big subject with differing methods of study and overlapping concepts One can study children directly, or extrapolate backwards in time from adult accounts Effectance Motivation (White, 1959) Mastery, competence Resilience How do “protective factors”...