Tuesday is for Therapists: Biweekly Essays

TIFT #19 Attachment and Anorexia Nervosa Jul 06, 2021

 

 

A blog reader in her late 30s asked how attachment issues might be related to her recent symptoms of anorexia nervosa. As she has resolved painful memories of sexual trauma she has experienced more distress about relationships. She reports: “I just don’t think I matter...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #18 A Milestone for Psychotherapy Integration tift Jun 29, 2021

 

In TIFT #14, I talked about my personal goal to see the psychotherapy integration movement turn from seemingly endless exploration to seeking consensus. At SEPI's 37th Annual Meeting in June, three of us surprised even ourselves in a Zoom session as we arrived at a core consensus...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #17 Bringing Emotion Into the Room tift Jun 22, 2021

 

This topic is coming into view for a reason. The Pilot group in the Howtherapyworks Training Program has just finished the first trimester on theory and, in our next term, will be working on therapy skills and technique. In this post, I want to use the concepts of Entrenched...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #16 Failed Rites of Passage tift Jun 15, 2021

 

Not everyone of adult chronological age feels or functions like a full adult. This TIFT is about those individuals. I suppose every therapist has a personal list of “syndromes” or patterns they recognize but don’t find in the literature. This is one I have found useful...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #15 The Power of Words tift Jun 08, 2021

 

Words are amazingly precise

A patient in her 30s was defending her mother as she heavily blamed herself for her ongoing failure to function. She described how her motherwas sometimes very supportive, buthad been critical and harsh when told of the patient’s plan to attend her...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #14 Breaching the Silos of Psychotherapy tift Jun 01, 2021

 

The pathway starts by narrowing our view to precisely what psychotherapy aims to treat. As discussed in TIFT #11, this leads to identifying Entrenched Maladaptive Patterns (EMPs), as the basic units of pathology treatable in psychotherapy. From there,we bring in evolutionary biology,...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #13 The Role of Learning May 25, 2021

 

In recent posts, I have talked a lot about general application of two change mechanisms, Extinction and Memory Reconsolidation, both implicated in research on how learned fear can be “unlearned” or suppressed. I have been a bit vague about a third foundational change mechanism,...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #12 On Resistance May 18, 2021

 

The phenomenon of resistance turns out to be more central and more profoundly embedded in the work of psychotherapy than is sometimes recognized. Freud saw this when he said that psychoanalysis is the analysis of resistance. He also gave a clue as to why it has taken a long time to realize...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #11 Universal and Explanatory May 11, 2021

 

What clinicians need from research

The psychotherapy research community has produced many good things, but complaints are common about a mismatch between what research produces and what clinical psychotherapy needs. In my view, the problems revolve around two words: Universal and ...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #10 The Secret Power of Fairytales May 04, 2021

 

Why is age five so special? And what is it about fairytales that makes them so compelling at that age? Few therapists are aware (and if you are, I’d love to hear about it) of an important event in cognitive development that takes place at about age five. I have alluded to it before,...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #9 What You Don't Know About Shame tift Apr 27, 2021

Here’s the secret:

Treating inappropriate shame is one of the hardest jobs in psychotherapy. Knowing this and understanding why will help you know what to do and how to manage expectations. The surprising thing is that, as far as I can tell (and I’d love to know otherwise) no one has...

Continue Reading...
TIFT #8 Nondirective vs. Directive? Apr 20, 2021

What does that sound like? Perhaps, “I’m feeling a tug to somehow get this therapy moving, but I can’t think of anything successful I could do right now. I wonder if in some way you have been waiting for me?” And indeed, the inner child may have been hoping to avoid...

Continue Reading...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

*** Residents and Fellows in Psychiatry Course enrollment ending Sunday***