3 Toxic Mindsets That May Be Poisoning Your Life

If you’ve contacted a therapist, chances are you may be struggling with a toxic mindset. Things didn’t turn out the way you hoped; you may feel angry, misunderstood, hurt. Together with your therapist, you pick through your history, examine your friendships, scrutinize your family, spouse, or society. In the early stages of therapy, intense feelings […]

5 Ways Stressed-Out People May Infect You With Stress

After grad school, I was assigned a clinical supervisor who was always stressed-out… She picked at her nails, took phone calls during our sessions, complained about the clinic’s financial problems, her busy schedule, health issues, and her aging cat. She constantly sighed, shifted in her seat, and shuffled through mounds of files on her desk, […]

How To Find Meaning in Despair

Despair comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s triggered by a specific event; other times, it arrives inexplicably, without notice or cause. It’s impossible to find a person who hasn’t experienced despair. We all intuitively know and dread the feelings that despair brings; for some, it’s a dull pain in the chest or stomach; for others, […]

Psychotherapist Burnout: Causes & Cures

ISSUES IN PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY, Volume 40, 2018   Psychotherapists are bombarded with feelings from their patients. Every day in their office, they listen to traumatic memories or stories of abuse and neglect; at times, they become the object of negative transference, projections, displacements, or may struggle with their own negative countertransference. Navigating such burdensome feeling states […]

Are You Setting Healthy Emotional Boundaries?

What does “setting healthy emotional boundaries” mean? No parent sets out to sabotage their child’s development. But when a parent fails to provide healthy emotional boundaries, they unwittingly cause lasting damage to their children’s ability to trust others and embrace intimacy. Separation, individuation As children mature, they naturally seek independence. From the moment they learn […]

How Psychodynamic Group Therapy Helps

What is psychodynamic group therapy? Wherever I suggest group therapy to clients, they tend to respond with disdain. “Group therapy? People actually do that?”  The next question, asked in conspiratorial tones, comes quickly: “What do people talk about?” When I explain the group therapy contract, they appear aghast. Group members are encouraged to put their […]

Are You Self-Awakening?

Why do some people thrive in the face of obstacles and setbacks, while others in more favorable circumstances lack the drive to persevere? What does it mean to be a self-awakening person? Buddhist scholar and peace activist Daisaku Ikeda suggests: “Fortune and misfortune are unfathomable. Even if we achieve a win, our joy will not […]