By Judith Barr, MA, LMHC

Click here to contact Judith and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

People don’t generally want to look at how politics and psychology are joined. But if we don’t, we will miss the seam that allows us to utilize what is happening in our world for the deepest healing and transformation possible!

When something brings up intense, deep, raw feelings for you . . .
It means something in your past has been triggered.
It means something within you has been evoked.
It is becoming more commonly known in our world that this is true in our personal lives and our professional lives.

For example . . . Read the rest of this entry

The GoodTherapy.org Team is very pleased to announce that the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) has awarded GoodTherapy.org with Approved Continuing Education Provider Status. This status is a high compliment to the GT Continuing Education Team who over the last year has produced nearly a dozen excellent events. Thanks to Whitney Whitman, MS, our new Continuing Education Provider, for all of her work scheduling some excellent events for the 2008 and 2009 calendar. We look forward to announcing our upcoming events. Click on the following link for more information on our live teleconferences for therapists

© Copyright 2008 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Bellevue Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Daniel Brezenoff, LCSW

Researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island are reporting that children as young as four can meet criteria for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This condition, associated with anxiety, has been studied in older children and adolescents, but this new study was the largest ever study of OCD in preschool age.

“OCD, if left untreated, can significantly disrupt a child’s growth and development and can worsen as the child gets older,” said Abbe Garcia, PhD, director of the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center (BHCRC) Pediatric Anxiety Research Clinic at Brown, and chief author of the new study. “[E]arly diagnosis and intervention are critical to reducing the severity of symptoms and improving quality of life.” Read the rest of this entry

By Jeanine Austin, Ph.D.

Part of my job as the Department Head of Social Services when I worked for a skilled nursing facility was to have regular client contact. One morning, I stopped by to see how Mr. and Mrs. Carol (not their real names) were doing. As soon as I stepped in the room I felt I was entering into a combat zone. The couple was sparring loudly about which television program they were going to watch: People’s Court or Sally Jesse Raphael. Not five seconds into the debate, in horror I watched a cup of hot tea, launched by Mr. Carol, fly past my head only to narrowly miss Mrs. Carol, his bride of more than 60 years. Not to be outdone, Mrs. Carol chucked her full tray of gooey hospital food towards Mr. Carol. For someone in her final days of a terminal illness, she surprisingly mustered enough strength to create a giant mess with food landing on the ceiling, windows and walls. Indignant and incensed, I looked at my 90-something year old patients and exclaimed with all the authority a 23 year old might command and said, “You two should be ashamed of yourselves!”

Back in my office, I reviewed the couple’s intake and psychosocial assessments. Their marital history was unremarkable and by all accounts it was a happy liaison. What was up with these two crazy characters? Then it hit me. They didn’t know how to say goodbye to each other. Of course, it is much easier to contemplate leaving someone who is on your last nerve than someone whom you feel a warm fuzzy connection with. I was able to bring this up later with Mr. and Mrs. Carol and they both acknowledged that their bickering the last few weeks had to do with their fears of losing each other. Read the rest of this entry

by Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director GoodTherapy.org

The phrase “good therapy” encourages a misconception: the idea that there is such a thing as pure good therapy, a process exempt of any problems or issues. In the same way that a good marriage is not one without problems, but rather one that works through problems – so is good therapy. No therapist is perfect and no therapy can be provided perfectly, no matter how ideal a therapy may be in theory. Even those of us who do the best we can to be conscious of our inner world and attuned to the therapeutic process have aspects we are unaware of, pieces of ourselves unhealed, and mistakes we make. Good therapy is the sum of all the experiences, internal and external, occurring as a result of the imperfect psychotherapy process; and it leads toward self-awareness, growth, and the release of extreme feelings, energies, and beliefs. And what a blessing it is that even the best therapy can be lined with areas of unawareness, mistakes, challenges to the therapeutic relationship, and yet still turn out good…like a marriage. Perhaps we even need a little bad therapy mixed in with all the good? As paradoxical as that sounds, think of the beautiful repairs you and your life partner may have made, the important problems you’ve worked out with friends, and perhaps the repairs you’ve made in therapy with the people you work with. A solid repair improves the connection and deepens the trust. So, cheers to road bumps in therapy, within all relationships, and within ourselves! Read More about ‘Good Therapy, Bad Therapy, & Everything in Between.’

© Copyright 2008 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Schaumburg Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Daniel Brezenoff, LCSW

If you thought telephone therapy was going too far from the human touch, wait until you read this: Astronauts will receive computerized therapy during space flights under a new NASA project, called the Virtual Space Station, which gets underway next month with some terrestrial-bound clinical trials on civilians in Boston.

The cost of the program is just under two-million dollars.

Space flight can also be stressful, isolating and depressing. The job is dangerous and comes with tremendous pressure. Colleagues may spend days, weeks, or even months living in extremely close quarters without a break, and are separated from friends and family for extended periods. And the normal comforts and coping skills of home – a delicious meal, a walk in the sunshine, a long bath, or a night on the town, are unavailable.

The new project is sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, and will provide a recorded video therapist to provide the popular therapy called “problem-solving treatment,” helping astronauts identify depression, its causes, and possible solutions they can implement while in space flight, before symptoms grow too intense and interfere with their mission. Then astronauts can type in a description of their problems and feelings and the video therapist responds. Astronauts can also practice conflict resolution with role-playing, and will have access to virtual psychology text books.

Twenty-nine current and former astronauts have been consulted for the project, but it has great potential for many populations, such as scientists or soldiers at remote outposts, or anyone who has physical or emotional difficulty getting to appointments in person.

The program comes in response partly to past experiences. In 1985, a mission on Russia’s Salyut 7 space had to aborted when the commander become depressed and lethargic. Three years earlier, another Salyut mission was almost abandoned due to conflicts between two astronauts.

Click here to contact Daniel and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile ©Copyright 2008 by GoodTherapy.org All Rights Reserved. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Daniel and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile
Therapist Seattle

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Daniel Brezenoff, LCSW

A new study in the Journal Human Reproduction reports that depression is a measurable risk factor for pregnant women and their infants, leading to higher rates of premature birth. “Depression during pregnancy has been understudied, under- recognized and frequently ignored,” Dr. De-Kun Li, who authored the study, told Bloomberg News. “Now, we have the strong evidence that I hope will raise the alarm.”

Previous research indicates that as many as a fifth of pregnant women will experience depression, with about 1 out of 15 pregnant women having severe symptoms like anhedonia, sleep disturbance, and suicidality. In this new study by Kaiser Permanente, of 791 San Francisco Kaiser members 10 weeks pregnant, 41% had either significant or severe depression symptoms, and women with symptoms of severe depression had twice the risk of early delivery in the new study. Women with less severe depression had a 60 percent higher risk of giving birth prematurely, defined as delivery before 37 weeks. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Daniel Brezenoff, LCSW

The suicide rate in the United States is increasing for the first time in a decade, according to a new study at Johns Hopkins that relies on CDC data. The study was remarkable not just for this reversal in trend, but for a demographic surprise: The rate of suicide is increasing fastest among middle-aged white women.

The researchers found that from 1999 to 2005, the overall suicide rate in the United States rose 0.7 percent. However, among middle-aged white women, the annual increase was 3.9 percent; among middle-aged white men it was 2.7 percent.

The study did contain some good news: suicides have declined among the elderly, possibly due to more attention to suicide risk in older adults, resulting in successful interventions with depressed individuals, including mental health services and social supports.

The suicide rate also declined for black Americans and remained stable for Asians and Native Americans.

Among women, “this 40-to-64 age group has been neglected,” said Susan P. Baker, public health professor and lead researcher on the study. “The death rates were higher in elderly white males, and there has been a lot of attention to teenagers and young adults.”

The most frequent method of suicide was using a firearm, although the rate of suicide by this method declined. Suicide by hanging and suffocation rose significantly, accounting for 22 percent of all suicides by 2005. Among men, hanging/suffocation rates increased 6.3 percent annually; among women, the yearly rise was 2.3 percent. Poisoning accounted for 18 percent of suicides, the study found.

The report was published online Oct. 21 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Click here to contact Daniel and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile ©Copyright 2008 by GoodTherapy.org All Rights Reserved. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Daniel and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile
Therapist Seattle

By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Arthur and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

Attachment is fundamental to healthy development, normal personality, and the capacity to form healthy and authentic emotional relationships. How can you determine whether your child has attachment issues that require attention? What is normal behavior, and what are the signs of attachment issues? If you’ve adopted an infant, when will you see attachment problems develop? These and other related questions are often at the forefront of adoptive parents’ minds. In this article I will help you understand what to look for and how to identify concerns. Read the rest of this entry

By Jeanine Austin, Ph.D.

Years ago, I was working late at my office in social services when two young prostitutes who had just been released from jail knocked on the front door of the building. They were in need or food and clothing. Despite their inquiry, they were somewhat sarcastic and rude. My intuitive feeling was that neither of them was long for this world. They both appeared to be drug addicted and seriously ill.

I got them some both something to eat and then I took them into the storage room to look for some clothes. They both began to choose the clothing they wanted. One of the young women had red hair and when she tried on a blue blouse her blue eyes shone. I told her how pretty she looked in the blouse. Her demeanor instantly changed and I think I knew why. In that moment, I acknowledged her not as a drug addicted prostitute, someone to be thrown away, but as a dignified human being. That lesson has stayed with me throughout the years. Read the rest of this entry