GoodTherapy.org Weekly Inspirational Thoughts
February 8, 2012 - All artists know that waiting until the light is right is the key to bringing out the deepest colors and capturing the nuance and mystery provided by the shadows. This principle may apply to the way we interact with one another as well :-)
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December 7, 2011 - Our inspirational thought this week is reflective of our Elements of Good Therapy and emphasizes the importance of compassion in our everyday lives. When viewing others... Read More
Resiliency is seen as one’s ability to adaptively cope with stressful events. Individuals who have survived 
Traumatic experiences along with the mending process can expose the shrapnel from what feels like perpetually open wounds. Time lost to history and recovery, missed opportunities, broken relationships, and a delay in building life’s foundation are side effects of these experiences.
Therapists and clients are able to identify, with ease, what may seem like irreversible damage or pain. However, it is simple to overlook the pieces of our clients’ stories that are peppered with traces of hope and with a certain innocence that runs counter to what many of them have survived. This article will... 
Love is one of the most elemental of emotions—it is a building block to some of our deepest relationships and a component in many of our happiest days. Yet the ability to freely give and receive love is a fragile skill, which traumatic experiences can all too easily dent or damage. Learning how to be loved is a vital part of your healing, and here are a few tips on how to regain your ability to accept someone’s care, concern, and nurture.
The first set of tips have to do with the person who is expressing kindness, care, concern, nurture, attention, aka love to you. Because you have experienced... 
A strong 
After having worked in a residential treatment facility for abused and neglected girls for 8 years, I observed that the phenomenon of learned helplessness had become an all-to-common denominator for these children. It was very rare that an abused child was placed with us for a single incident of abuse. By the time these children reached our facility, many of them had already been physically or sexually abused numerous times throughout their childhood and adolescence.
Many times these children had been abused not by a single perpetrator but by several different people, including members of their... 
“Immediacy is the act of discussing in the here-and-now how the therapist is feeling about the patient, about himself/herself in relation to the patient, or about the patient-therapist relationship,” said A. Jill Clemence of the Department of Psychiatry at Albany Medical College. Immediacy has been shown to be a critical component of the 
Parallel process is one of many elements included in psychotherapy supervision. In supervision, a therapist relays their client’s issues to their supervisor. The supervisor then takes on the role of the therapist and the therapist in training; the trainee then assumes the role of the client. “Without endorsing unconscious determinants, parallel process is also recognized as an important aspect of supervision in developmental and interactional models of supervision,” said Terence J.G. Tracey of the Counseling and Counseling Psychology Department of Arizona State University and lead author... 
Clinicians rely on varying factors to assess a client’s level of mental health. Past events, such as abuse or trauma, can help a clinician determine if the behavior a client exhibits in the present tense warrants psychological treatment. But exactly how does a clinician decide what is normal or abnormal behavior? “The concept of psychological abnormality has long been, and continues to be, a central concept in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and in a wide range of clinical evaluations,” said Nancy S. Kim of the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University.... 
Self-disclosure by therapists, a practice that was once frowned upon in 
Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past several decades, affording clinicians the opportunity to provide services in more unique and far reaching way ways than ever before. However, these advancements have not come without risk. “Unfortunately, professional psychologists have also identified a number of disadvantages associated with the increased use of technology in psychological practice, including difficulties in managing electronic database and communication security, unauthorized access to client data, inappropriate disclosures of identifying information, and unethical... 
Story: “Once at the end of a first session, my client asked for some “homework” so I suggested she do some journal writing about a habit she had discovered during the session. When she arrived for the next session, she sat down, looked at me, and immediately began almost screaming that she ‘couldn’t trust me…I was just like all the others…she knew this wasn’t going to work…I had a formula that I applied to all my clients…and I wasn’t going to take a personal interest in her…’. ‘My goodness, you certainly have strong feelings!’, I replied. ‘Yes, I do! I just can’t... 
