By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D., Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Topic Expert Contributor

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

In this first article here I will describe what Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy is. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy began as a family-therapy approach, grounded in attachment theory, for the treatment of children with disorders of attachment. It has developed over the past decade into a broader approach for treatment and has been found to be an evidence-based, effective, and empirically validated treatment.

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy has as its central therapeutic mechanism the maintenance of a contingent, collaborative, sensitive, reflective and affectively attuned relationship between therapist and child, between caregiver and child, and between therapist and caregiver. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy focuses on and relies upon the intersubjective sharing and joint development and organization of emotional experience. Intersubjectivity refers to shared emotion (also called attunement), shared attention, and shared intention. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

The idea of putting the pieces of our lives together only to have them suddenly halted in an accident in the prime of our years is, for most of us, well, paralyzing. Yet that’s exactly what happened in the tale of Daniel Gottlieb, a New Jersey psychologist and family therapist whose journey through the mental health profession was remarkably turbulent. Through a series of trials which may have claimed the professional aspirations of many, this Daniel rediscovered his love for helping people reach their full potential and conquer their concerns.

After establishing a therapy practice and settling down with his wife, Daniel’s progress toward achieving the dream he’d visualized seemed to be putting him within close reach of his own concept of success. But at the age of 33, the budding counselor was involved in a serious car accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down. While coping with the ensuing trauma and adjusting to the new constraints and demands of day to day life, the therapist experienced another round of difficult times; his wife divorced him and several members of his immediate family passed away, all within the scope of a few years. Daniel recounts an especially dark night spent in the intensive care unit of a hospital, feeling oppressed by his life and the events that had recently occurred and established themselves as the core of his reality. That night, a distraught nurse approached him asking for advice or assistance in coping with the death of a loved one, and as Daniel helped guide her through her grief, he realized a profound well of compassion and love of life within himself. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Longmont Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

Dear Members and Visitors to GoodTherapy.org,

I want to play for you a version of the Star-Spangled Banner that moved me and my friends to tears Tuesday morning while watching President Obama take office.

Click here to Play the Updated Star Spangled Banner

This version of the Star-Spangled Banner was written by Karen Stocker, a friend, colleague, and heart-centered therapist in the Seattle area. I’m sure you will feel her inspiration when you read the words below or listen to the recording. For me her song is about ‘patriotism revised’, an anthem for the human race, not just Americans; for we are all in this together.

You are welcome to leave comments for Karen below and, if you’d like to contact her, I can forward your request. Just contact us using the support form

May this open all our hearts to what the world needs now…love sweet love.

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director GoodTherapy.org

Karen’s Star Spangled Banner:

Love
has called me to sing
to the new
Daybreak Star
all I’ve longed
to believe
that my country’s flag stands for;

Whose bright hearts
and great minds
can no more
study war
but now cherish
the Earth
and her yearning, tired and poor;

Till our power
to care
for this Life
we all share
Restores
the world’s Hope
that our soul is still there.

Today may my people
prove brave and truly free
to lift every voice
in the Harmony
of Just
Peace.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Oakland Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

Written by Tracy Becker, LPC

“Everyone speaks on it, yet who has known it?” ~Suzanne Curchod Necker (1739-1794)

When I first thought of writing about bliss, I thought no problem, this is easy enough. Yet the more I thought about bliss the more doubt I developed. Sure I’ve had, what I call, blissful moments and experiences, yet what do I really know about BLISS? Thus began the past several months’ adventure of asking others what their thoughts and experiences are with bliss.

Bliss has been described to me as times when we are able to be present in the moment, a feeling of resting in a Big Aaaahhh, a heart filled full and overflowing with love for another, being awed by the beauty and tranquility of nature, and an overall sense of wellbeing. Everyone I spoke to felt that bliss is not lasting. One can experience bliss in moments like when you fall into your bed, with fresh clean sheets, after a long and fulfilling day. Others have experienced bliss that last hours and at times days. For example, an evening spent in love and laughter with trusted friends, or while on a spiritual retreat where your body, mind and spirit are constantly being nurtured and renewed. My friend Wendy says that bliss exists anytime she remembers to connect with it. While Mangala, being raised in the Buddhist country of Sri Lanka, says that bliss is everywhere all the time, one just needs a conscious moment to find it. Some believe that bliss is fleeting because we as humans couldn’t comprehend a constant state of bliss. While others say blissful experiences are more meaningful because they are short lived, i.e., without darkness one can not appreciate the light. Yet overall people shared that bliss is a feeling of being connected: connected in a spiritual sense (to God, Spirit, Self and nature); connected to loved ones (including our pets); and the connection parents feel toward their children are all ways we tap into bliss… Read the rest of this entry

I love this quote from Carlos Castaneda:

“Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you
think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question.
This question is one that a very old man asks…Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn’t it is of no use.”

But what does Carlos mean by “heart” and why does a path need one? 

When I think about following the heart path I’m reminded of a wonderful story a therapist friend told me some time ago.   My friend, when in her 20’s, worked at a summer camp teaching art.  One of her students contacted her years later to tell her how impacted she was by the joyful relaxed feeling she had during art class. This student decided when she left summer camp that in the future she would always base every decision off how she felt in her body.  So, during the course of her life whenever she had to make a choice between two things, she choose the one that made her feel closest to how she felt in summer camp.  Her life had been a joy because she followed her heart rather than all the “oughts,” and “musts”

Anyway, I love this story because it’s a treat to see a young person figure this out so early in life….  So many of us have lost touch with our hearts.   And some of us are fortunate to have life nudge us back into our hearts once in a while, it can be painful, but worth it.  I’m reminded of a painting given to me by a friend which I have in my office by Brian Andreas called different plans.  In the painting there is a poem that reads:

“I don’t know how long I can do this, he said.  I think the universe has different plans for me & we sat there in silence & I thought to myself that this is the thing we all come to & this is  the thing we all fight & if we are lucky enough to lose, our lives become beautiful with mystery again & I sat there silent because that is not something that can be said.”

Wow, I love that every time I read it.  For me, nothing speaks to the power of cracking our hearts open to our true path more than that.  Thanks Brian.

So, what gets in the way of following our hearts?  And how do we resume following our heart?  I have some ideas about both of these, but will hold off until my next post to share more.  Any thoughts you’d like to share? 

© Copyright 2007 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist San Francisco Bureau - All Rights Reserved.