A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

There’s a great deal of research to suggest that listening to music, particularly music that is recognized and enjoyed, can excite the pleasure centers of the brain, resulting in pleasing experiences. Though it has recently been suggested that people experiencing feelings of depression and similar mental health concerns are closed off to the pleasurable effects of music, most people, in the presence of a favorite song, will notice a rise in mood. Such a rise can be of great importance to those in difficult physical and mental health situations, and a particularly talented nurse in Tennessee is helping this musical boost become big news.

Nurse Lori Sykes, who works with the Memphis Veterans Medical Center, has been playing the violin since the age of three, and now brings her instrument with her to work each day in case any of her clients request a song or two. While Sykes and her violin aren’t part of any study researching the connections between the music and the rates of recovery or improvement of overall mental well-being, the nurse, her clients, and her clients’ families note that the changes in mood and peace of mind are clearly visible. Read the rest of this entry

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

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

There is a fine line between the affliction of a mental or emotional issue that hinders and one that is used to help; while many people who are affected by psychological conditions find themselves unhappy and unable to achieve their desired quality of life, others seem to manifest similar concerns in ways that dazzle us with creativity. The links between genius and pathology are often made, with many famous minds and creative talents pointing to their experiences with a range of issues for which people frequently seek therapy. In a recent issue of The Independent, a prominent UK news publication, writer John Walsh expands upon the history of these links and goes on to seek out their relevance within the context of modern society.

While Walsh touches upon a number of famous figures and phenomenon that might be used to suggest a link between mental distress and creativity or genius, the description of the precise mode in which these two elements sometimes interact is somewhat lacking. While it may be tempting to suggest that someone who is strongly affected by a given mental health issue is more volatile and therefore more likely to produce something remarkable, there seems to be another explanation waiting in the wings. Read the rest of this entry

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

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

One of the principle ideals behind the concept of good therapy is that it should be non-pathologizing; that is, difficulties faced by clients should not be seen as intrinsic, inescapable diseases, nor should treatment focus on “healing” an issue in such a way. There are many reasons why a departure from pathologizing therapy is beneficial, both for the client and for the mental health professional (not to mention the field at large). But recently, psychotherapist Tammie Fowles published an op-ed piece that describes, if incidentally, a particularly important idea in the argument against pathologizing.

Fowles notes that all too often, approaches to therapy seek to internalize emotions, transforming knee-jerk reactions and emotional reflexes into complex ideas about what is wrong with the self. In this way, the experience of fear at the sight of someone being assaulted or the emotional reactions sustained during a store robbery might be turned on their head and used to reflect something maladaptive or insufficient within the client. Yet while the examination of why we react as we do has the potential to enlighten and heal, attributing our feelings to being a certain kind of person or having an emotional “script” that we follow based on some internal problem can not only disrupt the healing process, but can ignore the greater picture. Read the rest of this entry

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

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

A new British study – with results that may mimic American trends to a significant degree, if past, similar research if any indication – found mental illness to be a stronger taboo than any of the other qualities studied, including homosexuality, bankruptcy, and alcoholism (in itself a mental illness, but considered as a separate condition by this survey and in much of the popular culture).

The survey of 2,000 people was commissioned by the charity coalition “Time to Change” in collaboration with the British Institute of Psychiatry. Just under one third of respondents reported they would find it difficult to admit publicly to being mentally ill. About one fifth said they would have trouble admitting to being gay, a difference of about 190 people, or ten percent. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Greg Madison, PhD

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

At times I can be didactic and preachy with clients. I fall into believing that I have some special knowledge about life. I believe that I’m expected to pass along little gems of wisdom in sessions as if I know what life is really about. My client and I collude in forgetting that this is my first life too, what do I know? Outside the consulting room I am not always so wise. I can lose my soft-spoken reflective stance and be as reactive and unreasonable as the next person. I would say it’s worse for therapists when this happens – we have the extra layer of shame that comes from feeling we should know better. What if a client saw me arguing with the bank teller, pushing my way onto a crowded train…

Who do you have to be to be a therapist?

I am coming to the realisation that some of the most significant and poignant moments in therapy are not really about the content of the discussion. Not really about behaviour change or unravelling the past. In fact, in a sense, not really about the client’s trouble at all. In the deepest moments of therapy I am freed by my client and my client is freed by me. Read the rest of this entry

by Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director GoodTherapy.org

In even the darkest of times, there is one particular essence of the human spirit which compels us to prevail and prosper; though we may experience great trials and witness ourselves and our lives subjected to disappointing and sometimes painful circumstances, hope is a part of the human experience which belies our deeply positive and creative nature. Hope may come in a variety of forms, from the simplest symbol, like the vibrant petals of a crocus emerging from winter’s snowy blanket, to the greatest acts of perseverance, as in those afflicted with terminal illnesses who nevertheless accomplish amazing things. But whether hope is embodied in a metaphor or brazenly displayed in our actions, it has the power to nourish and heal; to improve and uplift; to bring about a brighter future.

There is perhaps no greater embodiment of hope for the future today than the figure of Barack Obama, who will attend his inauguration and become the forty-fourth President of the United States before the sun has set. For millions of Americans and the people of distant nations all around the world, the inauguration marks a new devotion to peace and prosperity, as well as big hopes for the years to come. Through the past eight years, the United States has seen war, aggression, several domestic tragedies, financial upheaval, and an administrative show of disdain for many of those values that Americans and their friends abroad hold dear. But though the events themselves, as well as the rapidly growing discontent with the government and the image of the people projected by its policies, may have threatened, the collective will to reinvent and reconsider, they stand today as obstacles inviting the country to forge a new path.

Many people are counting on the new President to follow through with those initiatives and policy changes that affect them most. Some may be awaiting the return of a loved one from military service in Iraq, celebrating Obama’s commitment to a swift and gracious homecoming for US troops. Others are concerned about the state of the environment and how we regulate our interaction with it, ringing in the inauguration with visions of green technology and a greater devotion to ecological living. Still others eagerly anticipate the refinement of health care, trusting that a new administration will work hard to deliver its ideals of universal care in ways that will improve and empower their lives. From the small towns and metropolises of America to the most poverty-stricken places on Earth and the intellectual centers of Europe and Asia, dreams await their realization, and hardships taste their end. Though there are innumerable wishes and personal victories being uttered in homes across the nation and the globe today in tandem with Obama’s official inauguration, they all represent our innermost attribute, timeless and immortal: hope.

United in dreams of a better future, and in our determination to help create a happier and more prosperous world, American citizens and human beings from every nation have come together to witness the change in presidency and experience the beginning of what promises to be a new and joyous era. With hope in our hearts and a vast hunger for understanding, knowledge, patience, and brotherhood, we make our way towards a world where children can be happy and free, elders can be healthy and at peace, and adults can work with and respect one another. And though these goals may be lofty, though they may need many years or even decades to accomplish, and though the new American President may not fulfill every promise or realize every goal, our hope tells us that all we truly need to make it happen is precisely what we know, today, we have: the opportunity.

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

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Mary Ellen Barnes, Ph.D. & Ed Wilson, Ph.D., MAC

Click here to contact Mary Ellen and/or see her Profile
Click here to contact Ed and/or see his Profile

A colleague recently asked me for my assessment of the applicability of the “disease model” of alcoholism with regard to Native Americans. She asked not only because my adopted children are Inyupik, and from alcohol devastated families in northwestern Alaska, but also because I have worked in non-traditional ways of combating alcohol abuse for over twenty years.

My answers have evolved out of the past forty years of my experience, work, observations, research, discussion, and reflection.

To begin with, the repeatedly discredited “disease model” negatively impacts everyone suffering from alcohol abuse – not just Native Americans; and second, “Native American” is also a counter-productive term, one implying that there is only one homogeneous group indigenous to North America. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

To exemplify, Alaska alone, is home to three distinctly different “Native” groups: Aleuts; the Yupiks and Inyupiks (”Eskimos”); and over twenty different “Indian” tribes. Within and between these entities the degree of alcohol use and abuse varies widely and so do solutions to their alcohol related problems.”

However, it is true that across the continent, including Alaska and Canada, Native Americans do exhibit a higher percentage of alcohol abuse and dependence than many other groups, though again, not in every case. Still, given the high incidence it’s tempting to want alcoholism to be a disease, rather than looking for more complicated and less forgiving causes. However, regardless of the group being considered, alcohol abuse and dependence rates really are a reflection of an accumulation of contributing social, psychological, biological, and cultural factors. Read the rest of this entry

By Barbi Pecenco Kolski, Marriage and Family Therapist Intern

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

People often come into therapy talking about what bad people they are and go on to describe the “horrible” things they have done. Their language is often extremely pathologizing and they feel they deserve to beat themselves up. They are filled with shame, believing that their behavior shows what a bad person they are.

A good therapist will listen in a nonjudgmental way and help the person to see that a person is not their behavior. We are so much more than our behavior. I also like to explain to clients the difference between “healthy guilt”, “neurotic guilt” and “shame”. When we experience healthy guilt, we are essentially saying, “Ok, I messed up. I violated a value that I have that says….blacking out, cheating on my boyfriend, lying to my parents, you fill in the blank…is wrong. I am not happy with this behavior, so I need to take some steps to self-correct.” Read the rest of this entry

Written by Julie Simons, LCSW

“So what do you do for a living?”

The inevitable question asked at any social gathering. Though typically an innocuous question, I find myself dreading it. This is probably due to the flash of fear I often see upon the word, “Psychotherapist.” Sometimes, people are even bold enough to ask, “So are you analyzing me right now?” Unfortunately, this is reflective of one of the many myths that continue to persist around this profession. So I’ve taken on the task of blasting some of those myths and hoping to provide a clearer understanding of what this therapy business is all about. Read the rest of this entry

by Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director GoodTherapy.org

We named our organization GoodTherapy.org for a handful of reasons. First among them, good therapy is what most therapists are striving to provide. Regardless of orientation, nearly all therapists can be included in the group of dedicated and caring folks who strive to “do no harm” in the healing process. Secondly, we want to express, in the title of our organization, the importance we place on quality in the psychotherapy process. Thirdly, “good therapy” is catchy. The expression, “I (or he or she) could use some good therapy,” has been around a long time. And finally, GoodTherapy.org sounds better than www.JustOkayTherapy.org. :)

But the phrase “good therapy” encourages a misconception: the idea that there is such a thing as pure good therapy, a process exempt from any problems or issues. In the same way that a perfect 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.

It is for this reason that we, as therapists, can’t blindly work with anyone who walks into our office, although many of us would like to believe otherwise. The responsibility we carry as healers requires us to seek not just consultation, but our own therapy, especially when working with someone who is provoking something significant within us. The danger lies in situations in which we are unaware that we are unaware, or unaware that we are defending against something inside ourselves. And because each of us harbors pockets of unawareness which impact our capacity to remain calm, curious, compassionate, and connected, aspects of “healthy” therapy and “not so healthy” therapy exist together in our work like the weave of fine cloth, inseparable. Again, like a marriage, good therapy is a process, not a state, and it is filled with the good stuff and, unfortunately, sometimes the not so good stuff.

So, in responding to the question of what is good therapy, our best answer is that good therapy is defined by the nature of the whole process and perhaps by the outcome, but unlikely will it be devoid of problems.

Good therapy is the sum of all the experiences, internal and external, that occur 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, even challenges to the therapeutic relationship, and yet still turn out good, like a marriage. And for me this highlights the idea that, like a yin-yang diagram, we even need a little bad therapy mixed in with all the good. As paradoxical as that sounds, I believe it’s true. I am thinking of the beautiful repairs my wife and I have made, the important problems I’ve worked out with my friends, and the strong repairs made in therapy with the people I work with. A solid repair makes the connection and the trust deeper and better. So, cheers to road bumps in therapy, within all relationships, and within ourselves!

My hope is that the therapist members of GoodTherapy.org will be among the group of healers in the world who make a conscious effort to heal themselves, to identify their hidden payoffs and blind spots, to avoid harm, to reach for deeper self-awareness, and will recognize that the growth process is a never ending journey for all of us…especially therapists. Click here to contact Noah and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

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