Blogging on Good Therapy

Dear Members and Visitors to GoodTherapy.org,

Today the GoodTherapy.org Team was pleased to experience the second teleconference in our Spring into Summer Teleconference Series: Wired for Intimacy: Awakening the I-and-Thou Experience in Couples Therapy presented by Hedy Schleifer, MA, LMHC. A big “thank you” to Hedy for taking the time to present her empathic & optimistic approach to enhancing and healing relationships: Tikkun Relational Therapy to GoodTherapy.org members.

To support those of you who attended today’s teleconference and who may have more questions or would enjoy having a forum to discuss Hedy’s methods, we created this blog entry to serve as a forum where you can post your questions, leave comments, and engage in a dialogue about it. Please feel welcome to join us in the discussion.

To view the comments or make your own, simply scroll to the bottom of this particular article and click on the “Comment” link.

For more information about Hedy and her workshop programs, please visit her website:
http://www.hedyyumi.org

Enjoy,

Noah :)

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director
http://www.GoodTherapy.org

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

Therapists first began the use of virtual reality in the treatment of stress 20 years after the Vietnam War ended. In 1997, researchers in Atlanta created Virtual Vietnam, a program that produced the sights and sounds of war: Huey helicopters with whirring motors, rice paddies, jungle clearings. The idea was to use exposure to the traumatic events to help relieve veterans of the effects of Posttraumatic Stress.

Exposure methods to treat trauma were first used by Edna Foa in the treatment of rape victims. The idea, in using “prolonged exposure”, is to disconnect the patient’s memory from his or her reactions to the memory. Studies have shown that after prolonged exposure, the memory remains but the “cues” that trigger trauma response–sounds of gunshot or a car backfiring, say–are reduced to insignificance. “The trauma thus becomes a discrete event, not a constant, self-replicating, encompassing condition,” reports Sue Halpern, in a recent New Yorker article on Virtual Iraq.
(more…)

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

Death is not a subject most people like to contemplate, especially their own death. Even though counselors are trained to help people prepare for death and cope with death, few are eager to examine the implications of their own death. Sadly, counselors are not immune to horrific acts of crime, as in the case of the murder of a psychologist in New York back in February. While one’s counseling practice may be the last thing on family members’ minds in such a situation, a professional will, just like a personal will, provides assurance that one’s practice is taken care of ethically and responsibly. How many counselors/therapists have a professional will? Very few. In fact, according to Psychotherapy Finances (April 2008), only 1% of surveyed members of the American Psychological Association had a professional will. Why would a counselor need a professional will? Well, consider the following. In the event a counselor dies, what happens? Who notifies the clients and how? What happens to the counselor’s client files? What happens to the counselor’s office? Who notifies the counselor’s insurance company? Who resolves finances associated with the practice? These and other questions can be answered in a professional will.

So what kinds of things should a counselor include in a professional will? According to Kenneth S. Pope, Ph.D., ABPP & Melba J.T. Vasquez, Ph.D., ABPP , the first step in developing a professional will is assigning an executor of the will. Who does the counselor trust with such a task? Ideally, another mental health professional who is familiar with one’s practice is the best choice. Planning out and reviewing the professional will with the chosen executor allows the counselor to have assurance that both clients and the practice are taken care of responsibly in the event of the counselor’s death. Given the lack of information on this subject, it is important that counselors are made aware of professional wills and are provided access to resources for establishing a professional will.

By Lori Payne, LPC-S Click here to contact Lori and/or see her 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 Lori and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

If you are the parent of a teen or have a teen in your life, then you are surely familiar with MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and countless other social networking sites where teens congregate. These sites have become a “virtual playground” where anonymous teens engage in vicious bullying without even leaving the house. The bullying isn’t limited to the internet though. Teens are being harassed by peers via cell phone text messages also. The internet offers anonymity and allows bullies to engage in behavior that would not be socially acceptable in a public forum. Sadly, the tragic story of Megan Meier, who committed suicide after enduring cyber-bullying, is an example of seriousness of this issue. Megan’s death brought to light the need for laws to hold cyber bullies responsible for their actions. In fact, this phenomenon has challenged many states (Texas, New Jersey, Oregon, California, Rhode Island, and New York) to establish laws to deal with cyber-bullying issues. There is even a non-profit foundation dedicated to educating young people about internet safety: i-SAFE Inc. Parents need to be encouraged to talk with their teens about cyber-bullying and monitor what their teen is doing online.

An equally disturbing trend is the physical attacks of peers teens are videotaping for broadcast on the internet. Not only does a victim suffer physical pain, he/she now must undergo endless humiliation as the beating is played over and over again on popular sites such as YouTube for thousands to see. There is a boomerang effect wherein the initial incident becomes fodder for hallway gossip at school, furthering the humiliation for the victim. In an interview with People magazine for a story about a video beating of a Florida teen, Dr. James Garbarino (author of several books on teen violence) stated, “Violence tends to become depersonalized when it’s on the Internet.”

The problems arising from cyber-bullying include teen suicide, school violence, and depression. Therapists who work with teens need to be educated about cyber-bullying and prepared to help teens work through these problems. Additionally, some focus is needed on identifying and treating the cyber bullies themselves.

By Lori Payne, LPC-S Click here to contact Lori and/or see her 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 Lori and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

The GoodTherapy.org Association has become one of the leading mental health organizations and referral sources on the web. In only 14 months of service, GoodTherapy.org has risen markedly to the top of the search engine rankings. In addition to ranking for thousands of local search terms (such as “Counselor Chicago” or “Therapy Seattle”), GoodTherapy.org also ranks nationally as one of the leading therapy & counseling directories on the web.

Below is a list of a handful of general top-5 search terms from yesterday which GoodTherapy.org is ranking for in Google (Please note, the following does not include all of the thousands of search terms we rank for and that these rankings ebb and flow by the hour, though generally rise over time):

SEARCH PHRASE GOOGLE RANKING
directory of counselors 1
find counselors 1
good therapy 1
what is good therapy 1
counseling directory 2
find counselor 3
therapy directory 3
directory of therapists 4
find a counselor 4
find counseling 4
find therapists 4
counselor 5
counselor directory 5
find a Therapist 5
therapist directory 5
therapy 5
find therapist 5
find therapy 5

GoodTherapy.org is pleased to announce that registration is open for the first event in our Spring into Summer Teleconference Series. In our first workshop, which is Free for GoodTherapy.org Members, we are honored to have Stephen R. Lankton, MSW, DAHB, Executive Director of the Phoenix Institute of Eriksonian Therapy. Stephen will be presenting a 75-minute workshop called “Psychological Resources, Personal Experience, and Social Relations”

Stephen, in describing this presentation writes, “Milton Erickson taught that symptoms were a breakdown of relations between people. Looking at personal problems or family problems through this lens it is relatively easy to recognize the required experiential resources that individuals need to correct most both interpersonal and personal problems. Therapy can concentrate on helping clients acquire these experiences and help clients learn to use them systematically and appropriately. This workshop will teach three fundamental techniques that rely upon this observation and which are applicable to most therapy situations. Two primary protocols are that of ideomotor revification and the other is self-image thinking. There are methods of building needed and desired resources, generalizing the resources to specific interpersonal situations. The third protocol for resource retrieval I call ‘putting joy in your heart’ – it is literally an exercise to heighten an awareness of grounded positive centeredness. ”

For more information and to register, visit the Spring into Summer Workshop Series here:

http://www.goodtherapy.org/conference-series.html