Last night there was an interesting program on PBS that explored the life and teaching of the Buddha. Among the many points of interest expressed, one really sticks out in my mind. And that is the point that Buddhism becomes a vehicle for the practitioner to experience the miraculous in the everyday life. Through the […]

It is not uncommon in my psychotherapy practice to work with people who have very strong and severe inner critics. Sometimes I am just amazed at how prevalent this phenomenon is. In the course of our work, a client’s inner critic often reveals itself and its judgment is harsh and severe. In such cases a […]

I very much enjoyed attending a full day of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy conference on “Expanding the Relational Context” which was recently held right here in San Francisco. It is very exciting to see where the field of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy is heading. Two such areas of growth include how […]

Sometimes there is no telling what one can find when reading psychological material. I was very pleased this week to come upon a poem in one such publication. I have been thinking lately about the similarities between writing poetry and being a psychotherapist. Both obviously require a great deal of listening and attention to words. […]

It’s instructive during a therapy session to pay close attention to the words that people use. Words, of course, reveal a lot. Sometimes there are slips (as Freud so famously pointed out) that reveal some of what is unconscious. Other times there are words that exquisitely reveal the pain or pleasure a person feels. I […]

I recently received one of Dr. Andrew Weil’s tips of the day that focused on depression. I thought that I would reproduce some of the article here because it contains some useful information on depression. In the article, he differentiates between “situational depression” and more chronic “clinical depression.” He offers some warning signals, symptoms, that […]

Since returning from the end-of-the-year vacation, I have been thinking a lot about the place of mystery in our lives. And in particular in psychotherapy. The other day, while listening to an NPR program, I heard a debate between two scientists about whether or not consciousness could ever be fully understood. One of the scientists […]

Often people come into therapy in a lot emotional distress and having great difficulty being with those upsetting feelings. So it might sound paradoxical, perhaps a little strange, that often our focus in psychotherapy is just that: to be with and feel that pain. The aim of therapy is relief from that suffering, which starts […]

Recently a friend sent me a copy of a blog that she found on SF Gate about research into the act of giving thanks. Just before Thanksgiving, I had written on the subject. So I’m excited to report what science has found. The article by Doc Gurley, entitled “How Giving Thanks Improves Your Health,” reports […]

On this Thanksgiving day, it seems appropriate to say a word about gratitude. It’s true that most people come into therapy because of some distressing issues. And much of the work of psychotherapy is to talk about those issues and express one’s feelings. Although this can be a painful process, hopefully the end result is […]