This is the phrase I sometimes have in my mind when I think about my practice, and about therapy in general. It doesn’t describe everyone who comes to therapy, but both the incidence and the suffering involved are considerable. It is deeply instructive to me that so many people facing struggles in life have suffered at the hands of narcissistic …
Depression: Is it Really a Disease?
Melancholia, the word written in the engraving by Durer shown here (1514), is an old name for what we now call Depression. The word originates from the Greek, meaning “Black bile”. People thought that this “bile” was the bodily cause of depressive states. But bile was not the only supposed cause of this mysterious disease (Disease is from the old …
How Does Therapy Work? Eco-Systems of Mental Health
As a psychotherapist I am often asked the question, “How does therapy work?” There is no quick and easy answer to this question. Every modality of therapy is different and each therapist works differently within these modalities. Even my own approach will be different from client to client depending on the individual needs and personality of each person I see. …