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Anna Lembke on the Opioid Epidemic

by Deb Kory
Psychiatrist and addiction expert Anna Lembke discusses the sharp rise in opioid addiction and deaths, the doctors who have enabled it, and what clinicians can do to help.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Nick Cummings on the Past and Future of Psychotherapy

by Victor Yalom
The founder of the first professional school of psychology, visionary, and gadfly Nick Cummings reflects on the history and predicts the future of psychotherapy.
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

Ronald Levant on Psychotherapy with Men

by Randall C. Wyatt
Former APA president Ron Levant discusses psychotherapy and the psychology of men, and the limitations of manualized and evidence based treatment.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Thomas Szasz on Freedom and Psychotherapy

by Randall C. Wyatt
The foremost psychiatric critic of our times, Thomas Szasz, engages in an in-depth dialogue of his life's work including freedom and liberty, the myth of mental illness, drug laws, the fragile state of psychotherapy, and his passion for humanistic values and social justice.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Owen Renik on Practical Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

by Randall C. Wyatt and Victor Yalom
Renegade psychoanalyst Owen Renegade argues that psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy can and must be practical.
Earn 3.0 CE Credits

Stealing a Passage Home: Narrative Therapy to Re-claim Honesty

by Kay Ingamells, David Epston
Kay Ingamells uses playful Narrative Therapy techniques to help a young client regain his honesty.

Katja-Writing: Being Author and Audience to Fictionalized Stories of Trauma- Part II

by Christoffer Haugaard, Irene and David Epston
Join Christoffer Haugaard and David Epston as they deepen and conclude their powerful work with Irene to build stories through which she heals from brutal childhood trauma.

Wrapped in Care: Narrative Therapy in the Time of COVID

by Kay Ingamells
A clinician uses Narrative Therapy to work within a client’s native culture while counselling her through the painful grief of losing her grandmother to COVID.

Critical Counseling Tips for Guiding Parents of Gifted Children

by Paula Prober
Learn invaluable therapeutic strategies for guiding parents of gifted children.

In a Volatile Post-Roe World, Morals and Medicine Clash

by Lawrence Rubin
Psychotherapists working with women's healthcare professionals should understand the conflicting paths of medicine and morality.

Surrounded by the Village Idiots

by Catherine Gildiner
In an excerpt from Good Morning Monster, psychotherapist Catherine Gildiner recalls the painful lesson learned from her first day as a therapist.

Our Masturbation Machines

by Anna Lembke
In this excerpt from Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke introduces us to Jacob, who, like many of our clients, struggles with his own unique form of over-overconsumption.

Understanding the Pandemic’s Impact Through a Developmental Lens

by Maggie Mulqueen
COVID has had devastating effects across the lifespan, but there has also been hope and renewal.

Introducing Grief: How My Clients and I Have Embraced the Exploration of Loss

by Stephen Grigelevich
Tips for helping your clients embrace grief and get unstuck from loss in their lives.

Imagine If We Could All Love This Way: Connection, Healing and Love in the Therapeutic Relationship

by Anna Zonen
Therapist Anna Zonen is not afraid to love her clients.

Psychotherapy with Coronavirus: A Novel Experience

by Natan P F Kellermann
What if Coronavirus were a patient seeking psychotherapy? Warning: Contains irony. Read at your own risk. Not approved by CE credentialing boards.

Blind Side

by Pamela Garber
Empathy is a critical component to effective therapy, except when it contributes to a clinician’s blind side.

En Attente (On Hold)

by Anastasia Piatakhina Giré
A therapist struggles with her feelings of being put “on hold” by one of her more challenging clients.

Grasping at Optimism: When Helping a Suicidal Client Means Letting Life Happen

by Pamela Garber
Psychotherapist Pamela Garber looks back over her work with a suicidal client and wonders if the therapeutic path she chose was correct.

My First Private Patient

by Valery Hazanov
As a young therapist, Valery Hazanov reflects on his therapeutic relationship with an elder fellow Russian, and wonders if he made a difference.

Superiority and Contempt

by Joseph Burgo
Recounting a failed relationship with an emerging psychotherapist, veteran clinician Joseph Burgo explores the origins, anatomy and far-reaching impact of toxic childhood shame.

In Praise of the Life of a Psychotherapist

by Catherine Ambrose
Looking beyond day-to-day rigors and challenges from behind the couch, seasoned clinician Catherine Ambrose reflects on the gratitude and growth she continues to experience helping others.

Bare: Psychotherapy Stripped

by Jacqueline Simon Gunn, PsyD
A psychotherapist bares all as she reluctantly accepts the referral of a troubled and troubling client who has had a long, hard fall from glory.  

The Not-So-Great Gatsby: An Illustrative Look at the Use of Literature in a Therapy Session

by Dan Williams
Dan Williams recounts a session with a suicidal teenage girl in which he attempts to use a discussion of The Great Gatsby story to help her understand her own story. 

Drug Dealer, MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop

by Anna Lembke
In this excerpt from Anna Lembke's book, Drug Dealer, MD, she illustrates the dangers early access to prescription opioids can have even for kids who are not at high risk for addiction.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Bad Therapy: When Firing Your Therapist Is Therapeutic

by Charlotte Fox Weber
Therapist Charlotte Fox Weber describes an agonizing 5-year therapy as the client of a cold and withholding therapist, and the lessons she learned about what NOT to do with her own clients.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

Therapy: A Poem

by Kerry Mulholland
A poem about the therapy experience from the vantage point of a client.

Psychiatry by the Dumpster: One Man's Struggle with OCD

by Elias Aboujaoude
Psychiatrist and OCD specialist Elias Aboujaoude gives a poignant account of one man's struggles with severe OCD and his journey to recovery.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

The Dark Intruder

by Esther W. Wright-Wilson
Psychotherapist-poet Esther Wright-Wilson muses about the moment an insect intrudes on a therapy session.

Two Therapy Poems

by Esther W. Wright-Wilson
Poems by Esther Wright-Wilson about those unsettling moments in therapy that we can all relate to.

Psychotherapy with Former Cult Members

by Patrick O'Reilly
A specialist in cults discusses a real-life example of a former cult member's struggle to recover from his traumatic experiences within the group, and offers treatment advice for this unusual and challenging population.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

H2O Under the Bridge: A Case of Trichotillomania

by Elias Aboujaoude
Dr. Aboujaode provides an engaging and informative account of hair-pulling, in this exclusive excerpt from his book, Compulsive Acts: A Psychiatrist's Tales of Ritual and Obsession.
Earn 2.0 CE Credits

Beyond Psychotherapy: Working Outside the Medical Model

by John A. Martin
Dr. Martin shares his reasons for leaving the insurance game.

Weekends At Bellevue: A Memoir

by Julie Holland
A no-holds-barred account from the front lines of the psychiatric emergency room at America's oldest public hospital.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Man with the Beautiful Voice

by Lillian B. Rubin
Lillian Rubin's moving account of her challenging psychotherapy with a man struggling with his disability. Reprinted from the book of the same title.
Earn 1.5 CE Credits

A Crash Course in Psychotherapy: Moving through Anxiety and Self-Doubt

by Charlotte Dailey
A challenging client plunges a beginning therapist into a state of anxiety.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Cancer and The Secret

by Regina Huelsenbeck
Positive thinking isn't everything; life has a rhythm we must honor for our own mental health.

Lessons from the Depths: Scuba Diving and Psychotherapy with Men

by Jeff Sharp
An insightful look into working with typical male concerns in therapy, including pride, shame, armoring, and competitiveness.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Lowering Fees in Hard Times: The Meaning Behind the Money

by Melissa Groman
One therapist's good, hard look at the question of negotiating therapy fees with clients.

When a Patient Dies . . . Should the Therapist Attend the Funeral?

by Richard P. Halgin
Richard Halgin shares the story of a long-term client's unexpected death, and how he managed his professional boundaries around this tragic event.

Where's the Bear?

by Susan S. Hardy
Marriage and family therapist Susan Hardy explains the usefulness of "acting as if" in changing emotions and behavior.

Hollywood on the Couch

by Dennis Palumbo
An entertaining look behind the the scenes of the entertainment industry.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Therapist Mourns His Mother's Death: Being With Clients While Heartbroken

by Bob Livingstone
Therapist Bob Livingstone offers grieving therapists advice about the effects of mourning upon therapeutic practice.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Tyranny of Niceness: A Psychotherapeutic Challenge

by Evelyn Sommers
Dr. Sommers discusses the prevalent problem of cultural silencing called "niceness," and offers case studies and advice for addressing associated client issues of anxiety and helplessness.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Self-Help Snake Oil and Self-Improvement Urban Legends

by Steven Kraus
A psychologist's skeptical look at the science (or lack thereof) behind much of the self-help industry,
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Resistant Clients: We've All Had Them; Here's How to Help Them!

by Clifton Mitchell
Encountering resistance is likely evidence that therapy is taking place. In fact, successful psychotherapy is highly related to increases in resistance, and low resistance corresponds with negative outcomes.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

Therapeutic Alliance, Focus, and Formulation: Thinking Beyond the Traditional Therapy Orientations

by Robert-Jay Green
The main elements of successful therapy include a positive therapeutic alliance, a clear focus, a coherent problem formulation, and improvised techniques—not a particular theoretical orientation.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

9/11 One Year Later: A Psychotherapist Reflects on His Experiences at Ground Zero

by Tab Ballis
We weren't expected to have any words of wisdom... and nobody did.

How To Be A Grown-up Even Around Your Own Parents

by Frank Pittman
People don't become grown-ups until they realize that their parents, however wonderful, were badly misinformed and sometimes stark, raving mad.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Empty Chair: Making Our Absence Less Traumatic for Everyone

by Ann Steiner
What happens when a therapist becomes ill or dies? Dr. Steiner provides a valuable blueprint for therapists to prepare for unexpected absence and termination.

Work Is Life: A Psychologist Looks at Identity and Work in America

by Ilene Philipson
In a discussion of the growing problem of work-life balance in American culture, Dr. Philipson shares the stories of clients whose overidentification with work ended in disaster.

Breaking Barriers to Doing Corporate Consulting

by Louis A. Perrott
"Today's most enterprising therapists are realizing that the most promising opportunities for new business lie outside of the healthcare system."
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

What Do We Believe and Whom Do We Trust?

by Jeffrey Kottler
We all know that clients may withhold critical information, but what do we do when they deliberately lie? Jeffrey Kottler explores this in an excerpt from his latest book, The Assassin and the Therapist: An Exploration of Truth in Psychotherapy and in Life.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits

The Psychiatric Repression of Thomas Szasz: Its Social and Political Significance

by Ron Leifer
Psychiatrist Ron Leifer gives a compelling account of the historical context of Thomas Szasz's career as the leading critic of the medical model of psychiatry, along with its implications for the profession of psychiatry and for free thought and speech in the United States.
Earn 1.0 CE Credits