Spirituality can be a difficult concept to define. It’s similar to the concept of time, we know what it means until we are asked to define it. In general, spirituality often involves a dimension of searching, of seeking—whether it is for meaning, existential answers, or a connection with something greater than ourselves. But how should spirituality […]
Buddhist Parallels in Western Psychology
For several decades, psychologists in the western world have been turning eastward in an effort to better understand the psychological offerings of Buddhism. Buddhism, in short, contains a broad range of concepts, many of which have direct import for contemporary psychology. Indeed, often described as a “religion,” “spiritual practice” or simply as “a way of life,” Buddhism tends […]
4 Key Questions (and answers) about Depression
Described as the “common cold” of mental illness, depression affects millions of Americans each year. For instance, in 2005 – 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “More than 1 out of 20 Americans 12 years of age or older reported current depression.” What’s more, as widely reported, once an individual […]
What Makes an Effective Therapist?
Many professionals may ask: What makes an effective therapist? Although no one answer to this question may emerge, there are, as it happens, approaches to therapeutic practice that may enhance a professional’s effectiveness. How well a therapist relates to his or her clients, the school of thought the therapist adheres to, and the professional’s individual […]
Finding Meaning in Life
In the aftermath of the Second World War, a pivotal work of psychology emerged. Written by a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, “Man’s Search for Meaning” details the harsh and brutal conditions its author, Viktor Frankl, had to endure as a camp prisoner. More than a holocaust memoir, “Man’s Search for Meaning” goes further: it […]
Who goes to therapy?
There’s this idea floating around that only people with serious mental disorders go for therapy. I’m not entirely sure where this notion comes from – I would theorize it comes from historical events, where the most salient examples of mental health care are linked to cruel and abusive asylums for individuals with severe pathologies, but that […]
Transference: Perception is in the eye of the beholder and we need to talk about it.
The client-therapist relationship is a very unique kind of relationship. The client bears their worries and their concerns – private details about their lives typically (or often, not even) shared with close friends – to someone whose explicit role in the client’s life is to hear those details. How the client understands their therapist, perceives […]
How does therapy work?
That’s a good question. Most of us go to the doctor or the dentist starting from a very young age, so we grow up with something in mind about what a visit to the doctor is like. However, psychological services remain something of a mystery until an individual seeks them out on their own – […]
Therapeutic Alliance Formation: CBT or Psychodynamic? An Empirical Investigation
Goldman et al. (2013) provides a unique voice to the ongoing discussion of effective psychotherapeutic techniques by way of an analysis of an integrative psychotherapeutic model. They propose to gauge the effectiveness of Psychodynamic-Interpersonal (PI) and Cognitive-Behavioral (CB) techniques employed in a Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy setting by measuring client’s perception of the strength of the […]