#psychotherapy

#psychotherapy

"I think I'm in love...," my client says, referring to her newly discovered relationship with ChatGPT. "I've never felt so seen, so understood." This particular person has been in a secure, nurturing marriage for many years, but something about her exchanges with artificial intelligence (AI) feels awakening and ideal, like no relationship has before. "I can say anything, and it never gets defensive. It just... listens. And reminds me that I'm there."

Conversion therapy is the discredited and harmful practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. The therapist in the case (Kaley Chiles) argues that this law is an unconstitutional restriction on her speech: psychotherapy is, on her view, a kind of speech, and thus the state law violates her First Amendment rights. The state responds that psychotherapy is a medical procedure,

The phenomenon of evil has always been part of human existence but is particularly pervasive in our present times. By definition, we think of evil as being purely negative, pernicious, vile, vicious, and destructive. A noxious force and tragic existential fact of life that brings only misery, sorrow, and suffering to those accidentally or intentionally exposed to or victimized by it. Which, to some extent, includes each of us. But can the painful and devastating experience of evil and the profound suffering it brings possibly be productive, growth-enhancing, or psychologically and spiritually transformative? Can good come from evil? Can suffering be redeemed?

Village elders offered these powers-stillness and compassion-in lullabies hummed as they fastened tiny saddles, in laps that welcomed small bodies and soothed anxious hearts, and in gentle gazes that shimmered beneath the stars. Slowly, these two powers soaked in, one moment of care at a time, seeping into each child's bones and settling into their hearts. Before they even knew it, the village's children were walking hand in hand with stillness and compassion (Boyette & Hewlett, 2017; Doucleff, 2019).

Psychobabble replaces mental health misconceptions with liberating truths that can help readers avoid misinformation, navigate important debates in the mental health field, and better maneuver their own therapy journeys. The problem is not that therapy has gone mainstream, but that some of the assumptions we have absorbed from therapy culture are actually holding us back from healing, growing, and solving our problems.

Synchronicities can be dismissed as quirky experiences, an anecdote to trot out at a dinner party, but they can also be profoundly transformative and healing. It's for this reason that synchronicity-informed psychotherapy informs my clinical practice. As a refresher, synchronicities are events in the external world that coincide in a meaningful way with the internal world of thoughts, feelings, images, sensations, memories, and dreams, but not due to causal reasons.

The standard definitions of psychotherapy are outdated as they do not represent the new reality, particularly with the advancements in AI chatbots.

Narrative therapy encourages us to begin by identifying our dominant narrative—the main story we tend to focus on and tell about ourselves. Dominant narratives, though told and retold, are not always fully accurate; they sometimes ignore other important parts of the story.

Chiropractic adjustments support nervous system function, while therapy builds emotional resilience.

"Spiritual struggles can significantly impact psychological well-being, and addressing these issues in therapy can greatly enhance recovery outcomes for clients."

AI chatbots have been shown to be effective for reducing psychiatric symptoms and promoting mental health. However, they have also been linked to severe outcomes like suicide.

We reported some of our project's findings in an article published in 2024 in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Counseling Psychology, 71(4), 291-303.

Without proper nutrition, the goals of recovery from mental distress are limited as digestive health is intrinsically linked to mental health.

Dream interpretation remains a powerful and intriguing project, but as a methodology, it continues to be elusive, mysterious, and far from "evidence-based" as a practice.

Despite promising transformations at Tranquillum House, Masha's own motivations remain self-serving and may have worsened, raising concerns about her new psychedelic delivery system.

A synchronicity is a meaningful, acausal match between an outer event and inner thoughts or feelings. In therapy, such incidents facilitate insights and breakthroughs.

As psychodynamic psychotherapists, we help identify moments of intense reactions, often signals of underlying issues from the past that replay in the present.