From “The School of Life”: How To Be Confident
Amy: Check out this small, funny reflection on “confidence” from Alain de Botton’s The School of Life. The video points to the liberating effects of allowing for, and accepting, our innate craziness […]
Psychological Symptoms As A Sign Of Health
“Chemical Imbalance” has become a generally accepted way to think about psychological conditions like depression and anxiety. But David Keith offers another perspective: In fact, emotional problems may be a sign of mental health.
How To Become An Alcoholic
While it’s always tricky to try to understand how someone becomes an alcoholic, stories from patients “in recovery” reveal some patterns. In this post, we get a glimpse into a couple’s therapy, where we learn what “pre-alcoholism” looks like. It can tell us a lot about some of the ingredients that go into making an alcoholic.
A Saudi Woman’s Act of Courage Ends in Pain
Check out the moving tale of courage and pain on the part of this impressive Saudi woman.
Our Weirdness Can Open The Door To Freedom
In this post, Dave talks about his work with a depressed young female patient. Through the therapy, which “opens up a little dormant space of weirdness where we can feel more free”, this young woman’s depression lifts as she begins to experience herself in a new way.
A New Medication For ADHD: The Family
These days kids are reflexively and routinely given stimulants like Ritalin if they are designated as having ADHD. Dave Keith offers an alternative perspective: He works with the family relationship patterns in order to treat the child. The side effects are good.
“Depression” Is Not An Individual Matter
In our current pharmaceutical-based culture, we forget that how we feel, our “moods” are strongly shaped by relationship dynamics. This holds true even for depression. Here’s a case that shows how this works.
A Writer’s Tale of Unexpectedly Finding Love: Then It Gets Complicated
Writer Delia Ephron, who co-wrote the screenplay for several iconic American films, including Sleepless in Seattle, tells her heart-warming story of unexpectedly finding love. Then she gets sick.
ADHD Diagnosis Conceals the Family Story
Good physicians take a clinical history in the interest of arriving at a diagnosis. While the clinical history is a review of ‘facts’, there are in fact, few ‘facts’ about human experience. Different examiners will get different histories depending upon what they ask about. Different family members give different reports of the same set of events. In my view clinical histories are a form of fiction pretending to be ‘objective’.
In Praise of Play
Dave: A colleague sent this quotation with image. I liked it but I think it was because she was referring to the many conversations we have had over the last […]
Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day To All Our Readers Here’s something I received from my good friend Elaine
A Mother and Daughter Reunion: It’s Never Too Late
It’s common for people to carry childhood wounds from their parents into adulthood. Sometimes they seek individual therapy for these painful issues. See what happens when the parent becomes part of the therapy.
What “Ruthlessness”Feels Like From The Inside
The idea of being “ruthless” sounds jarring at first, until we realize how it’s an essential ingredient in healthy living, both personally and professionally. It speaks to how we maintain our integrity in the face of demands for conformity.
How To Be Selfish
Listen to Alain de Botton reflect on the benefits of being “kind egoists”. He notes how maintaining a healthy selfishness is probably the best, most authentic way to be there […]
Therapeutic Ruthlessness: Beyond Sweetness And Patience
Therapists tend to be good at being kind and patient with difficult people and they know how to put up with their patients’ demanding and outrageous behavior. Too often the demand for good manners persuades therapists to compromise their integrity in the attempt to maintain the relationship and to make their patients feel worthwhile. But compromising integrity interferes with the effectiveness of therapeutic work.
Marriage: A Contest To See Who Can Drive Each Other Crazy First
Here’s an inside look at what makes marriage both incredibly challenging, and, potentially, the most enriching experience of a lifetime.
