Today is Thanksgiving here in the US, and it’s the first of many holidays in the coming weeks. For some clients, the press of this time of year can make it difficult to stick to regular sessions. So how might you extend the benefits of therapy in-between sessions? According to research, one effective practice is […]
A Parts Approach for Restoring Pleasure and Vitality After Trauma with Janina Fisher, PhD
After trauma, there’s one (critical) stage of healing that can often feel elusive. You see, even when a client has made significant progress in therapy, they often still report feeling numb, and not fully present in their own life. That’s why interventions designed to help clients reconnect with their sense of vitality and pleasure can […]
How to Help Traumatized Patients Restore their Vitality – with Bessel van der Kolk, MD
So much of our work with traumatized patients is often centered around trauma stabilization and processing. . . . . . but if we don’t help patients move beyond these early stages of recovery, they’re at risk of staying stuck in the past, repeatedly re-engaging with their trauma. So in the video below, Bessel van […]
Recognizing and Treating Moral Injury – with Bill Nash, MD
Moral injury is not necessarily a new phenomenon in the human experience, but it’s a relatively young concept in the field of psychology. The research is still evolving – but we’re discovering more about the overlapping similarities and key differences between moral injury and PTSD. And as leading researchers like Bill Nash, MD uncover more […]
[Infographic] How Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Works
In recent years, there’s been a growing interest in the use of psychedelics in the treatment of trauma. And in all the excitement over the latest findings, some clients may be eager to experiment. The problem is, they may not always be aware of the risks involved – especially when it comes to taking that […]
[Infographic] How the Nervous System Responds to Abandonment
We know that in the face of threat, the nervous system responds in ways designed to help keep us safe. For example, if your client was under physical attack, their nervous system may have gone into fight, flight, or freeze. But of course, that’s only one type of threat. And the responses that might be […]
Treating PTSD and Traumatic Invalidation – with Martin Bohus, PhD
It used to be that when working with trauma, so much of our focus centered on helping clients process their traumatic experience. But over the past several years, we’ve gained a better understanding that that’s just one piece of the work – and perhaps now more than ever, we understand that multiple approaches are often […]
How Neglect Can Impact Brain Development – with Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Childhood neglect is one of the more insidious forms of trauma that a client might experience. Not only that, but it can have a unique impact on brain development that researchers don’t often see with other types of trauma. So in the video below, Bessel van der Kolk, MD will get into one specific neurobiological […]
A Strategy to Help Clients Repair Ruptures – with Shelly Harrell, PhD
By the time a client comes to us for help with a conflict, they may have already reached a point of overwhelm. For many clients, this can make the prospect of repair feel out of their reach at best (and perhaps beyond their capability at worst). So when it comes to working with clients who […]
Working with Deep Fears of Rejection – with Lynn Lyons, LICSW
For some clients, a deep fear of rejection can prevent them from making real gains outside of the therapy session. And as practitioners, unless we have a sense of how that fear is driving their behavior, we may not know how best to target our interventions. So in the video below, Lynn Lyons, LICSW shares […]