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Psychotherapy and Epistemology: Learning How to Think Psychotherapy and epistemology–what do they have to do with each other?  Philosophy refers to how knowing happens as epistemology.  I would argue that addressing the process of knowing is at least as important for training psychotherapists as considering what is known.  Let me explain… When I supervise graduate students … Continue reading Thinking Like a Psychologist →

  Resilience Resilience, the ability to bounce back and maintain strength in the face of stressors, is an important attribute for our patients as well as for ourselves.  Life is filled with tribulation and dangers, both those we experience first-hand and those we live through vicariously as we are instantly exposed to events through the media. … Continue reading Resilience →

Psychotherapy with Adolescents   Psychotherapy with adolescents provides a unique opportunity to impact identity at a key time in development.  Understanding the roles of “self” and “identity” is helpful in this process. Self and identity have been variously defined and, at times, viewed as synonymous.  It is clinically helpful to distinguish between the two in psychoanalytic psychotherapy … Continue reading Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Adolescents →

Neuroscience, Self, and Identity What do we mean when we refer to self?  Is self distinct from identity?  The constructs of self and identity have been understood and discussed historically in diverse ways.  Neuroscience research is now supporting that they are indeed distinct constructs. Neuro-imaging research is consistent with self as reflecting right hemisphere, reflexive, nonlinguistic … Continue reading “Self” and “Identity” →