We can invite another person to change in two ways. One is to offer a straightforward invitation. “You are currently X, might you prefer Y?” We can, for instance, invite a patient, friend or family member out of emotional suffering or self-defeating behavior and into a new way of being, feeling or doing. A secondContinue Reading: Paradoxical Invitations: To Change Or Not To Change

Poets and cognitive-behavioral therapists are fellow travelers, both very much in the business of words. The American poet Wallace Stevens is an especially close fellow traveler. His poems work the same territory that CBT works: the interface between reality and what we tell ourselves about reality. In this post I share one of his poems,Continue Reading: Pure Poetry Of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

At least 14 million people have now contracted COVID-19 and 600,000 of them have died. This combination of physical, emotional, social and financial challenges has never been faced by anyone alive. And each person living today is now facing them. Ongoing Traumatic Stress Disorder has been proposed as a description of COVID’s extreme threats toContinue Reading: The Yoga Vaccine: A CBT Response To COVID-19

Our patients, friends or family members may sometimes lie to themselves about their destructive or dangerous behaviors. For instance, while drinking heavily, they might say “I don’t have a drinking problem! Other people who pick up DUI’s or spend the night in detox are alcoholics, not me…” It can be challenging to find a loving,Continue Reading: Calling “Bullshit!” Replying To Terminal Uniqueness

Ever wonder why we’re mean to each other? Or why we choose to be loving and kind?  Over the last decade research on mice – which share much of our neurobiology – has shed light on these questions. Observing Mickey and Minnie, it turns out, is another way of observing ourselves. In this post learnContinue Reading: Of Mice & Men & Women