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Welcome to the Taproot Therapy Collective Blog, your deep‑dive space into trauma‑informed therapy, depth psychology, and the cultural forces shaping mental health today. Authored by our licensed clinicians in Birmingham, Alabama, our posts span from Jungian insights and somatic healing to evidence‑based modalities like EMDR and neuromodulation, as well as explorations of micro‑nutrition and media psychology. Each article aims to illuminate how psyche, body, and society intertwine—whether we’re unpacking the weaponization of collective trauma in our digital era or investigating how somatic trauma mapping helps track pain that lives inside the body.
Our blog extends beyond Birmingham’s office walls, offering trusted guides on practices like dream analysis through a Jungian lens and methods for shadow work and intergenerational healing. We also highlight local pulse by sharing resources for therapists and mental health seekers in Alabama, from expressive‑arts workshops to CEU‑accredited community trainings. Designed for both mental health professionals and curious individuals, our writing bridges clinical depth with cultural relevance—engaging with everything from architecture’s psychological impact and mythology’s role in identity to design, film, ritual, and the intricate psychology underpinning conspiracy and belief systems.
If you seek a mental health conversation that honors both the interior journey and the social context we inhabit, explore our categorized sections—such as Neuroscience and the Brain, Mythology and Therapy, and Psychology of Media and Culture—to find articles that resonate. Join us as we map the roots of psychic distress while cultivating possibilities for growth, resilience, and meaningful connection.
Actor Toby Huss on Art, Trauma, and Finding Beauty in America's Forgotten Places: A Deep Dive into Creative Healing Buy the Book! Get Toby Huss's American Sugar Gristle Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89zo1lyVFbM In a captivating podcast episode, acclaimed actor...
Alabama's New School-Based Mental Health Consent Law: What School Counselors Need to Know SCOPE CLARIFICATION: Who SB 101 Actually Affects SB 101 applies SPECIFICALLY to in-school mental health services: ✅ WHO IS AFFECTED: Public school counselors School-based...
Mary Main's Groundbreaking Attachment Research Mary Main (1943-2023) transformed our understanding of attachment through her revolutionary contributions to developmental psychology and attachment research. As a protégé of Mary Ainsworth at Johns Hopkins University,...
A Revolutionary Approach to Mental Health In a groundbreaking interview between Joel Blackstock and Adam O'Brien, founder of the Wounded Healer Institute, we explore the profound interconnections between dissociation, trauma, and addiction that challenge conventional...
Grief, Healing, and Brainspotting for the Loss of a Pet The bond between humans and their animal companions is a powerful one. Pets provide us with unconditional love, emotional support, and constant companionship. They are a source of joy, laughter, and comfort. So...
The worn pages crackle under trembling fingers. Found tucked between dusty volumes in a government surplus sale box, the document bears no official seal, no classification stamps: just densely typed pages speaking of economic shock testing, biological warfare through...
All experience is past by definition. Tradition is transmission of past experience which has become knowledge and know-how. Thus, we can with reason conclude that without tradition, there can be no language, no philosophy, no science, no technique, art, or industry....
Why Therapists Must Consciously Embrace Their Wounded Healer Role Four decades after its publication, Alice Miller's "The Drama of the Gifted Child" remains one of the most important texts for understanding both the psychology of the helping professions and the hidden...
The concept of the daimon—an inner guiding force representing both our authentic self and the source of creative and healing potential—has appeared throughout the history of psychotherapy under various names and conceptualizations. From Socrates' divine sign to...
The Prescient Wisdom of Dr. Shoma Morita: Metacognition, Eastern Philosophy, and the Limits of Psychopharmacology In the early 20th century, while Western psychiatry was still grappling with Freudian theories and the nascent field of psychopharmacology, a Japanese...
The Convenient Dismissal In 2018, Nickelodeon "parted ways" with Dan Schneider, their most profitable showrunner of the 2000s and 2010s. The timing was no accident. After decades of turning a blind eye to mounting complaints about his behavior—from verbal abuse to...
Carl Jung remains an enduring subject of fascination, his life and ideas sparking impassioned debate over 60 years after his death. As the founder of analytical psychology, Jung pioneered the exploration of the unconscious mind, dream interpretation, archetypes, and...
The Film That Saw Our Future In 1976, screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky and director Sidney Lumet released a film so prescient about the coming media landscape that audiences didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Network wasn't just satire—it was prophecy. Nearly fifty...
A Controversial Blueprint for Human Consciousness "The Changing Images of Man" emerged in 1974 from the Stanford Research Institute as one of the most provocative and influential documents in the history of futures research. This comprehensive report, later published...
Understanding the Psychology Behind Deception and Emotional Manipulation Have you ever wondered if your business partner is a con artist? Perhaps you've noticed a pattern where their stories don't quite add up, where their accomplishments seem to exist only in...
The Chiron Paradox In the constellation of Greek mythology, few figures embody the paradox of human suffering and healing as profoundly as Chiron, the wounded healer. Unlike his brutish centaur kin, Chiron was wise, gentle, and skilled in the arts of medicine, music,...
Understanding Memory Reconsolidation and the Neuroscience Behind Experiential Healing A Paradigm Shift in Understanding Emotional Memory For decades, the field of psychology operated under the assumption that emotional memories, particularly traumatic ones, were...
The Limitations of Current Trauma Diagnosis Leading trauma experts Gabor Maté and Bessel van der Kolk have long argued that the DSM-5's approach to trauma diagnosis fails to capture the complexity of how trauma manifests in different memory systems and...
The Limits of the Biomedical Model in Mental Health The biomedical model has dominated mental health treatment for decades, offering a structured framework for categorizing psychological symptoms into discrete disorders. While this approach has provided valuable...
The Complex Reality of EMDR in Clinical Practice Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) occupies a unique and controversial position in the landscape of trauma therapy. While some practitioners report remarkable results, researchers often express...
A Guide for Psychotherapists and Cultural Critics Why Psychotherapists Should Watch Adam Curtis For mental health professionals seeking to understand the cultural waters their clients swim in, Adam Curtis's documentaries offer an invaluable lens. His films map the...
Socrates and the Daimon: The Ancient Shamanic Function Athens, 399 BCE. Socrates holds a cup of hemlock—poison that will kill him if he drinks it. His students beg him to flee; the guards would look the other way. He could escape to Thessaly and continue teaching....
How CBT Killed the Soul of Psychotherapy: The Rosenhan Experiment: A Prophecy Fulfilled In 1973, a psychiatric hospital received an unusual visitor. A man walked up to admissions and said simply, "I hear voices." When the psychiatrist asked what they said, he replied:...
From Reich's Orgone to CBT's Reductionism: How America Lost the Soul of Psychotherapy The Radical Pioneer Who Found Trauma in the Body In 1954, a wild-haired man stood in a field aiming a strange contraption of hollow metal tubes at the sky. This was Wilhelm Reich and...
The Birth of Consciousness and the Human Dilemma: From 24,000 BCE to the Crisis of Modern Psychology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjqONBMp4xc Around 24,000 BCE, a profound shift occurred in human evolution that would fundamentally alter the trajectory of our...
The Wounded Healer: How Freud's Trauma Shaped Modern Psychology Understanding the Origins of Psychoanalysis Through the Lens of Its Founder's Unresolved Wounds The story of Sigmund Freud is not merely the biography of psychology's most famous figure—it's a cautionary...
A Guide for Immanentizing the Eschaton in Therapy Why a Dead German Philosopher Matters for Your Therapy Practice Picture this: You're sitting with a client who can't stop talking about how "the system is rigged," or maybe they're convinced that if only we could...
Buy the Book How Edward Teyber's Revolutionary Approach Transformed My Journey from Anxious Student to Confident Therapist I still remember sitting in my social work school classroom, frantically taking notes on CBT protocols and DBT worksheets, feeling increasingly...
Washington D.C.'s Sacred Geometry and the Revolutionary Transformation of Divine Authority A Capital Born from Enlightenment When Pierre Charles L'Enfant stood upon Jenkins Hill in March 1791, surveying the wilderness that would become America's capital, he carried...
A Deep Dive into Will Selman's Revolutionary Book Buy Will's Book Temenos Bridging Ancient Wisdom and Modern City Design In an era where cities face unprecedented challenges—from climate change to social disconnection—urban planner and author Will Selman presents a...
The Mad Scientist Who Made Flipper Look Like a Documentary Picture this: It's 1965, and while most scientists are content with their lab coats and microscopes, one maverick researcher is floating in a pitch-black tank filled with body-temperature salt water, high on...
In the landscape of addiction recovery, a quiet revolution is taking place. While traditional 12-step programs continue to serve as crucial foundations for early sobriety, a growing number of treatment professionals are recognizing that lasting recovery requires...
What Does It Mean to Dream About Glass Objects in Your Mouth? Dreams about glass objects trapped in the mouth represent one of the most psychologically rich and recurring patterns I've encountered in clinical practice. These dreams typically involve glass...
The Intersection of Metallurgy, Spirituality, and Personal Growth The Japanese katana represents far more than a masterfully crafted weapon—it embodies a rich tapestry of psychological and spiritual traditions that have shaped Eastern philosophy for centuries. This...
In this captivating episode of the PSYCHE podcast, host Quique Autrey embarks on a deep dive into the world of Jungian psychology with guest Joel Blackstock. Together, they explore a wide range of topics, from the potential oversimplification of Jung's ideas by...
A Deep Dive into Ego States, Games, and the Quest to Understand Human Behavior In the 1960s, a charismatic psychiatrist named Eric Berne took the world of psychotherapy by storm with his innovative approach known as transactional analysis (TA). Combining elements of...
Personality psychology is a rich and diverse field that seeks to understand the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make each individual unique. Over the past century, numerous thinkers have proposed theories and models to explain the complex nature of...
Lifespan Integration Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Timeline-Based Healing An in-depth exploration of Lifespan Integration therapy, its principles, protocols, and effectiveness for trauma healing. What is Lifespan Integration Therapy? Lifespan Integration (LI) is...
Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become the dominant paradigm in psychology over the past few decades, shaping everything from research funding priorities to clinical training curricula to third-party reimbursement policies. On the surface, EBP seems unassailable -...
Who Was Wilhelm Reich? Wilhelm Reich, a prominent psychoanalyst and philosopher, made significant contributions to the understanding of fascism through his groundbreaking work, "The Mass Psychology of Fascism." Despite the enduring wisdom of his analysis, Reich's...
Exploring the Intersection of Wilhelm Reich's Character Styles, Somatic Blocks, and Modern Psychotherapy Wilhelm Reich, a prominent 20th-century psychoanalyst, developed a unique perspective on character styles and their relationship to somatic blocks, or what he...
From Mesmerism to Modern Psychotherapy: The Enduring Legacy of Franz Anton Mesmer and the Importance of Empirical Validation Franz Anton Mesmer, the 18th-century German physician, is often considered the father of modern hypnosis. His theory of animal magnetism, or...
Purple Hat Therapy and the Evolution of Alternative: Psychotherapies From Energy Meridians to Polyvagal Stimulation Purple hat therapy, a novel approach claiming to heal through the power of colored headwear, has recently gained attention in the alternative therapy...
Understanding the Lasting Impacts of Toxic Relationships The double bind theory, first proposed by Gregory Bateson and his colleagues in the 1950s, describes a type of dysfunctional communication and relationship pattern that can have devastating psychological...
Examining the Science and Cultural Manifestations of Archetypal Psychology The concept of archetypes is a central pillar of Carl Jung's analytical psychology. Jung proposed that there are universal patterns or images that shape the human psyche and emerge symbolically...
Psychology, as a field, stands at a critical juncture. Over the past few decades, the focus has shifted away from the fundamental nature of human consciousness and towards a more mechanistic, symptom-focused approach to mental health. Manualized therapies, diagnostic...
Gnosticism as a Metaphor for Consciousness: Meaning, Evolution, and Healing Gnosticism is an ancient spiritual and philosophical worldview that offers a profound metaphor for the nature and dilemmas of human consciousness. While Gnosticism should not be taken as a...
The Counterintuitive Role of Humor in Trauma Recovery There exists a seeming paradox in the realm of trauma therapy: the juxtaposition of humor against the backdrop of suffering. For those grappling with PTSD and the horrific aspects of life that create it, the idea...
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling on The Ghost Lab: Science, Pseudoscience, and the Supernatural Welcome back to the Taproot Therapy Collective podcast! In this episode, we sit down with Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and George Polk Award winner, to discuss his...
In a fast-paced world filled with stress and disconnection, finding a path to inner peace and self-discovery is more important than ever. Archetype meditation, a transformative practice rooted in Jungian psychology and Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, offers a...
A comprehensive exploration of psychology topics spanning the breadth of human experience, from fundamental concepts like memory and emotion to specialized areas like forensic psychology and environmental mental health.
Explore the fascinating world of psychology, from depth psychology and symbolism to cognitive, social, and developmental theories. Uncover the mysteries of the human mind and behavior.
Explore Jungian concepts such as archetypes, the collective unconscious, and individuation. Learn how dream analysis and symbolism facilitate self-awareness and personal growth through the insights of Carl Jung.
Explore the significance of dreams in depth psychology, from Freud’s dream interpretation to Jungian archetypes. Learn how dreams provide insights into the unconscious mind, personal growth, and trauma healing.
Uncover the profound language of symbolism and meaning-making in the human psyche. Explore universal archetypes, myths, and metaphors through depth psychology and the symbolic dimensions of trauma.
Journey into the captivating world of classical mythology, focusing on the rich traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Explore how myths offer profound insights into the human condition and universal themes.
Explores the frontier of evidence-based practice in psychotherapy, taking a fresh look at the scientific foundations of mental health treatment through the integrative lenses of depth psychology and trauma neurology.
Examines the complex landscape of research-informed therapy while critically evaluating the limitations, biases, and cultural considerations that shape how we apply research findings to real-world clinical practice.
Explore existentialism, metaphysics, ethics, and the philosophy of mind. Discover insights from renowned thinkers and engage in thought-provoking discussions.
Explore phenomenological and existential approaches to understanding human experience and psychological healing, focusing on lived experience, authenticity, freedom, and meaning-making.
Examine how post-postmodern frameworks illuminate contemporary mental health challenges including cultural displacement, narrative fragmentation, authenticity struggles, and the oscillation between hope and despair.
Explore the psychological dimensions of cultural paradigms and their impact on identity, meaning-making, and therapeutic practice.
Delve into the intricate relationship between brain function, trauma, and mental health treatment. Discover insights into innovative therapeutic approaches, neuroplasticity, and the role of emotions in healing.
Explore the hidden dimensions of film and TV through the lenses of depth psychology and trauma neurology. Discover how the moving image reflects and shapes the psyche, both individually and collectively.
Explore the profound psychological and symbolic impact of media and culture on our individual and collective psyche. Uncover the hidden meanings and archetypal themes woven into the fabric of our cultural landscape.
Explore Industrial-Organizational Psychology, focusing on workplace performance, employee well-being, leadership development, and organizational culture.
Explore the psychology of design and architecture, from the emotional impact of spaces to human-centered design. Learn how architecture influences mental health, well-being, and behavior.
Explore how colors influence psychological experience, from the neurological mechanisms behind color perception to practical applications in therapeutic environments and creative healing approaches.
Explore the symbolic significance and psychological undercurrents of historical events through the lens of depth psychology, symbolism, and design psychology.
Examine the psychological dynamics behind conspiracy thinking, critical thinking, and the appeal of alternative narratives in contemporary culture.
Embark on a fascinating journey into the deep history of the human psyche, exploring how anthropology and evolutionary psychology shed light on ancient origins of modern minds, behaviors, and cultures.
Discover the transformative power of Christian mysticism and contemplative spirituality, exploring how practices like centering prayer and lectio divina can heal trauma and facilitate encounters with the deep Self.
Explore the intersection of spirituality and depth psychology to uncover the role of spiritual practices in trauma healing, consciousness, and personal transformation.
Discover the universal quest for meaning, transcendence, and healing across spiritual traditions, exploring key practices and insights from world religions through depth psychology and trauma neurology.
Examine the psychological dimensions of mystical experience and spiritual teaching across various traditions and historical periods.
Explore the shadowy psychodynamics of coercive control, from cults to abusive relationships. Learn to recognize red flags of undue influence and support recovery processes.
Trace the evolution of psychotherapy through the lens of depth psychology and symbolism, from Freudian psychoanalysis to contemporary approaches.
Explore the lives and contributions of influential figures who shaped the field of psychology and psychotherapy.
Explore depth psychology, CBT, humanistic therapies, and more. Discover how various therapeutic approaches promote healing and personal growth.
Discover a deeper approach to health and healing by exploring alternative medicine practices and holistic wellbeing through the lenses of depth psychology and trauma neurology.
Comprehensive collection of guided meditations designed to support mental health, emotional regulation, and spiritual well-being.