The Evolutionary Roots of PTSD: The Lizard Screaming in Your Brainstem

The Evolutionary Roots of PTSD: The Lizard Screaming in Your Brainstem

  Resolving the Conflict Between Lizard and Mammal Brains The human brain is an astonishingly complex and metabolically expensive organ. Weighing in at just three pounds, it consumes a whopping 20% of the body's total energy budget [1]. This high cost is a testament to the brain's incredible processing power, which has allowed humans to become the most intelligent and adaptable species on the planet. But the human brain is not a monolithic entity. Rather, it is a product of millions of years of evolution,...

Psychotherapy’s Feuding Founders

Psychotherapy’s Feuding Founders

Ego, Ideology, and the Battle for the Soul of the Profession From the outside, psychotherapy often appears to be a staid and sober enterprise – a science of the mind dedicated to the rational amelioration of human suffering. But a closer examination of the field's history reveals a far more tumultuous and fractious reality. Beneath the calm veneer of clinical respectability lies a roiling cauldron of clashing personalities, competing paradigms, and bitter doctrinal disputes. Far from a detached, objective...

The Hidden Influence of Parts on Parenting: Why Parents Treat Children Differently

The Hidden Influence of Parts on Parenting: Why Parents Treat Children Differently

Explore how parental parts and unresolved childhood trauma shape differential treatment of children. Discover the hidden influence of parts on parenting and family dynamics through the lens of parts-based therapies like Voice Dialogue, Internal Family Systems, Transactional Analysis, Schema Therapy, Psychosynthesis, and Coherence Therapy. Learn how parts work can help break intergenerational cycles and cultivate more secure, attuned parent-child relationships

Understanding AuDHD: When Autism and ADHD Intersect

Understanding AuDHD: When Autism and ADHD Intersect

What is AuDHD? Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are two distinct neurodevelopmental conditions that frequently co-occur. Recent research suggests that 50-70% of autistic individuals also have ADHD, and two-thirds of those with ADHD may have co-existing conditions like autism. When someone has both autism and ADHD, it's often referred to as AuDHD. The Diagnostic Evolution of AuDHD Despite the high co-occurrence, it wasn't until relatively recently that AuDHD could...

A Timeline of The Development of Psychotherapy

A Timeline of The Development of Psychotherapy

How did Psychotherapy Change Over Time? Timeline of Psychotherapy Timeline 1890s: The birth of psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud 1900s-1910s: Emergence of competing schools (Adler's Individual Psychology, Jung's Analytical Psychology) Influence of Bleuler Structuralism vs functionalism debate 1920s: Expansion of psychoanalysis Rise of child analysis (Anna Freud, Melanie Klein) Development of sandplay therapy (Margaret Lowenfeld) 1930s-1940s: Impact of World War II Development of ego psychology and neo-Freudian...

Lessons on Acceptance from Irvin Yalom’s Existential Psychotherapy

Lessons on Acceptance from Irvin Yalom’s Existential Psychotherapy

The Stages of Grief as Defelection from Existential Dread We all go through the stages of grief all of the time:  The stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance - represent common emotional reactions to loss and change (Kübler-Ross & Kessler, 2005). However, they can also be seen as ways we deflect away from reality to pretend our interior emotional spaces can control external circumstances. In the depths of grief, we rage against what is, bargain for a different outcome, and sink...

The Complete Dictionary of Psychotherapy 

The Complete Dictionary of Psychotherapy 

What is Every Model of Therapy and Why Do They All Exist? Download This as a PDF Here Psychotherapy is a vast field with numerous approaches, techniques, and models developed over decades of research and practice. This comprehensive dictionary aims to demystify the various types of psychotherapy, providing insights into their founders, approaches, techniques, focus, historical context, and criticisms. Whether you're a mental health professional, student, or simply curious about the world of psychotherapy, this...

Coherence Therapy: Unlocking the Wisdom of the Emotional Brain

Coherence Therapy: Unlocking the Wisdom of the Emotional Brain

What is Coherence Therapy? Overview Coherence Therapy is a groundbreaking therapeutic approach that works with the brain's emotional learning and memory systems to swiftly resolve a wide range of psychological problems. Developed by psychotherapists Bruce Ecker and Laurel Hulley, Coherence Therapy is based on the latest neuroscience of how the brain changes, learns and forms lasting memories. The central insight of Coherence Therapy is that symptoms of depression, anxiety, compulsive behaviors, and other...

The Neuroscience and Phenomenology of Brainspotting

The Neuroscience and Phenomenology of Brainspotting

 An In-Depth Exploration of What Brainspotting Does in the Brain Brainspotting is a relatively new psychotherapy approach that combines elements of psychodynamic, somatic, and mindfulness-based therapies to facilitate deep emotional healing and trauma resolution [1]. Developed by David Grand in 2003, brainspotting operates on the premise that "where you look affects how you feel" [2]. By guiding the client's visual focus to specific external positions (brainspots), the therapist can help access and process...

Scary Stories for Haloween 1/5: The Tree

Scary Stories for Haloween 1/5: The Tree

This was a flash fiction story that I wrote more than a decade a go when I was first getting into Jungian Psycholgy . This was part of a set of flash fiction that juxtaposed the way the psyche deals with conflicct between the inner and outer worlds with suppernatural metaphors aka ghost stories. This story, The Green was first published in Coffin Bell and later in an anthology edition that is no longer in print. The Tree   Set as a seal upon thy arm  Set as a seal upon thy heart For love is stronger than the...