Counter - Transference
Countertransference refers to a therapist's intuition about what the client is feeling. It's an incredibly powerful tool that when fed back to clients can help them better understand themselves and even how others around them feel.
Counseling Theories
I’m actually an enthusiastic newbie to therapy. Sites such as yours really provide a lot of helpful information for someone in my position.
Keep up the fine work!
- Vivian
Spirituality and Mental Health in the News
In this section we post noteworthy news articles that deal with spirituality and mental heatlh with an emphasis on psychotherapy.
Please note that "spirituality" here refers broadly to experiences that give us a heightened sense of purpose and meaning in our lives. So the term includes religious experiences, but definitely has a much broader reach than that!
T.M & S.L.
Spiritual Practices Change your Brain
Posted by Dr. Suzanne LaCombe, April 10, 2009.
This is an intriguing PBS interview with Dr. Mark Robert Waldman, a neuroscientist and author (How God changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist). Dr. Waldman conducts research on spiritual practices all over the world. He's distilled 12 exercises from these practices and shown via brain scans how they change brain structure.
If you're a body psychotherapist or body psychotherapist client, you'll likely find his findings particularly interesting. Waldam describes changes in the brain from practices that seem very similar to those used in body psychotherapy, although he's not directly referencing them as such (he calls them secular [meditative] practices). There's also a very interesting tid bit on yawning to cool your brain.
The interview is available in audio with the transcription below.
Posted: March 27, 2008 by Dr. LaCombe.
An Idea Worth Spreading
Ever wondered why that rock band named themselves "Nirvana"? Or what part of the brain "God" resides in? Then you'll definitely enjoy this tug-on-your-heartstrings video by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor!
This isn't a lecture on brain science, but a dramatic and intensely personal journey of recovery and discovery. It's the story of an ordinary person who had the courage and presence of mind to relate her extraordinary experience - her battle with, and final victory over, a potentially deadly brain tumor.
But Dr. Taylor wasn't ordinary in one respect - she happened to be a brain researcher who watched from a front row seat as her mind started to unravel. In this exciting and moving video she narrates this terrifying but exhilirating experience with insight and compassion.
Watch this video! You'll learn how the right brain differs from the left brain in a way that you'll never forget! (video length: 19 minutes)
Posted by Dr. LaCombe, November 11, 2007.
Soul therapy: Enter the "spiritual shrink".
By: Pallavi Srivastava
Well with a title like that...I couldn't resist. Spiritual psychotherapists are a relatively new breed, although "spiritually-inclined" psychotherapists and pastoral therapists have been around for years.
There seems to be two types of spiritual counselors: those associated with a particular religion (e.g. Christian counselors), and those who work with everyone, no matter what their religious orientation.
Can you imagine going to a spiritual counselor because your business is failing? Well, if you believe that "everything in life happens for a good reason" then it's a natural step!
Click here to continue:
Posted: January 1, 2007 by Dr. LaCombe.
Sprituality, Science and Addiction
By William White, MA & Alexandre Laudet, PhD
For years spirituality was ignored by therapeutic theory...probably it was thought to be "too messy" (i.e. not easily defined when you want to quantify or measure something). I had years of higher education, for instance but spirituality never came up. Fortunately with new mental health and psychological tests that purport to measure it, interest in spirituality is on the rise.
As you can imagine no other field of therapy are results more important than in addictions counseling. What's at stake is often a matter of life or death. And guess what? Addiction counselors have been integrating spirituality into psychotherapy for years well ahead of mainstream psychological practice.
...Okay, you're sober. Now what? Happy ever after...?
The reality is that most people who beat their addiction are still lost as to what to make of their lives. Spirituality is a way to pull things together. If you're open and ready, your chances for recovery are much better than those who do not embrace a spiritual center.
The following findings are no surprise to addiction counselors:
- A spiritual void increases one's vulnerability to addictions.
- But if we fall prey to an addiction, our spiritual mind set acts to reduce its severity. (Miller, 1998).
The most relevant recent finding is that spirituality appears to be a buffer against relapse.
- A 5-year study (undertaken by these authors) of 358 individuals recovering the effects of heroin and cocaine addictions concluded that a lower relapse rate was correlated with a higher spirituality.
Wise therapists have always been sensitive to a client's spiritual or religious orientation and have integrated these beliefs into their counseling. What I found interesting about this article is the effect of sudden and transformative spiritual experiences.
Apparently many of the individuals interviewed in their study spoke of rapid changes after these spiritual awakenings. Their reflections reinforced my belief that psychotherapy must engage the whole person.
Most forms of psychological treatment have no way to explain the power of these "turning points". But holistic approaches that integrate mind, body, heart and spirit excel at this.
To read the article in full click below (you will be taken off site):
This article is published in Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction Professionals, February 2006, v.7, n.1, pp.56-59.
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