Group Therapy
Worth
A few months ago one my therapy groups at my NYC practice got to talking about the subject of self worth. There's no reason this should have been surprising. Self-worth is seen as nearly synonymous with self-esteem, one of the cornerstones of just about any framework of psychological well-being. One of the earliest and most widely accepted definitions of self-esteem views the concept in terms of…
Jun 30, 2011
Are you a consumer or a producer of your therapy (and your life)?
Like most New Yorkers, I enjoy going out for a nice dinner now and again. The big draw, of course, is the food. But it's also nice to be taken care of and have the night off from cooking and cleaning up. There's no expectation when you show up for dinner that you'll be asked to chop veggies or set the table. For a few hours, at least, you're a consumer. The restaurant is happy to oblige. They…
May 26, 2011"Just like me"
I got an email this morning from someone in New York who found my website searching for group therapy. He said a few things about himself, what he's struggling with, and then wrote, "I'm looking for a therapy group with people just like me."I was touched. It was clear that this guy spends most of his life feeling like the oddball. I could relate. For an awful lot of my life I felt the same way,…
May 24, 2011
Know thyself? Not so fast
Several months ago I wrote about the imperative of giving up your expertise on you. While there are certain things you know pretty well about yourself, there's a not-so-modest basket of things where you are in, perhaps, the worst position to see what's really going on. It's one of the things I love about group therapy--being successful in it means letting go of the need to be the final authority…
May 19, 2011So this guy built a toaster...
...and tells us an awful lot about who we are (and a bit about group therapy).. His name is Thomas Thwaites, and I first saw the video where I find a good deal of smart things, on TED. Check it out: Pretty terrific, right? Just sharing it with you is exciting, but I'd like to say a bit about it, hopefully without sounding too much like an academic and ruining the whole thing. I'll try.If you…
Jan 18, 2011
On bullying: What about the group?
There's been an explosion of conversation about bullying in the last few years, ignited further still in the past several months since the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. Six of her teenage classmates were charged in court with a variety of legal offenses for what clearly represents an ongoing pattern of abuse towards Ms. Prince. They are…
Jun 17, 2010
Group: It's how we live our lives
I get asked somewhat frequently why I'm drawn to practicing group therapy. Really, it's groups of all kinds that I'm interested in. But that sort of begs the question.I'm interested in groups because I'm interested in people, and groups tend to be how people are organized. I'm not sure if this is a provocation or not. I'd like it to be one:We live our lives in groups.. I think this statement is…
May 06, 2010
Ourchestra: Shel Silverstein on group therapy (sort of)
I'm pretty crazy about Shel Silverstein, and this poem in particular.Ourchestra. So you haven't got a drum, just beat your belly.So I haven't got a horn-I'll play my nose.So we haven't any cymbals-We'll just slap our hands together,And though there may be orchestrasThat sound a little betterWith their fancy shiny instrumentsThat cost an awful lot-Hey, we're making music twice as goodBy playing…
Apr 09, 2010
Group Therapy: Antidote for the reluctance to LOOK!
Spanish speakers say it beautifully: “Abre los ojos!” (Open your eyes!)We receive remarkable training, formal and otherwise, in thinking, interpreting and understanding. Not so much for looking. In fact, we receive a great deal of training in not-looking or looking the other way.How’s that, you ask?I’m reminded of a popular bumper sticker: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying…
Apr 06, 2010Group therapy: More than a bad cliche?
I recently took a fresh look at the online conversation around group therapy. Sadly, it was much as I'd expected.It's not hard to see where the cliches portrayed on sketch-comedy shows and in countless movies have come from. In fact, while surfing through videos on YouTube with the tag group therapy it was genuinely hard to tell which were intended as actual informative videos produced by group…
Apr 03, 2010
Curiouser and curiouser
How doth the little crocodileImprove his shining tail,And pour the waters of the NileOn every golden scale!-Alice, Lewis Carroll's Alice in WonderlandIt's surely of little surprise that I place such tremendous value on curiosity. It's what good therapists do: They get curious about their client's lives. I also think it's vital for everyone in living a fulfilling life and building meaningful…
Mar 14, 2010
Group Therapy: Give up your expertise on you
It's one of those beliefs so widely agreed on as to be beyond question: You are the exclusive expert on you.Being an expert tends to go along with not being so open to what other people have to say. And when it comes to ourselves, being an expert on you tends to mean being the expert on you.But the fact is, there's a whole lot about you that you're in the worst position to see. Like how you're…
Feb 28, 2010Browse all Tribeca Therapy topics
Connect with one of our senior therapists to make a plan to get started
Or email us directly: inquiries@tribecatherapy.com