I recently began thinking about the DSM-5 and the language we use in my NYC therapy practice after listening to a Philosophy Bites podcast with Dr. Steven E. Hyman. In the podcast, Hyman discusses the limitations he sees in the “rigid and arbitrary” boundaries set up in the DSM between what is considered “healthy” orRead more
Therapy for depression: A collective therapist conversation on the limits of words
We’ve been continuing our series of conversations, this one exploring the construction of depression: the ways those seeking therapy talk about their experiences, the many meanings of the word and the ways that depression is so often insufficient as a term to capture these experiences. Matt: It’s probably the case that therapy for depression isRead more
Adult Coloring Books: An Intro to Art Therapy
In my NYC art therapy practice, I come across lots of adults who struggle with burn out and who would benefit from making more time for themselves in the day to day. Yet it can be hard to find something replenishing with packed schedules and limited resources. Enter adult coloring books! Coloring books are the perfectRead more
Depression or a broken spirit: Therapy for either
Therapy for depression, or… recombiner via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA Contemplate with me, for a moment, the significance of this fact: With the overwhelming dominance of the construct of depression, both in therapy offices and in everyday conversation, we have reduced an entire wing of the spectrum of emotional experiences to one word: Depressed. LanguageRead more
Time-Release Therapy
As a therapist, I often wonder how to maximize the work I do with people. Forty five minutes a week of therapy is not much. You might get the initial “hit” of enlightenment, closeness, catharsis, empowerment, and so on but in order for those 45 minutes of therapy to really work their magic, the workRead more
Suicidality in Therapy: Why Those Most in Need Often Get the Least Support
Keoni Cabral / Foter / CC BY Suicide is a loaded issue, even within the therapy community. Sulome Anderson‘s article in The Atlantic, “How Patient Suicide Affects Psychiatrists” addresses numerous issues therapists struggle with. Anderson invokes this issue of the undesirable therapy patient in a very personal way. The author’s friend, Margaret, had numerous suicide attempts, self-harming behaviors,Read more
Thoughts on Hope in NYC Therapy
Creating Hope: It’s life or death. Therapy for depression Here’s how it can go when we need help with depression: You haven’t landed that full-time job yet, you’re living back with your parents after graduation, you’re feeling isolated from those you went to school with and are scared to talk to them. They have theirRead more
Therapy for depression or something else?
Ame Otoko / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA Therapy for depression? More complicated than you may think This article “It’s Not Always Depression” from the New York Times has me thinking about what any good therapist knows about therapy for depression: depression is but one mode of understanding an emotional experience that needs to be lookedRead more
Depression doesn’t cause plane wrecks: Reality testing from a therapist
It doesn’t take a depression therapist to see: Depression doesn’t cause plane wrecks. You don’t need to be a depression therapist to know that. More precisely, depression doesn’t cause people to fly airplanes into the side of mountains. Even if you haven’t particularly stopped to think about this, I challenge you to slow down forRead more
No, we don’t offer support groups at TriBeCa Therapy
Ian Sane / Foter / CC BY As a therapy center in the heart of New York City that offers several options for group therapy, we get a lot of calls from prospective therapy patients asking if we offer support groups. Nope. No way. Why? Because we don’t believe in the premise. There are aRead more