Images of Trauma in News Media As an art therapist in NYC, I always take note of the images that are used in the mainstream media. It peaks my curiosity to reflect on what is being articulated beyond just the words in the article. In the past months, the world has watched in horror as Syrians haveRead 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
How to survive a crisis: Lessons from PTSD and Trauma Therapy
Trauma therapists–therapists in NYC and elsewhere who treat PTSD–become experts in crisis. How we confront crises that don’t constitute trauma, per se–those that wouldn’t likely lead to a life experience that we might want to classify as PTSD–can be informed by the knowledge trauma therapists have gained from this work. For those therapists who wereRead more
Katrina and 9/11 Memorials: The Use of Group Art Therapy for Collective Trauma
Memorials as Group Art Therapy Just blocks from my NYC art therapy office stands the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. In the 13 years it took to complete the memorial, there has been a lot of debate and criticism regarding what was planned, how long it was taking to complete, and how costly it was. One such piece ofRead 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
Art as Therapy: The Shame to Pride Project
Art and art therapy Artist Stephanie Calvert is using her own art as therapy in creating work using materials from her childhood home and I find it inspiring in my work as an art therapist. The Huffington Post’s Katherine Brooks features Ms. Calvert in her piece, “One Daughter is Turning Her Hoarding Parents’ Belongings into Beautiful Art“.Read more
Group Shaming in the Internet Age: The 21st Century Bystander Effect
The Effect of Groups on Our Capacity to Help I distinctly remember the first time I learned about social psychology–I was sitting in a large auditorium when my dry Psychology 101 professor clicked his slideshow to an image of NYC in the 60’s. As I doodled in the margins of my notebook, my professor began to speak about Kitty Genovese, aRead more
The first rule of fight club: On trauma therapy and denial
Two kinds of trauma: trauma therapy and the problem of denial We might say there are two sorts of trauma that present themselves in trauma therapy: trauma that is acknowledged, overtly expressed, laid bare; and trauma that is unacknowledged or ignored. In either instance, the pain of the trauma–the traumatic effect–is damaging. It leaves aRead more
PTSD, Trauma therapy and the problem with method
The U.S. Army / Foter / CC BY The United States military is one of the largest consumers of clinical psychology in the world and given that we are emerging from a period of sustained military conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for PTSD therapy and trauma therapy among combat veterans is high. TheRead more
“I’ll betcha”: Reclaiming “Crazy” in NYC Therapy
Is it crazy for a therapist to use the word crazy? I need to begin with a qualifier: As an established therapist in NYC, some of you may be a bit thrown off by my casual use of the word crazy. I get it. It may not fit your expectation of a therapist. If you’veRead more
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