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Earlier I wrote about the more conventional understanding of feeling: as an emotion that one experiences or perhaps one defends against experiencing. There are some other ways, however, that we use the term “feeling.” There is another type of feeling, what is commonly referred to as a kind of knowing in one’s core or “gut.” […]

I came across the following passage in a journal article. The author of the article quotes from Sheldon Bach, Ph.D., a contemporary psychoanalyst: “Most importantly, since I am implicitly asking my patients to trust me with their minds, I struggle to attain a position where I can trust them with my own mind and feel […]

Feelings often occupy the focus in psychotherapy. Often I will ask my clients how they feel; often they will either speak of or show their feelings, particularly the distressing ones. I have been thinking about feelings lately and it occurs to me that there are different types – I’m inclined to say species – of […]

I recently came upon the following passage in a journal article. The writer, Muriel Dimen, a psychoanalyst practicing in New York, quotes from an early pioneer of psychoanalysis, someone in the inner circle with Freud, and alludes to the writer Franz Kafka. Here’s the passage that caught my eye: “Ferenczi writes, ‘It is not within […]

On this national day of remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, I want to take a moment to think about him. He is, in my humble opinion, not only one of the truly great Americans in our history, but he is one of the truly great human beings in all of history. There is so much […]

In many ways, for many people, it has been a difficult year. The economy continues to present serious challenges to individuals and families. People struggle to maintain their homes, their jobs. Indeed our entire country and our collective sense of resurgence and recovery have been threatened and battered. There have been this year terrible natural […]

I have a pet peeve to admit to: just about every time I hear the phrase “It’s time to move on” uttered, I get shivers down my spine, a reaction akin to the proverbial nails on a chalkboard. Not infrequently the phrase is uttered by politicians. And it seems to me not infrequently it is […]

There is a lot of talk these days, when there is talk about psychotherapy, about Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and its effectiveness. It seems that CBT has achieved some recognition in the American media. Although I am not strictly a CBT psychotherapist, but rather someone who takes an eclectic approach so as to be able to […]

It seems like a New Yorker cartoon. The psychotherapist in his chair and the client usually lying down on a couch. In this cliché version of psychotherapy, the therapist doesn’t say much, just nods and mutters “uh ha.” The client pays for the session and leaves. I am sure that my clients know that I […]

I saw the Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee “A Delicate Balance” and highly recommend it. (It has been extended till October 23, 2011.) The play is deeply psychological. Although somewhat dark, it is not only movingly performed by a superb cast, but it also features incredible writing by one […]