Wise Counsel Podcasts
By David Van Nuys, Ph.D.
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Podcast Description
Interviews on topics in Psychotherapy and Mental Health
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David Remmert, Ph.D. on Forensic Psychology | David Remmert, Ph.D. on Forensic Psychology. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 4/27/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Gerti Schoen on The Gentle Self | Gerti Schoen on The Gentle Self. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 2/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Peter Flom, Ph.D. on Nonverbal Learning Disorder | Peter Flom, Ph.D. on Nonverbal Learning Disorder. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 2/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Robert Santulli MD on The Alzheimers Family | Robert Santulli MD on The Alzheimers Family. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 2/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Gregory Murray, Ph.D. on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual | Gregory Murray, Ph.D. on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 1/23/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Brenda Knight on The Gratitude Power Workbook. | Brenda Knight on The Gratitude Power Workbook. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 1/6/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dan Rhema on Trauma and Art | Dan Rhema on Trauma and Art. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 12/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marjorie McKinnon on Incest and Childhood Sexual Abuse | Marjorie McKinnon on Incest and Childhood Sexual Abuse. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 12/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Joel Bakan - Childhood Under Siege | Joel Bakan on Childhood Under Siege. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Author, attorney, and filmmaker Joel Bakan talks about corporate marketing to children. He is the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning book and film The Corporation, and also of the 2011 book Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children. | 11/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr. John Duffy on The Available Parent | John Duffy, Psy.D. on The Available Parent. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. | 11/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kenneth Anderson, MA on Alcohol Harm Reduction | Kenneth Anderson, M.A. on Alcohol Harm Reduction. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Kenneth Anderson, M.A., talks about the harm reduction approach to problem drinking. Mr. Anderson is the founder and CEO of the HAMS - Harm Reduction Network. Mr. Anderson explains that HAMS is an acronym and that the H stands for harm reduction. The A is for abstinence from alcohol or drugs, and the M is for moderation. The S is for support. This lay-led, free-of-charge group offers support for people who wish to make any positive change in their drinking habits - from safer drinking, to reduced drinking, to quitting altogether. | 10/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Diana Fosha, Ph.D. on Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) | 00001C2B 00000000 00047192 0000083C 0004CB8D 001426E0 00007E86 00007E86 001B031A 001B031A | 10/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Barbara Okun Joseph Nowinski Family Grief - WC | 000023BA 00000000 0003F60C 00000738 000CC478 0028E597 00007E87 00007E87 00259349 00259349 | 9/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Loren Olson MD - Finally Out - WC | 000017C0 00000000 000457F9 0000094E 0028E2D6 00014568 00007E87 00007E87 000BE463 000BE463 | 8/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kristin Neff, Ph.D. on Self-Compassion | 00001EAE 00000000 0003B25A 0000029E 0020E56D 0031B2C1 00007E87 00007E87 00191E1A 00191E1A | 7/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marshall H Lewis on Logotherapy | 000012ED 00000000 00022CCB 00001328 00006158 000CF382 00007E86 00007E86 0006F7C6 0006F7C6 | 6/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marilyn Wedge PhD on Strategic Child-Focused Family Therapy | Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. on Strategic Child-Focused Family Therapy. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist and author Dr. Marilyn Wedge is the originator of strategic child-focused family therapy, following in the family systems therapy tradition of Jay Haley. She strongly opposes the over-diagnosis of children with psychiatric disorders and the use of medication to treat childhood behavioral, emotional and social problems. A better approach, she believes, is the application of strategic family therapy which conceptualizes the childs problem in relationship to other problems occuring within the family. A frequent pattern is that a child will manifest a problem as a way to help draw parents attention away from their own problems. The therapist can then take on the role of helper within the system, relieving the child of that duty. As parental problems resolve or are isolated from the child, children tend to get better. Various systems techniques (such as the invariant question) and case histories are discussed. | 5/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ellen Walker, Ph.D. on Childfree Living | Ellen Walker, Ph.D. on Living Child-Free. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Psychologist Ellen Walker, Ph.D. is the author of the book, Complete Without Kids: An Insiders Guide to Childfree Living by Choice or by Chance, written in reaction to her own decision to forgo having children and consequent awareness of many people who have made the same choice. Social pressure to have children cause this choice to be stigmatized unfairly. In response, she uses the term childfree rather than childless to emphasize that the choice to not have children can be a deliberate decision and not an absence. Childfree adults can be organized into three categories depending on their motivation to become childfree: deliberate choice, happenstance (where the person might have been happy to go either way) and circumstance (where the option to have children was blocked). Though there are many advantages to not having children (including the opportunity emphasize career and interests, to put more energy into maintaining marital happiness, and to save and spend money for/on ones self), there are also challenges, including a widespread perception that other people view childfree adults as selfish and concerns about retirement planning and legacy. Childfree orientated adults can have difficulties when in relationships with partners who have children due to competing expectation around who is the center of the parent partners attention. | 4/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Alistair McHarg on his Memoir of Bipolar Mania Invisible Driving | Alistair McHarg is the author of the 2007 memoir of life with Bipolar Disorder, "Invisible Driving". Started as notes designed to record the experience of his third major manic episode, the book became a means of communicating the manic experience to people who otherwise could not relate. McHarg's family is predisposed to bipolar disorder with both his father and two half brothers sharing the diagnosis. The three major manic episodes of his life (interspersed with more low level hypomanias and depressions) have followed in the wake of severe stressors. in his twenties, an episode occured in response to his being arrested and jailed on drug related charges. Sixteen years later, a second major episode occurred in response to the sudden and unexpected event of his wife divorcing him. The third episode occurred in the wake of being laid off from his work. The title of the book "Invisible Driving" comes from a practice he invented while manic this third time in which he dangerously drove his car bent over onto the passenger seat so as to make it appear to other drivers that no one was behind the wheel. While acknowledging the strong biological underpinnings of mania, McHarg is keen to also communicate his sense that, at least in his case, his manias have represented a coping strategy of denial and flight; a way of psychologically escaping from stress which feels marvelous and which is quite irresistable during its ascent. | 4/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Stanislav Grof, MD on Transpersonal Psychology and the Meaning of Psychedelic Experience | Dr. Grof, a psychiatrist, transpersonal theorist and noted researcher of psychedelic experience, first encountered LSD as a young doctor working in Prague when the Sandoz company asked him to see if the compound had any psychiatric utility. Personal and research experience with LSD and its effects (including visual hallucinations, pre-natal and transpersonal memory and expansive, disembodied consciousness) profoundly changed his worldview away from the mainstream mechanistic view to a vision of the universe as essentially conscious. He began to recognize the reality of perinatal and prenatal memories and the transpersonal/archetypal realm (as first identified by Jung). He researched the use of psychedelic drugs as therapeutic tools and yielded positive results with reports of long lasting pain remission across varied populations. Later, when psychedelic research became outlawed, he developed alternative techniques for accessing transpersonal experiences including holotropic breathwork. In his understanding, the transpersonal is not a fantasy brought on by a feverish mind but rather a reality which is normally not accessible to ordinary consciousness due to defensive mechanisms which can be bypassed in a variety of ways including but not limited to the use of psychedelics. He believes that naturally occuring forms of transpersonal experience, including some aspects of psychosis, are not pathological but rather represent the emergence of the transpersonal into the realm of the ordinary. | 3/31/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Michael Edelstein, Ph.D. - Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy | Michael R. Edelstein, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist and REBT therapist is a protogee of Dr. Albert Ellis, one of the key founders of the modern cognitive behavioral therapy movement. Though today largely overshadowed by Dr. Aaron Beck, Ellis described the basic ideas that continue to inform cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) years before Beck started down that path. Dr. Edelstein's book Three Minute Therapist is a restatement of Ellis' important ideas for non-therapists who are interested in using these techniques as a mode of self-help. The REBT scheme is often described as the ABC theory, where A stands for an activating event, B for an irrational belief brought to mind by the event, and C for the undesirable emotional and behavioral consequences that stem from the irrational belief. The application of REBT (and all cognitive therapies) is designed to help people identify their irrational beliefs and then scrutinize and dispute them to see if they are based on anything substantial. As irrational beliefs are identified as faulty, their power to motivate sadness and anxiety lessens and people start to feel better. Regular practice of the ABC technique can help people to overcome their mood issues. In addition to clearly describing the REBT disputing process, Dr. Edelstein also uses the interview to discuss the demanding, global and polarizing nature of irrational beliefs (things must be all good or they are all bad), and the trap of high self-esteem. A critic of Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Edelstein helps coordinate SMART Recovery, an alternative self-help program for alcoholics based on rational principles. | 3/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Katherine Ellison on ADHD | Katherine Ellison on ADHD. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Ms. Ellison, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, is an adult with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD, and the mother of a son who also is diagnosed with ADHD. She has written a book, Buzz, about her experiences living with and coming to terms with ADHD in herself and her son. Ms. Ellison reports she has always been a restless and easily bored person. She gravitated towards journalism in part because it offered her an opportunity to work in a highly stimulating, rapidly changing environment which fit her need for constant novelty. Though decorated for the quality of her work (for her 1980s era coverage of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines) she was also prone to make mistakes and several times was nearly sued for inaccurate reportage. As a younger person she was skeptical about the validity of ADHD and critical of parents who allowed their children to be medicated for ADHD. However, as she became a parent of a child with ADHD symptoms and grappled with parenting issues made more difficult by her own tendency towards distraction she came around. Her son was medicated for a period of one year and showed dramatic improvement in terms of his ability to concentrate and to make friends and a decrease in oppositional behaviors. After being diagnosed herself she came to understand and appreciate the role this condition has played in the lives of multiple generations of her family. | 2/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Craig Bryan PsyD on Preventing Suicide | Dr. Bryan discusses his suicide prevention research which has been shaped by his experience as an Air Force clinical psychologist in Iraq working with active duty soldiers. Dr. Bryan recommends training soldiers in problem solving techniques as an effective means of suicide prevention. Though soldiers typically reject efforts to talk about mental health issues, they are generally open to learning more efficient means of coping and problem solving. This is often best delivered as leadership training so that military commanders can be the ones to teach effective problem solving skills. Leader's ability to identify problems before they become crises and to show respect for soldiers morale also emerges as important protective factors. | 2/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Raun Kaufman on Autism and Son-Rise | Former CEO of the Autism Treatment Center of America Raun Kaufman was the first recipient of the Son-Rise program, developed by his parents in response to his childhood diagnosis of severe autism. Though his diagnosis was presented by doctors as incurable, the Kaufmans, who had recently engaged with the 1970s human potential movement, remained hopeful with the understanding that if they decided the situation was hopeless, it would become so. They engaged intensively with their son, joining in and participating with his autistic repetative behaviors (against medical advice), seeking to create rapport. As Mr. Kaufman began attending to and engaging with his parents, they then used that hook to challenge him and teach necessary interpersonal and communication skills. Today the son-rise program offers an alternative to the dominant applied behavior analysis model which seeks to treat autism by first addressing the autistic child's difficulty forming relationships rather than their odd behaviors. The Center offers intensive parent training in the son-rise intervention model (as parents - not professionals - deliver this care) from their Massachusetts campus. Having been developed by non-scientists outside the university, the efficacy of the son-rise program has not been established with clinical trials. However, Mr. Kaufman suggests that recently resarch has been occuring which will shortly be published. | 1/31/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Liana Lowenstein, MSW on Play Therapy | Liana Lowenstein, MSW on Play Therapy. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Adult-oriented psychotherapy is talk-focused, making it inappropriate for children who are for developmental reasons less able or inclined to be able to talk about emotional difficulties. Play therapy involves a therapists systematic use of structured games and play activities to bond with, assess and treat children's psychosocial issues. Play activities allow children to approach their issues indirectly and (often) in a physical, primarily non-verbal manner. Play activities are orchestrated by the therapist according to one or more clinical play therapy models (e.g., this is not simply play but instead real therapy). Lowenstein describes several named therapeutic play activities variously designed to elicit discussion of feelings, elicit a ranked list of worries, or to enable children to act out their issues using the sand-tray or dollhouses. The entire family is frequently included in therapy so as to assess family dynamics that may be interfering with healing (such as when children feel the need to protect their parents), and to help parents become more aware of children's issues so that they can act on the information to alter their behavior. | 1/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Sandra Ceren, Ph.D. on Premarital Counseling | Dr. Ceren has devoted her clinical career to developing a systematic program for providing effective premarital counseling, a niche that presented itself after working with troubled couples and recognizing the need for a prophylactic approach to identifying and addressing likely causes of incompatibility prior to marriage as a method of improving marital satisfaction and reducing the need for divorce. Currently, premarital counseling is emphasized in pastoral counseling settings such as the Catholic Church. Dr. Ceren would like to see an expansion of such counseling, however, such that marriage licenses could not be issued without participation. She has developed a 10 session program wherein partners individually fill out personality and relationship questionnaires and then share findings so as to identify and address areas of incompatibility. Though opposites attract, couples with similarities fare better in marriage according to Dr. Ceren. Conflict is not an issue, although the couple's ability to achieve compromise is vital. Apart from compatible styles with regard to big issues including sex, money and religion, it is also vital to identify partners with personality disorders (rigid personality styles) which will prevent compromise from being achieved (because one or both partners lacks the flexibility to achieve that compromise). | 12/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D. on the Synaptic Self and Memory Reconsolidation | Joseph E. LeDoux, Ph.D. on the Synaptic Self and Memory Reconsolidation. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Entering psychology by way of marketing, Dr. LeDoux chose to study animal brain mechanisms of fear after becoming disenchanted with the overly broad concept of the limbic system and frustrated by the difficulties associated with the study of human brains in that era (e.g., modern brain imaging techniques did not yet exist). He applied an information processing approach to this work (wherein mental processes like memory and attention are attended to; not emotion or other subjective mental contents). He became well known after demonstrating that auditory signals indicating danger were independently transmitted by the thalamus (a sub-cortical switch of sorts) in parallel to both the auditory cortex and the amygdala. Because the route to the amygdala is physically shorter, animals are thus able to respond to danger signals before becoming consciously aware of the danger. Dr. LeDoux's more recent contributions include authoring several excellent books such as Synaptic Self, which introduce lay people to neuroscience concepts in accessible language, and conducting important work in memory reconsolidation, a recent advance in the understanding of the nature of how memory functions, which has enormous promise as a therapy for PTSD and other conditions which revolve around problems involving emotion and memory. The interview winds up with discussion of Dr. LeDoux's rock/pop band the Amygdaloids which has recently put out a new CD, Theory of My Mind | 12/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Monica Ramirez Basco, Ph.D. on Procrastination | Procrastination, defined by putting things off, falling behind, and then feeling badly, is a normal behavior but one that can cause real problems when taken to extremes. It can present as a symptom of depression or anxiety or perfectionism. it's remediation can help create a sense of relief or respite from these other conditions. A first step in addressing problematic procrastination is to raise awareness that procrastination is occurring so that it becomes more of a conscious choice rather than a simple reflex. Next, it is helpful to understand the motivations that cause the behavior, which vary across different people. Some people procrastinate as a simple short-term means of avoiding having to do tasks they find aversive. Others avoid due to social evaluation fears or self-doubt. Others procrastinate due to poor organizational skills and difficulty accurately estimating the time it will take to accomplish a goal. Procrastination can also occur as a practical means of social manipulation (such as when delay in cleaning one's room will cause another to do it for you), or as a result of existential paralysis over not being able to complete tasks with a (self-imposed) required level of skill or quality. Its important to pick a single instance of procrastination to address rather than try to stop the pattern globally. Keeping change goals small and manageable makes it possible to maintain motivation to change and to measure change as it occurs. | 11/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Doe - Transformed in Prison | John Doe Transformed in Prison. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. His first years in prison were a continuation of his earlier experience; he continued to use drugs, later giving them up for exercise as a means of self-protection. He met a woman visiting the prison and formed a platonic friendship with her. When she became pregnant (by another man) he formed a relationship with her child. This experience helped him to realize that the purpose of life is found in relationships. About ten years into his sentence, he shifted from a motivation to "do something crazy" so as to secure his "lifer" status within the prison (apparently something experienced as comforting by prisoners) to wanting a life outside the prison. Also about this time he was tricked into participating in a substance abuse treatment program involving a good deal of psychotherapy which he found very valuable. He dealt with chronic neck pain with intensive meditation which ultimately produced in him a feeling of great contentment and peace despite continuing pain. At this moment he realized that his purpose was to be helpful to others. | 11/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Barry Krakow, MD on PTSD and Sleep Disorders | Long-term PTSD often co-occurs with independently diagnosable and treatable sleep disorders including insomnia and apnea. Dr. Krakows research suggests that many chronic insomnia patients also have undiagnosed apnea like conditions they are not aware of. He frequently prescribes an imagery technique for treatment of nightmares called Imagery Rehearsal Therapy or IRT. In IRT, patients are taught that nightmares are habitual learned behaviors and therefore modifiable. Patient are then instructed to change their nightmares however they wish and to practice this between sessions. The technique is associated with symptom relief. IRT has no exposure therapy component, but Dr. Krakow does think incorporating one might be helpful. Other sleep disorders are treated using appropriate techniques including use of breathing assistance machines such as adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV), which PTSD patients more readily tolerate than CPAP. Imagery techniques are taught as distraction devices to help patients cope with the discomfort associated with breathing machines. Addressing co-occurring sleep disorders helps PTSD patients rally and cope better during waking hours. | 10/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Hanno Kirk, LICSW, PhD on End of Life Care | Hanno Kirk on End of Life Care. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Hanno Kirk, LICSW, Ph.D. had a successful Army and political policy career before deciding to retrain as a social worker and focus his career on end-of-life care. In the United States, the dying process has become highly medicalized such that some 80% of people die in hospitals (contrasted to 80% of people dying at home 50 years ago). Death has become more hidden and taboo than in the past, and younger people have little experience with it. Several consequences of this shift in how people die are that people put off planning for their own dying process, failing to set up advanced directives, and that dying people are offered more interventions designed to prolong their lives, often without careful thought as to how these interventions will affect the quality of life remaining. Life extension is a fine goal for otherwise healthy people, but when body systems approach becoming irreversibly damaged, especially during the terminal drop phase of dying, such efforts are counter-indicated as they will cause more harm than good. Efforts to promote advanced directives, provision of realistic end-of-life education and education regarding hospice services end up producing dramatic health care savings, as people then willingly avoid costly life extension efforts as an affront to their dignity. Dr. Kirk suggests that end of life should be a spiritual and sacred time during which families can share, reconcile and grieve, rather than a series of stressful crisis interventions. | 10/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Sharon Rivkin - Arguments - Wise Counsel | Sharon Rivkin, a Marriage and Family Therapist and author of Breaking the Argument Cycle, argues that in most cases, repetitive conflict within a relationship occurs when partners' deep-seated family-of-origin issues cause them to misinterpret one another's behavior as more of a personal attack than it really is. Ms. Rivkin's central insight is that a couple's first argument, usually still vividly remembered but distant enough in time to be objective about, is a fertile laboratory for unpacking and identifying what the core issues driving conflict are. To break out of a repetitive argument cycle, partners must become aware of their individual root issues underlying their arguments and then use this knowledge to become more compassionate towards themselves and their partner. | 9/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Daniel Strunk, Ph.D. on Cognitive Therapy for Depression | Dr. Strunk, a cognitive-behavioral therapy researcher, describes results of his recent psychotherapy research. Specifically, he has examined the contributions of two aspects of the psychotherapy process, rapport (or the quality of the relationship between therapist and client) and technique (or the consistency with which the therapist sticks to teaching core cognitive therapy principles within therapy sessions, and found that, given a pool of reasonably competent therapists (some masters and some journeymen), there is a direct relationship between the consistent teaching of cognitive techniques and early symptom remission, but not really a relationship between how well therapists and clients think of each other and symptom remission. Dr. Strunk is quick to point out that rapport would likely have become more important if therapists taking part in the research had been seriously lacking in rapport building skills. He emphasizes that both cognitive therapy for depression and medication therapy for depression have been shown to be effective treatments for depression, and that since the majority of depressed people go untreated, the most important thing is that people who are suffering get themselves into an effective treatment of some kind. | 9/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Joshua Lerner, LCSW on the History of Object Relations | Joshua B. Lerner on the History of Object Relations Theory. Object Relations Theory is an important development of psychoanalysis which is widely supported today within the psychoanalytic community. The term object is really a stand-in word for people, as the theory really speaks to the importance of how a person's early relationships, particularly with caregivers, strongly influence their psychological development. The importance Object Relations Theory applies to early relationships is in contrast to Freud's original conception of child development which was understood to be more biologically or instinctually driven. In this Wise Counsel interview, Joshua Lerner, a social worker and psychoanalyst, talks about the historical development of Object Relations Theory; its origins with analysts like Melanie Klein, and how it developed over time under the influence of other analysts including Winnicott, Balint, Fairbairn, and Bowlby. | 8/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Daniel Sonkin, Ph.D. on Parents' Attachment to Children Leaving Home for College | Secure attachment helps people survive temporary bouts of pain, discomfort, doubts and distress, and helps them reestablish hope, optimism, and emotional equanimity. Securely attached parents are able to protect children from parental grief (by keeping it private between parents), and to offer children their freedom but in a manner that conveys support rather than indifference or anxiety. Insecurely attached parents tend to polarize in terms of their coping, becoming either more indifferent and detached or to deny the importance of the bond, or conversely, more hyper-vigilant, worried and anxious in such a way as to magnify the importance of the bond overly, conveying dependence and a message that separation is harmful to the parent. Parents' secure attachment allows them to both support and to let their children go simultaneously, whereas their insecure attachment ends up burdening children, either by conveying their unimportance to the parent, or their over-importance. | 8/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Wilma Bucci, Ph.D. on Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science | An Interview with Wilma Bucci, Ph.D. on Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science. Bucci views the fundamental nature of the mind to be revealed in the partial interaction of the various brain systems. Another way to say this to note that the most fundamental thing about consciousness is dissociation, which can be adaptive or dysfunctional, depending on its causes and how it plays out. Adaptive dissociation occurs when we are having a peak experience that we cannot put into words (stuff that poets try to capture), or when we are driving a car and able to operate the stick shift. If we try to narrate what we need to do to ourselves (e.g., to understand the motor memory in verbal terms), we are likely to mess up our ability to function on this subsymbolic level. Dysfunctional dissociation happens when the various parts of the brain which should be talking to one another so as to support our ability to function become, for whatever reason unable to talk to one another, resulting in emotional dysfunction and avoidance. | 7/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Meg Hutchinson about making Music and Bipolar Disorder | Meg Hutchinson on making Music and Bipolar Disorder. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Van Nuys interviews accomplished singer-songwriter Meg Hutchinson about her music and her life with Bipolar Disorder. Ms. Hutchinson experienced her first substantial depression at age 19. While bipolar is normally associated with swings between depressive and manic mood episodes, Ms. Hutchinson experienced mostly depressive states until her late 20's in the aftermath of her beloved grandmother's death at which point she had her first experience of mania, then profound depression, then a mixed state, then depression again, this time severe enough that hospitalization was required. It was at this point that her condition was officially diagnosed. In the years before her diagnosis she was fairly secretive and defensive about her episodes, viewing them as par for the course for an artist, or due to some physical condition. It took some months for the meaning of the diagnosis to sink in, but when it did, she felt more at peace with herself, recognizing finally that her condition was not her fault, and that she was not a weak person for accepting treatment. She was helped to this understanding through therapy and a supportive network of family and friends. Today she recognizes the importance of carefully balancing her ambition and desire to take on many musical committments with the practical demands of maintaining her emotional balance. | 7/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Lidia Zylowska on Mindfulness and ADHD | Dr. Zylowska, a UCLA-affiliated psychiatrist with a private practice in West Los Angeles, discusses mindfulness practice as a clinical intervention for adult ADHD. She describes mindfulness as the cultivation of heightened awareness, and points out that this can occur for anyone as a spontaneous state of mind, but that it can also be cultivated through regular practice of various forms of meditation so that a person's experience of mindfulness becomes more frequent and trait-like. She describes the history of mindfulness practice as a psychotherapy intervention, noting that Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program was the first application, followed on by Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Both intervention protcols involve an eight week training period. In her own pilot research she has adapted mindfulness practices from the MBSR model for use treating adults and teens diagnosed with ADHD. Modifications including making practice sessions shorter, and encouraging walking meditation as opposed to sitting meditation. Her results, published in the Journal of Attention Disorders in 2007, showed that patients generally liked the intervention and that their ability to sustain attention under distracting circumstances was improved at the conclusion of mindfulness training. Together with Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., she has co-authored a CD of mindfulness practices for ADHD. The summary of the exercises used in the research study is available for download from her website. | 6/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Holli Kenley, MA on Surviving Betrayal | An Interview with Holli Kenley, MA on Surviving Betrayal. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Ms. Kenley became highly attuned to the idea of betrayal after noting it as a common theme in multiple clients and dealing with it in her own life. Her efforts to understand what people refer to when they say "betrayed" resulted in her identification of three common experiences or states of being: confusion, worthlessness, and powerlessness, which she describes as stages that occur in that order, respectively. The difficulty a person will have in processing a betrayal and moving through these stages is affected by multiple factors, including one's personality or ego strength, the degree to which the betrayal affects identity investments in particular social roles, and the chronicity of the betrayal (whether it is a single event or a recurring theme). People who have experienced multiple and chronic betrayals may find that they are dealing with a pool of residual betrayal, in that they have come to identify themselves as a victim and self-effiacy is low. Such stored or institutionalized betrayal must be addressed and worked through in therapy or the client's progress may stall. An important componant of this work involves helping the client move from a passive/victim core sense of self to a more active and empowered persona capable of self-authorship and able to right herself. This shift from passive victim identity to a self-authoring identity opens up the possibility of anger and blame, which must also be worked through so as not to become the new basis for the client's identity, as this is also a trap. | 6/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Leslie Greenberg, Ph.D. on Emotion-Focused Therapy | An Interview with Leslie Greenberg, Ph.D. on Emotion-Focused Therapy. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Van Nuys interviews Leslie Greenberg, Ph.D. with regard to Dr. Greenberg's Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy. Dr. Greenberg is not so interested in promoting yet another name brand psychotherapy but has felt complelled to package his work in this fashion so as to get it out there, in the face of the dominant cognitive-behavioral mode of therapy which deemphasizes the importance of what he wants to talk about. His therapy is focused squarely on helping patients to experience and comprehend their emotional process through the communication of an intellectual framework for understanding emotion, and the direct experience of emotion in the therapy. It is the conceptual framework and the large base of research it sits upon that differentiates this therapy from older emotion-focused therapies such as gestalt therapy, Rogerian client centered therapy, and (shudder) Janov's primal scream. The approach recognizes emotions as action-tendencies motivating behavior, and as people's most fundamental synthesis of their understanding of their situation. It seeks to put people back in touch with avoided fundamental emotions as without awareness of avoided emotions, people are rudderless and disoriented. Multiple research studies of this Emotion-Focused therapy have been conducted, resulting in firm support for the efficacy of the approach. | 5/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Steven Richfield, Psy.D. on Parents as Coaches | An Interview with Steven Richfield, Psy.D. on Parents as Coaches. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Drs. Van Nuys and Richfield discuss Richfield's coaching cards, a deck of cards designed to be used by pre-teen children and parents so as to help children understand, in a concrete and developmentally approprite manner, methods for coping that might otherwise be just above their understanding. For instance, the cantaloupe skin card shows the image of a child putting on a cantaloupe skin. This is a concrete representation of the idea that some people have thin skins (e.g., are sensitive and vulnerable) while others have thicker skins, and that thinner skinned children have the option to metaphorically choose to put on a thicker skin by focusing their minds on success experiences which help shore up their fragile self-concepts. The cards offer key concepts to children that enable them to cope better, helping to advance their development of social maturity. Richfield sees this approach as offering parents a way to fundamentally better understand what their children are going through and therefore respond in a developmentally sensitive manner promoting maturation (in the manner of an athletic coach) rather than as simple rule setters and enforcers. | 5/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Bruce Ecker, MA, LMFT on Memory Reconsolidation and Psychotherapy | Interview: Bruce Ecker, MA, LMFT on Memory Reconsolidation and Psychotherapy Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Bruce Ecker describes the core treatment method of Coherence Therapy. Ecker relates this method to emerging neuropsychological research on memory reconsolidation, a naturally occurring phenomena through which emotional memories can be dissolved and erased. Reconsolidation studies by brain scientists have shown that under special circumstances, the physical storage of emotional memories is unlocked by reactivation of the stored knowledge and is then reconsolidated back into a stable condition after a few hours. During that window, it is possible for new learnings to revise and even erase the existing emotional knowledge and the behavioral responses that it drives. Ecker maintains that the same reconsolidation process demonstrated in contemporary neuroscience research seems to be at work in coherence therapy and accounts for clinical observations of profound change and lasting relief from longstanding symptoms of many kinds. | 5/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Ari Tuckman on ADHD | An Interview with Ari Tuckman, Psy.D., MBA on Adult ADHD. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Tuckman, a psychologist in private practice in West Chester, PA specializes in the treatment of adult ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), characterized in children by hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. Most people outgrow the hyperactivity component of this disorder, but impulsivity and inattention problems may linger into adulthood, resulting in lost opportunities and poor educational, occupational and social functioning. The diagnosis is often missed in adults who are instead regarded as lazy or selfish. Functional problems associated with ADHD appear to be neurological by nature, manifesting as executive function disturbance. Aspects of executive dysfunction include impairments of prospective memory, sense of time and poor response inhibitution secondary to an impaired ability to efficiently appreciate the consequences of behavior; all types of meta-awareness which normally serve to keep people oriented regarding the responsibilities they are expected to meet. Dr. Tuckman's Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD is comprised of four treatment componants: 1) education about the nature of deficits associated with ADHD, 2) medication (usually a stimulant) to boost executive functioning, 3) coaching (e.g., identifying distractions and removing them, and using external supports like clocks, alarms and signs to prompt behavior and stimulate awareness), and 4) psychotherapy to boost self-esteem and motivation and address mood and anxiety problems. | 4/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Robert Fancher, Ph.D. on Cultures of Healing | An Interview with Robert Fancher, Ph.D. on Cultures of Healing. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Fancher is known for his 1995 book, Cultures of Healing, which is notable for its criticism of the cognitive-behavioral school within clinical psychology, which he understands to be based on a provincial vision of the scientific enterprise; one more concerned with engineering outcomes than with understanding the natural world. Dr. Fancher finds that many psychological scientists and therapists simply swallow, unquestioningly, cultural traditions about the nature of the world and the best ways to study it that they are taught in school, and go on to simply repeat these understandings, believing them to be Facts, rather than a particular and biased understanding of the true and ultimately unknowable underlying world. Therapists embeddedness and lack of ability to criticise their own undersandings blinds them to the fact that they have worldviews (one among many), and that these worldviews both have ethical ramifications that need to be explored, and also bias their interpretations. Many therpists do not attend to their role as moral agents with values and agendas that necessarily influence their clients. Therapists are taught to be value-neutral towards their clients, but this is both an impossible and absurd stance, and also sometimes a damaging one (e.g., when therapists do not take an ethical position towards their clients unethical behavior). | 3/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with George Bonanno, Ph.D. on Bereavement, Grief and Resilience | An Interview with George Bonanno, Ph.D. on Bereavement, Grief and Resilience. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Bonanno describes lessons learned from his 30 year research career studying bereavement (grief in response to the death of a significant other). His findings debunk many grief myths that are widely held, including the notion that grief is always a drawn out process, and that it proceeds as a predictable series of stages. In reality, many people get over their losses fairly quickly. Rather than stages, the typical experience is more like periods of sadness that gradually get less intense. It is also the case that people normally experience intense happy emotions during bereavement as well as sad ones, moving back and forth between the two, with both emotions tending to be intensely felt but brief in duration. The more that people smile early on during bereavement, the faster they tend to recover their equilibrium. In many ways distraction and avoidance end up being better ways of managing intense grief than involved grief-focused conversations. Distressed people can become sensitized by such conversations and end up having a worse outcome than they otherwise would. Involved grief-focused discussion can be useful as a componant of psychotherapy for people displaying complicated (non-remitting) grief. Formal therapy is generally not indicated for normal grief. However, it can very useful for grieving people to have the opportunity to talk with an understanding and caring family member or friend if they desire it. | 3/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Kirk Schneider, Ph.D. on Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy | An Interview with Kirk Schneider, Ph.D. on Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Drs. Van Nuys and Schneider discuss recent developments of Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy, an approach founded by Rollo May and developed by May and James and Elizabeth Bugental. Dr. Schneider has become a champion of the approach since the passing of the founders, and notes it has opened up to embrace the use of techniques drawn from other schools while retaining its intense focus on the existential anxieties (e.g., the fear of death and the various ways that symptoms develop to ward off awareness of death) and the development of clients' sense of here-and-now presence and freedom through the therapists' careful, client-focused empathic attention, genuineness and ability to create a safe environment. | 3/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Mary Forsberg Weiland on Modeling, Addiction and Bipolar Disorder | An Interview with Mary Forsberg Weiland on Modeling, Addiction and Bipolar Disorder. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Ms. Weiland, formerly a successful fashion model and wife of rock star Scott Weiland (singer for the popular 1990s rock band Stone Temple Pilots), recounts her life growing up in in San Diego in a chaotic family environment featuring povery, frequent moves, divorce and remarriage, depression, and delinquency; her early and sudden success as a fashion model; more depression; her very intense and volitile marriage to Scott Weiland; their drug addiction problems; and her very public manic episode in which she burned her husband's clothes and damaged a hotel room. Though embarrassing, this episode resulted in her acceptance of treatment for bipolar disorder, an action which she credits with completely transforming her life and reducing her misery. Through her book, she hopes to share her experience with others so as to reduce the shame and stigma associated with addiction and bipolar disorder diagnosis and treatment. | 2/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Nancy Rappaport, MD. on Coming to Terms With A Parent's Suicide | An Interview with Nancy Rappaport, MD. on Coming to Terms With A Parent's Suicide. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Rappaport, a Child Psychiatrist, talks with Dr. Van Nuys about her process of coming to terms with her mother's suicide (an event that occurred when Dr. Rappaport was 4 years old). This process started in earnest when she became a mother and concludes 18 years later in the form of a book. She started out writing letters to her absent parent, and later started digging for information to fill out her very incomplete knowledge, incorporating material from her mother's papers and the recollections of her mother's friends, family and associates. She describes how her understanding of the suicide evolved over time from an initial 'magical thinking' position of believing she had helped to cause it to occur, to her later appreciation of her mother from an adult perspective, and her suspicion that her mother may have had Bipolar Disorder. | 1/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Charlotte Reznick, Ph.D. on Helping Children Cope with Anxiety and Stress Via Imagery | An Interview with Charlotte Reznick, Ph.D. on Helping Children Cope with Anxiety and Stress. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Reznick, a child educational psychologist and author, talks with Dr. Van Nuys about her counseling work with children which heavily utilizes playful imagery techniques as a means to help children cope with various anxieties. In a series of anecdotes drawn from clinical experience, she describes various techniques, including encouraging children's development of imaginal "helpers" (in animal or wizard form) which function as wards against fears, as sleep aides, or as translators through which difficult-to-process messages can be filtered. Adults wondering how such imagery might work to benefit young children need look no further for an illustration than the recent (2009) film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are which features a similar set of imaginal helpers and a young child using them to work through a difficult home life. | 1/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Pat Bracken, MD, Ph.D. on the Social Context of Trauma | An Interview with Pat Bracken, MD, Ph.D. on Post-Modern Psychiatry and the Social Context of Trauma. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Pat Bracken, MD, Ph.D., expresses concern that in the rush to become more empirical that resulted in the ascendency of the modern pharma-centered, biologically-anchored psychiatry paradigm, psychiatry has lost interest in addressing important philosophical and existential questions, such as the nature of a patient's experience of meaning (as in the meaning of life) and how meaning relates to the treatment of trauma. In Bracken's view modern psychiatry views mental diagnoses such as PTSD as individual problems to be fixed through application of various techniques such as medication and cognitive therapy. His own experience working with traumatized Ugandans in the wake of the Amin regime suggested differently to him, namely that in some cases it best to focus on restoring societal and cultural order. By repairing the fabric of reality for traumatized individuals, you help restore their sense of the meaningfulness of life in a way that cannot be accomplished by treating them in isolation. | 12/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Joel Paris, MD on Causes of Borderline Personality Disorder | An Interview with Joel Paris, MD. on Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. BPD involves a chronic pattern of unstable relationships, impulsivity and emotional instability often accompanied by cutting (self-harm behaviors) or suicide attempts. The causes of BPD are not completely understood, but likely involve a complex inter-relationship between inherited biological vulnerability and life circumstance. Dr. Paris' message is one of optimism: Good treatments specifically targeted to BPD now exist that been demonstrated effective with clinical trials. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is one, and Mentalization Therapy is another. These treatments involve talk-therapy with a strong educational componant (designed to help patients learn coping skills), the validation of patients' inner experience, and a push to engage work and social relationships. Drugs are not generally helpful when treating this diagnosis and in some cases can be harmful. Most people who receive these treatments will experience an improvement in their functioning within a year, and across the lifespan, many people with BPD tend to improve with age anyway. | 12/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Mindfulness Work | Dr. Goldstein, a clinical psychologist and regular contributor to Mental Help Net, is on his second career, his first having been sales. He talks about how he came to a realization that his efforts to secure financial success were ultimately seen to be unfullilling as he considered them from an end-of-life perspective. This realization pushed him to change careers go back to school and become a psychologist, and to focus on mindfulness, which, hot topic that it has become, is also an expression of and a set of techniques for achieving a balancing, clarifying and meaningfully-present perspective on life. Drs. Goldstein and Van Nuys talk about how the pressure of mondern life pushes people to become less present and mindful, and how it takes deliberate practice to push back against this tide. Time management is less important than attention management, Dr. Goldstein contends. It is all to easy to react to seemingly urgent needs or to engage in escapist distraction. Harder to accomplish but ultimately better for you is to create a space where you can be thoughtfully proactive so as to plan for how to make your life better. Mindfullness practice helps people create and maintain this proactive space, which is part of why many businesses and business people are now pursuing mindfulness practices in the workplace. As the interview winds down, Dr. Goldstein describes some of the formal mindfulness practices and how they help people recognize and overcome common mental traps (also known as cognitive distortions) such as catastrophization. | 11/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Jon Frederickson, MSW on Experiential Psychodynamic Psychotherapy | Jon Frederickson, MSW talks about Experiential Psychodyanmic Psychotherapy, which is based on Freud's original conceptions of repression and transference, but presented in a shortened, and far more active and experiential format than has been characteristic of traditional Psychoanalysis. Frederickson is quite comfortable describing what experiential therapists do using cogntive and neuroscientific concepts. His major criticism of cognitive therapy is that it is too superficial with regard to describing what is actually happening during effective therapy dealing as it does with the cognitions (defenses) that drive avoidance and dysfunctional emotion, but not the underlying and primary emotional states that are avoided in the first place, which need to be felt in order to be unlearned. The experiential dynamic therapist seeks to understand the client's responses as falling into three categories: a feeling (avoided or not), anxiety in response to a feeling, and defensive behaviors undertaken to escape from the anxiety, and further seeks to help the client become more aware of how their particular version of this chain of emotion and avoidance functions. | 11/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Daniel Sonkin, Ph.D. on Domestic Violence | An Interview with Daniel Sonkin, Ph.D. on Domestic Violence. Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Dr. Sonkin describes his career working with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence and how his understanding of domestic violence has been influenced by attachment theory. He offers a definition of violent and controlling behavior, clarifies that the incidence of violence is not related to wealth or poverty (it's common at all levels of society) and (except for the most extreme forms of violence) also equally perpetrated by both men and women. He describes the two strongest childhood predictors of later adult violent tendencies: viewing of caregiver violence and insecure attachment. He relates attachment status to peoples ability to self-regulate emotions which is the basis of this association. He makes clear that help is available for both victims and perpetrators of violence and describes some of the resources available to help with this process including group and individual forms of therapy. | 10/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Paul Ekman, Ph.D. on Emotional Expression | Dr. Ekman talks about his research career studying expressions of emotion, his invention of a facial expression coding system capable of revealing people's hidden emotions with good accuracy, and the use of this system by various law enforcement systems to help them tell when people are lying. Drs. Van Nuys and Ekman discuss the applicability of this coding system to psychotherapy and wonder about why so few psychotherapists have become interested in using this system to better gain insight into their client's inner worlds. Dr. Ekman discusses his conversations about the nature of human emotion with the Dalai Lama. The interview concludes with Dr. Ekman's thoughts on some important areas of further emotion research he believes should be explored. | 10/19/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Dave Herz and Leslie Potter of Vive on Innovations in Family Therapy | In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Dave Herz and Leslie Potter of Vive Inc., a therapeutic mentoring and parent coaching service. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Vive serves families with teens in crisis using a creative and variation on an intensive outpatient model. Three therapists engage with family members. A mentor works with the teen, a parenting coach works with the parents and one who works with the family system in a supervisor role. Through this entire process, the Vive team members emphasize what they call a heart centered model, which is very much in the spirit of the Rogerian conception of unconditional positive regard and the client-centered approach. | 10/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Gail Steketee, Ph.D. on Hoarding and OCD | In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Gail Steketee, Ph.D., MSW on the topic of Hoarding and OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). Hoarding (filling a home with clutter to the point where clutter takes over the house) is a surprisingly common behavior, but it is only recently that serious research attention has been brought to bear upon it. Dr. Steketee describes some of the recent findings from the research, among them (surprisingly) that hoarding is probably not best considered a subtype of OCD. The interview touches upon diagnostic and measurement issues associated with studying this problem, as well as information on the cognitive behavioral therapy protocol which has been shown effective in treating hoarding. | 9/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Bruce Ecker, LMFT on Coherence Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Dr. Van Nuys interviews Bruce Ecker, M.A., L.M.F.T. on Coherence Therapy". For many psychotherapists, the peak of satisfaction occurs during breakthrough sessions in which a client experiences a deeply felt shift and then is free of an entrenched behavioral reaction, a mood problem, an attachment pattern, an emotional wound or obsessive cognitions. However, the alchemy that produces such a fundamental shift has been something of a mystery, so they come unpredictably, typically after many months or years of sessions with a client. The guiding principle of Coherence Therapy is that an individual's symptom, normally regarded as pathology or disorder, is actually the sensible expression of an adaptive, unconscious emotional schema learned earlier in life. On an emotional level, symptoms make deep sense. By offering clinicians a clear, explicit map of how profound change occurs, Coherence Therapy helps catalyze the therapeutic process so that genuine client breakthroughs become a more regular and predictable therapeutic outcome. | 8/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Ilan Meyer, Ph.D. on the Effects of Stress on Minorities | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Dr. Van Nuys interviews Ilan Meyer, Ph.D. on Minority Mental Health". In this Wise Counsel Interview, Dr. Ilan Meyer, Associate Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University, talks about his research on the effects of stress on the mental health of minority populations. For the past 10 years Dr. Meyer has studied public health issues related to minority health. His areas of research include stress and illness in minority populations, in particular the relationship of minority status, minority identity, prejudices and discrimination, and mental health outcomes in sexual minorities, and the intersection of minority stressors related to sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and gender. | 8/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview withy Peter Breggin, MD on the Psychopharmaceutical Complex - the corrupt collusion of psychiatry with the major d | In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Peter R. Breggin M.D., a Psychiatrist and a well known critic of what he calls the Psychopharmaceutical Complex. This phrase is a a play on American President Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous phrase, Military-Industrial Complex, taken from his farewell address. Just as Eisenhower warned Americans that their government was in danger of being corrupted by the crushing wealth and influence of military defense contractors, Dr. Breggin has spent his career warning us of the corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical industry which, he believes, has twisted the field of psychiatry and public perceptions of mental health to better serve their economic purposes, much to the detriment of the public's mental health. Dr. Breggin describes examples of drug company's corrupting influence and of psychiatry's capitulation to the drug companies. | 7/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with David Wallin, Ph.D. on the implications of Attachment Theory for Psychotherapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Dr. Van Nuys interviews David Wallin, Ph.D. on Attachment in Psychotherapy". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews David Wallin, Ph.D. on Attachment in Psychotherapy. Dr. Wallin describes the history of Attachment Theory, as developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, and then later by Mary Main and Peter Fonagy. Attachment refers to the character of the early parent-child relationship from the perspective of the child. In addition to secure attachment (a 'best' outcome), where a child feels secure enough with the parent to be able to balance affiliation with exploration, there are also two 'second best' outcomes, avoidant, and ambivalent in which children choose exploration over affiliation, or vice versa, respectively, and a fourth and least optimal 'disorganized' solution. Implications of childhood attachment style for psychotherapy are discussed. | 7/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with W. Keith Sutton, Psy.D. on Oppositional Defiant Disorder | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Dr. Van Nuys interviews Keith Sutton, Psy.D. on Oppositional Defiant Disorder". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Keith Sutton, Psy.D. on Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Dr. Sutton is a California Bay Area based Psychologist who has specialized in family therapy through his private practice partnership with Jim Keim, LCSW (a student of Jay Haley, one of the founders of modern family therapy). Dr. Sutton notes that late childhood is all about individuation, and that some level defiance at this age is age appropriate. The diagnosis of ODD occurs when normal defiance takes on an extreme character resulting in children having problems functioning at home or at school. ODD is about children's need for limit-setting. As children become more anxious about not having limits set upon them appropriate to their needs, they become more likely to act out. Dr. Sutton describes his approach to treating ODD, which involves family and individual meetings, observation of family interactions, parental education and respite, a non-blaming systemic treatment formulation, and an eclectic array of possible interventions, offered with the understanding that several will likely need to be tried as there is no single intervention that always works. | 7/2/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Kristin Celello, Ph.D. on the History of Marriage in 20th Century America | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Dr. Van Nuys interviews Kristin Celello, Ph.D. on the History of Marriage in 20th Century America.". Kristin Celello, Ph.D., an historian, is the author of the book, "Making Marriage Work: A History of Marriage and Divorce in the Twentieth-Century United States". The main idea of the book is that public attitudes towards marriage changed radically across the 20th Century, starting at a position best described as "duty", and ultimately arriving at a position best described as "work". This is to say, in the early years of the 20th Century, people endured marriages when they didn't work well there was no marriage counseling and few remedies such as easy access to divorce. By the end of the 20th Century, attitudes towards marriage had shifted from thinking of marriage as something static and relatively unchangeable which needed to be endured to something you needed to work at actively a process that required your focused attention in order to keep it functioning well, and which was capable of being nurtured into better health if it was ailing. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Lorna Smith Benjamin, Ph.D. on SASB and the Structure and Treatment of Personality Disorders | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Lorna Smith Benjamin, Ph.D. on SASB and the Structure and Treatment of Personality Disorders". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Lorna Smith Benjamin on SASB and the Structure and Treatment of Personality Disorders. Dr. Benjamin, a psychologist, is the inventor of SASB or Structural Analysis of Social Behavior which is a formal and rigorous coding system for capturing the specific character and nature of a person's interpersonal interactions. Though SASB was originally developed as a way of understanding the social behaviors of monkeys in a laboratory setting, Dr. Benjamin realized many years ago that it would provide an excellent basis for studying personality disorders and helping to identify ways that these complicated and by their nature very social problems could be effectively treated with psychotherapy. For approximately the past 30 years she has rather tirelessly worked to do that, most recently through her development of Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT). | 5/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Becky LaFountain, Ph.D. on Adlerian Psychology and Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ed.D. "Rebecca LaFountain, Ed.D. on Adlerian Psychotherapy". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Rebecca LaFountain, Ed.D. on the topic of Adlerian Psychotherapy. Adlerian psychotherapy is based on the work of Alfred Adler, who is best known as an early disciple of Sigmund Freud who broke away to pursue his own independent line of psychotherapy. Adler is the originator of many psychological concepts that remain popular today, including the the idea that birth order is an important determinant of personality, and the "inferiority complex", although they are not always tightly identified as originating with Adler. Dr. LaFountain reviews Adler's contributions and clarifies frequently misunderstood concepts. As presented by Dr. LaFountain, Adler was a man "ahead of his time" who anticipated hugely popular later developments in psychotherapy including positive psychology, family systems and humanistic person-centered therapy. | 5/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Steven Phillipson, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Steven Philipson, Ph.D. on Treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Steven Philipson, Ph.D. on the nature and treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD, an anxiety disorder characterized by obsessions (unwanted thoughts accompanied by anxiety) and compulsions (actions carried out in order to neutralize anxiety). Dr. Philipson stresses that there is no thought disorder in ODC and that it is thus not useful to help people to become more rational about their obsessions. Instead, he advocates behaviorally-based exposure therapy treatment which helps people to gradually expose themselves to increasing levels of anxiety so as to unlearn the anxious association in a non-verbal manner. Dr. Philipson has helped popularize the term Pure O which refers to ODC patients whose obsessions and rituals are not easily observable and the interview goes over this concept in some detail. | 4/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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William Robiner, Ph.D. on Prescription Privileges for Psychologists | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "William Robiner, Ph.D. on prescription privileges for psychologists". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews William Robiner, Ph.D., ABPP, on the topic of prescription privileges for psychologists. | 4/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Barent Walsh, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Self-Injury | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Barent Walsh, Ph.D. on Self-Injury". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Barent Walsh, Ph.D. on the topic of self-injury, also known as self-harm, self-mutilation and parasuicidal behavior. The most common forms of self-injurious behavior are cutting and burning one's self (with a blade, with fire). The intent of the self-injury is to create tissue damage there is generally no intent to commit suicide. Self-injury is primarily attractive to people who are experiencing strong and painful emotions such as anxiety, depression, shame or anger as a means of regulating and controlling these negative emotions. People who self-injury repeatedly will typically not have available to them better, more functional ways of coping with painful moods. | 3/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with John Kihlstrom, Ph.D. on Hypnosis, Dissociation and Trauma | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "John Kihlstrom, Ph.D. on Dissociation". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews John Kihlstrom, Ph.D. about Hypnosis, Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders. Conventional clinical wisdom suggests that a precondition of the more severe dissociative disorders like DID is significant childhood trauma. A causal relationship is implicit in this 'wisdom' to the effect that early trauma is thought to cause later dissociation in susceptible people. Dr. Kihlstrom has specifically examined whether evidence in support of this causal assumption could be generated in the lab. Importantly, he has concluded based on years of doing such research that trauma is not a precondition for developing dissociation disorders. The true cause of dissociative disorders remains unknown, in his view. | 3/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. on Why People Commit Suicide | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. on Suicide". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. on the topic of why people committ suicide. Dr. Joiner has proposed a new theory of why people suicide which he believes is more accurate than previous formulations. He proposes three key motivational aspects which contribute to suicide. These are: 1) a sense of being a burden to others, 2) a profound sense of loneliness, alienation and isolation, and 3) a sense of fearlessness. All three of these motivations or preconditions must be in place before someone will attempt suicide. | 3/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Jonathan Engel, Ph.D. on the History of American Psychotherapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Jonathan Engel, Ph.D. on the History of American Psychotherapy". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Jonathan Engel, Ph.D. about his book "American Therapy" concerning the history of psychotherapy in America. Though recognizing the technical distinctiveness of three major schools of psychotherapy (psychodynamic, humanistic and cognitive behavioral), and the multiple fields that deliver therapy, Dr. Engel's research suggests that practicing therapists are largely pragmatic and eclectic in their orientations. He emphasizes that effective therapy always involves therapists who can deeply empathize with their patients. Some historical figures important in the history of American therapy including Sullivan and Rogers are discussed, as well as the merits of the technically driven modern and empirically validated therapies which have emerged in the last few decades. | 2/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Dr. Juergen Kriz on Self-Actualization and Person Centered Psychotherapy | In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Jurgen Kriz on the topic of Self-Actualization, a concept central to the humanistic school of psychotherapy, and central to the work of Dr. Carl Rogers who was (and remains) arguably the most important psychologist of that school. Dr. Kriz has recently written a book about self-actualization in which he attempts to bring Rogers' ideas up-to-date by integrating them with modern insights from systems theory (e.g., the basis for the family systems psychotherapy). Self-actualization is not really about self-improvement but instead about the self-organizing principle, which is the idea that people are first and foremost intrinsically (internally) motivated, according to their desires, but that they adapt themselves according to social (external) demands. Accordingly, there is no therapist-set goal in person centered psychotherapy, Instead, Rogerian therapists work to provide their clients with the support and understanding they need to recognize and act upon their own intrinsically present goals. As Kriz says, "You do not need to impose order. You can just help people to facilitate their inherent possibilities". | 2/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Raul Moncayo, Ph.D. on Lacanian Psychoanalysis | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Raul Moncayo, Ph.D. on Lacanian Psychoanalysis". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Raul Moncayo, Ph.D. on the topic of Lacanian Psychoanalysis, a development of the original Freudian psychoanalysis as reimagined by Jacques Lacan, a French Psychoanalyst writing in the middle of the 20th century. In this interview, Dr. Moncayo describes some of the important theoretical contributions made by Lacan, most of which seem to center on the manner in which identity first develops and differentiates, on the central importance of language to this process, and on the limitation of language as a tool for fully comprehending experience. Lacan's approach and concepts are compared and contrasted with those of the traditional Freudians for clarification purposes. As this interview is difficult to comprehend at points, Dr. Dombeck has done his imperfect best to provide a plain English language translation of what is being talked about. | 1/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Victoria Lemle Beckner, Ph.D. on Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Victoria Lemle Beckner, Ph.D. on Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Victoria Lemle Beckner, Ph.D. on Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Beckner has written a book, Conquering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which seeks to educate people about the best therapies and techniques for treating PTSD, and to help people who are not able or willing to seek out professional treatment for PTSD to use these techniques themselves in a self-help modality. | 12/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An interview with Morteza Khaleghi, Ph.D. on the importance of treating emotional trauma in addiction | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Morteza Khaleghi, Ph.D. on Treating Emotional Trauma in Addiction". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Morteza Khaleghi, Ph.D. on the importance of addressing emotional issues underlying addictions. Dr. Khaleghi is a Clinical Psychologist, provider of inpatient addiction rehabilitation services, and author of the book, Free from Addiction: Facing Yourself and Embracing Recovery. In the interview, he describes his understanding of the best way to treat addictions, which includes the use of psychotherapy aimed at helping recovering patients to identify and work through past emotional traumas. | 12/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Annie Fahy, MSW on Motivational Interviewing | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Annie Fahy, MSW on Motivational Interviewing". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Annie Fahy, MSW on the topic of Motivational Interviewing. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a client centered set of psychotherapeutic strategies first developed by William Miller, Ph.D. (and then later developed by Miller and colleague Stephen Rollnick, Ph.D.). MI is applied by the interviewer to a client who is (usually) ambivalent about making a change to some maladaptive behavior they habitually engage in, such as drug use. Despite their client-centered approach, motivational interviewers are directive with clients. They use conversational therapy techniques as first developed by Rogers to advance a therapeutic agenda of helping to clarify and crystallize a client's motivation to change. They are not cohersive or insistent about it, however, in contrast to some addiction therapy approaches that stress confrontation. Motivational interviewing has been well studied, and has been repeatedly shown to help people reduce their problem drug or alcohol use. It fits well into the Harm Reduction psychotherapy framework for addictions as the therapy is okay with such partial improvement and does not demand full sobriety from clients. | 11/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Alan Rappoport, Ph.D. on Control-Mastery Theory | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Alan Rappoport, Ph.D. on Control-Mastery Theory". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Alan Rappoport, Ph.D. on the topic of Control-Mastery Theory, first formulated by Psychiatrist Joseph Weiss, MD and Psychologist Harold Sampson, Ph.D. in the 1960s and subsequently developed by Dr. Rappoport and other members of the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group. The term 'Control' refers to the idea that patients come to therapy in a defensive mode which they have chosen to enact in an unconscious fashion because these defenses have helped them to feel safe in past relationships. The term 'Mastery' refers to the idea that people are innately motivated to heal themselves (e.g., to mastery past issues by learning to function without their defenses constraining their natural inclinations), although they may not know exactly how to accomplish that task. Control Mastery psychotherapy thus attempts to offer patients a safe and accepting therapy space in which they can relax their defenses or controls and work out or master their issues. This is a relationship oriented therapy which proceeds as patients 'test' their therapists through the process of transference. It is less a psychodyanmic psychotherapy, however, and more of a humanistic one, or perhaps, its own thing. | 11/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Patt Denning, Ph.D. on Harm Reduction Psychotherapy for Substance Abuse and Addiction | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Patt Denning, Ph.D. on Harm Reduction Psychotherapy for Substance Abuse and Addictions". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Patt Denning, Ph.D. on the topic of Harm Reduction, a relatively new approach to substance abuse treatment which, proponents claim, is both more effective and humane than current mainstream substance abuse treatment approaches. In the interview, Dr. Denning compares harm reduction, her synthesis of public health safety promotion philosophy and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques such as motivational interviewing, relapse prevention and the stages of change model with the traditional Minnesota Model substance abuse treatment which, she believes, contains within itself a counter-productive and judgmental values system which works against successful treatment outcomes. She discusses how her early work as a psychotherapist and clinic director influenced her to explore substance abuse treatment how she found this treatment wanting, and how she went about assembling what she considers to be a superior way to conduct psychotherapy for substance abuse, namely Harm Reduction Psychotherapy. | 11/12/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An interview with Otto Kernberg, MD on Transference Focused Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Otto Kernberg, MD on Transference Focused Therapy". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Otto Kernberg, MD on the topic of Transference Focused Therapy. Dr. Kernberg is one of the best known living psychodynamic (e.g., Freudian) theorists, famous for his work in object relations theory, and on the nature of personality disorders and their remediation. In the course of this interview, Dr. Kernberg defines the underlying problems common to severe personality disorders, highlighting the role of identity diffusion and the borderline personality organization, providing both an explaination of what these things are, and how they form developmentally. He discusses how the various severe personality disorders, including Borderline personality disorder and Narcissistic personality disorder, are attempts to compensate for these core problems. He then describes his Transference Focused Therapy, which represents an effort to create a research-supported variant of psychodynamic psychotherapy which can directly repair identity diffusion and borderline personality organziation, not just help people learn to cope better with their personality disorder symptoms. | 10/12/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Frank Ochberg, MD on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Frank Ochberg, MD on treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)" In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Frank Ochberg, MD on the topic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Topics touched up on in this interview include the nature of PTSD, best practices for treating PTSD at present (which include antidepressant medications and exposure psychotherapy), the Counting Method (Dr. Ochberg's own exposure therapy method), and Dr. Ochberg's history of involvement with multiple populations affected by violence and cruelty throughout a long and productive career in Psychiatry. | 10/1/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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James Gordon MD on Mind Body Medicine and his book 'Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression' | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "James Gordon, MD on Mind-Body Medicine and his book Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression" In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews James Gordon, MD, a psychiatrist, advocate for mind-body medicine and the responsible use of complementary and alternative medicine, and author of the book, Unstuck:Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression. The approach to care fostered by Dr Gordon's Center for Mind Body Medicine stresses the importance of non-medical interventions including techniques that foster self-awareness (such as meditation, guided imagery, and promotion of self-expression through art, words, drawings and movement), self-care (such as exercise and diet) and social supportive care (including educational and meditative groups) in healing. The interview covers Dr. Gordon's work as an educator of mind-body medicine approaches around the world in response to global traumas, and its application and utility as a remedy for depression in place of today's expensive and relatively ineffective medication-focused treatment approach. | 9/16/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Interview with Ronald Dworkin, MD, Ph.D. on Artificial Happiness | In this Wise Counsel Podcast interview, Dr. Van Nuys interviews author and physician Ronald Dworkin, MD, Ph.D. about the ideas he expressed in his 2006 book Artificial Happiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class. Dr. Dworkin's argument, at least as articulated in this interview, can be easily boiled down to a single premise: Non specialist physicians (primary care doctors mostly) have implicitly entered into an unspoken agreement with patients to medicate ordinary unhappiness, an inevitable and existential aspect of life which is not a medical condition. In Dr. Dworkin's view, ordinary unhappiness is an important and helpful feedback mechanism serving to cause people to pay attention to problems they are experiencing in their environment or relationships which are not working. The use of medication to provide relief from the discomfort of unhappiness (or any other intervention which serves to reduce pain or distract people from non-illness forms of emotional pain) is not in the best long term interests of the patient, as it inhibits the patient from taking corrective actions to actually fix the problems they are experiencing. | 9/1/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Fern Cohen, Ph.D. on whether Psychoanalysis is Dead | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Fern Cohen, Ph.D. on whether Psychoanalysis is Dead" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist and Psychoanalyst Fern Cohen, Ph.D. on the provocative theme, "Is Psychoanalysis Dead?". In this context, Psychoanalysis refers to the version of psychoanalysis developed by Dr. Freud (e.g., the one with the couch) and not to modern psychodynamic versions related to that original therapy. Not surprisingly, Dr. Cohen doesn't think that psychoanalysis is dead at all. While acknowledging that this form of therapy is on the decline in terms of practitioners, she points out various ways that it continues to be vital and important. | 8/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Edna Foa, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of PTSD | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Edna Foa, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of PTSD" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist Edna Foa, Ph.D. a world-famous Anxiety researcher on the topic of treating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD. Dr. Foa describes the nature of PTSD, including the three major classes of symptoms that are associated with the diagnosis: re-experiencing, avoidance and emotional numbing, and arousal. She also describes the best scientifically validated treatment for PTSD currently known, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, which involves a systematic detailed and repetitious retelling of the trauma story by the trauma victim so as to help them integrate their trauma memories, place them firmly in the past, and habituate them to the story so that they feel less arousal and anxiety when they think about it. | 8/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Judith Beck, Ph.D. on Cognitive Therapy applied to Weight Loss | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Judith Beck, Ph.D. on Cognitive Therapy applied to Weight Loss" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist Judith Beck, Ph.D. on the topics of Cognitive Therapy and the application of Cognitive Therapy to the problem of weight loss. Cognitive Therapy is a time-limited psychotherapy based on the cognitive model - a set of assumptions based around the notion that emotional problems are largely caused by faulty thinking habits. If you can learn to identify and correct problems in your thinking, you can substantially reduce the amount of emotional pain you experience. Cognitive therapy has grown from a singular treatment for depression to a therapy for anxiety disorders, and more recently, a therapy for many different sorts of problems, including aspects of schizophrenia, addictions, personality disorders and eating disorders. Dr. Beck's recent book, "The Beck Diet Solution", applies the principles of Cognitive Therapy to the difficult problem of sustained weight loss. In the interview, Dr. Beck describes some of the ways that thiner and heavier people tend to think differently, and how heavier people can learn to think more like thinner people, and thereby lose weight and keep that weight off. | 7/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marc Kern, Ph.D. on Rational Alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous | In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist Marc Kern, Ph.D. on the topic of addiction treatment with an emphasis on alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous and twelve step programs. Dr. Kern became interested in treating addictions as a result of his own experience dealing with addictions that he had developed while in college living in a fraternity environment that encouraged substantial substance experimentation. Part of the treatment he was prescribed for his addiction involved referral to Alcoholics Anonymous. He did attend AA multiple times, but ultimately found that it was not a good fit for him. He objected to the religious nature of AA's philosophy of treatment, their promotion of a general view of the alcoholic self as essentially powerless, and their salvation oriented view promoting the idea that the only path available to the alcoholic through which he can become powerful again is through submission to a higher power. He also objected to the lack of logical rigor he found, which irritated and alienated him. His realization that AA was not for him caused him to look for alternative ways that addiction could be treated. He was surprised to find that there were many alternatives. Having found his mission in life (to help himself and others recover from addictions), he went on to return to school, became a clinical psychologist, and has worked as a therapist, coach and consultant ever since. | 7/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr. Michelle Craske on Anxiety Disorders Research and Treatment | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Michelle Craske, Ph.D. on Anxiety Disorders Research and Treatment" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Michelle Craske, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, UCLA professor and anxiety disorders researcher. Many different anxiety related subjects are touched upon during the interview, including: the relationship between anxiety and fear, different types of panic attacks including nocturnal panic, her treatment workbook Mastery of Anxiety and Panic co-authored with anxiety research luminary Dr. David Barlow, relaxation-induced panic, the nature of agorophobia and what predicts its occurrence, the relationship between anxiety and depression, and computer assisted psychotherapy for anxiety disorders. | 6/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Yulonda Brown on Surviving Abuse and Bipolar | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Yulonda Brown on Surviving Abuse and Bipolar Disorder" Today's interview is with Yulonda Brown, an African-American woman who has successfully struggled with child abuse, depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). She is an author, publisher, mentor to young women of color, and mental health activist. Ms. Brown relates her story, describing her early experience of physical and verbal abuse by her mother, the subsequent effect of this abuse on her relationships, her experience of postpartum depression and suicide attempt, and her hospitalization, diagnosis and successful treatment. | 6/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Stefanie Goldstein, Ph.D. on Mindfulness and Addiction | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Stefanie Goldstein, Ph.D. on Mindfulness-based Treatment for Addiction". Dr. Van Nuys interviews Stefanie Goldstein, Ph.D., a Los Angeles, CA based Clinical Psychologist specializing in providing mindfulness-based forms of psychotherapy to people dealing with substance abuse and addiction. Dr. Goldstein talks about her practical work helping addicted clients and the "broken pleasure system" that maintains their habits. In a simplified form, she reviews briefly the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine and its role in creating the experience of pleasure. Mindfulness and psychosynthesis techniques are helpful to addicted people becuase they help them to become more conscious and thus more capable of understanding when they are most vulnerable and of choosing to not continue drug use. Many actions in life are done on "autopilot"; in a semi- or unconscious state where people act but aren't really paying attention. Addictive behaviors get acted out without thought when they are triggered by unconscious impulses and feelings, and by mistaken interpretations of events. By learning to be more aware and conscious, it becomes easier for people to pay attention on a more consistent basis, and thus become more free to choose what they will do, rather than be led around by impulses and cravings. | 5/16/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Natlie Rogers, Ph.D. on Expressive Arts Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Natalie Rogers on Expressive Arts Therapy". In this episode of Wise Counsel, Dr. Van Nuys talks with psychologist and psychotherapist Natalie Rogers, Ph.D., a leader in the field of Expressive Arts Therapy which is a form of psychotherapy integrating a variety of artistic and creative modalities and techniques including movement, sound, drawing, drama and language so as to encourage client's self-expression, insight and personal growth. Though individual art therapies have been around for many years, including music, art (painting and drawing), dance, and psychodrama therapies, Expressive Arts Therapy represents a newer effort to coherently integrate these various techniques. Art therapies are particularly useful for people who are feeling stuck, overwhelmed or otherwise unable to express themselves or move forward in their lives. Expressive arts therapy offers such clients multiple non-verbal, and experiential ways to come to understand what it is that is blocking their progress, which can lead to increased self-understanding and to better decision making. | 5/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Laurence Westreich, MD on Helping Families Help Addicted Members | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Laurence Westreich, MD. on Helping Families Help Addicted Members", posted July 1, 2007. The traditional advice offered to family members has been to use "tough love" with addicted members. However, Dr. Westreich fears that too many families emphasize being "tough" over providing "love". He recommends that families use a combination of creative engagement and constructive cohersion to repeatedly and lovingly push addicted members into treatment. Threats and ultimatums are less helpful, he suggests, than are multiple caring confrontations that continually push the addicted family member towards obtaining treatment. At the same time, boundaries must be set to keep the addict from harming family members (physically, emotionally, financially, etc.) Dr. Westreich's recent book offers various dialogs that work though typical ways that such confrontations can be offered, typical ways that addicts respond, and good arguments family members can make back to help keep the addict on track towards treatment. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Myrna Weissman, Ph.D. on Interpersonal Psychotherapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Myrna Weissman, Ph.D. on Interpersonal Psychotherapy", posted June 1, 2007. Dr. Weissman is one of the founders of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), one of only a few empirically validated (EV) and manualized forms of therapy existing today which has been designed for the treatment of depression. As the name suggests, IPT is based on the idea that depression symptoms exist as part of an interpersonal, relational context and cannot be understood independently of that context. In IPT, therapists help patients to talk about what was going on for them when their symptoms first appeared. They then assign the interpersonal context of the patients' depression to one of four categories: grief, conflicts and disagreements, life transitions or too-few attachments and help patients to identify ways to resolve those issues. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Anita Remig, Ed.D. on Child Development | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Anita Remig, Ed.D. on Child Development", posted May 15, 2007. Dr. Remig describes the process of attachment and attachment disorders in biological, relational and maturational terms. Recent neuroscience findings have tended to confirm what 1950s child development theorists like John Bowlby suspected - that the quality of a baby's early relationships strongly influences the development of that baby's brain, and therefore, the quality of that baby's ability to regulate emotions, form a coherent sense of self and other and enter into and effectively manage social relationships. Modern imaging techniques have localized some of the brain areas damaged by inadequate, abusive or neglectful early caregiving. The midbrain and orbital prefrontal cortex are involved as are diverse right hemisphere circuits involved with emotional regulation and judgement. In short: Child abuse interferes with brain development. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jeff Bernstein, Ph.D. on Defiant Children | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Jeff Bernstein, Ph.D. on defiant children", posted May 1, 2007. Dr. Bernstein talks about how parents can better understand and manage defiant children's behavior so as to bring all family members closer together. Defiant children are often angry, frustrated, looking to externalize blame and operating under the assumption that they are equal in authority and wisdom to adults. Parents of defiant children too often "take the bait", become emotional, angry and authoritarian themselves and end up trying to manage the resulting conflicts with demands and threats. Dr. Bernstein suggests a more detached, mindful and judo-like approach that is calm, firm and non-controling. Parents who are able to show their defiant children through their actions that they are understood and respected (as well as loved) and at the same time, who are able to firmly set expectations and limits can defuse and avoid otherwise explosive situations and get to the results they want. By modeling the response they would like their children to emulate, parents are able to teach their children how to better self-sooth and interact. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tim Kowalski, MA on Asperger's Disorder | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Timothy P. Kowalski, M.A.,C.C.C.-SLP on Asperger's Disorder", posted April 16, 2007. Mr. Kowalski discusses his work as a speech pathologist working with Asperger's Disordered patients. Asperger's Disorder is a pervasive developmental disorder of childhood characterized by communication and social deficits. It is often thought of as identical to high functioning Autism (another, more severe disorder), but Kowalski differentiates the two disorders on the basis of social desire (Autistic individuals lacking the desire and skills to socialize, vs. Asperger's individuals having the desire to socialize but lacking the skills). The pattern of social and emotional deficits characteristic of Asperger's is described, as are ways that these deficits are measured and assessed, and ways that compensatory coping stratagies can be taught. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jeffrey Young, Ph.D. on Schema Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Jeffrey Young, Ph.D. on Schema Therapy", posted February 22, 2007. For years, psychotherapy has been split into various camps or schools, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy and person-centered or humanistic therapy. Each therapy school has different ideas for what therapy should accomplish, and how to go about doing therapy. Faced with this complexity, many working therapists have become eclectic, meaning they try to use techniques from multiple schools at once. Eclecticism can become very confusing and muddy for therapists and patients, however, when it is done inexpertly. Originally trained as a cognitive-behaviorist, Dr. Jeffrey Young is the founder of Schema Therapy, which represents an effort to systematically and coherently integrate techniques from the various therapy approaches. Though a general purpose therapy, Schema Therapy has been designed with the goal of helping personality disordered and otherwise treatment-resistant patients find relief. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marsha Temlock, MA on Adult Child Divorce | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Marsha Temlock on Adult Child Divorce", posted March 6, 2007. When a marriage ends, lots of folks are hurt. The divorcing couple, of course, and their children are usually the center of attention. Little attention gets paid to the parents of the divorcees, who may themselves be hurt by the divorce process. Temlock's examination of this sensitive topic offers parents of divorcing children a friendly guidebook packed with helpful information and suggestions from other parents who've "been there." She offers a five-stage model of the divorce process as experienced by parents of divorcing children will can help readers to stay grounded through the emotional upheavals they'll share with their children and grandchildren. This practical manual puts an arm around the shoulder of parents of divorcing adults and supports them through the difficult days of the divorce process and its aftermath. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Steven Levenkron, MS on Childhood Sexual Abuse of Women | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Steven Levenkron, MS. on Childhood Sexual Abuse of Women", posted August 15, 2007. Levenkron defines sexual abuse broadly as sexualized contact between an adult and a female child between 1 and 13 years old. Girls who have been abused experience pain and terror. They come to believe that "no one will ever protect me again" and come to act accordingly. Attachment and behavioral disorders may follow, as well as depression, social withdrawal, obsessional symptoms, and trememdous self-blame and self-hatred. The longer abuse remains a secret, the more opportunity occurs for these symptoms to become institutionalized in identity. More severe cases of abuse may result in dissociation, and dissociation-related psychosis (not schizophrenia-style psychosis). Clinically, abuse victims may present with eating disorders, a tendancy towards self-mutilization (e.g., cutting and burning one's self), presumably personality disorders (although these are not described), and precocious addiction and/or sexuality. Victims may also avoid sexuality entirely, and go so far as to make themselves physically and emotionally unattractive (e.g., by becoming obese, by dressing poorly, etc.). Victims may slide into further victimizing relationships, as abuse has become normalized, or may act out pseudo-abusive relationships with others through sexual domination activities. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Steven Shaps on Anger Management | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Steven Shaps on Anger Management", posted June 15, 2007. Anger is a normal human emotion, but also one that can become destructive to self and others. Mr. Shaps describes his approach to working with client's anger concerns both on an individual basis and with couples. His approach promotes insight and awareness of emotions underlying anger and encourages a "notice and transcend" approach to managing it rather than one consisting of venting (which reinforces anger feelings rather than helping them to disolve). | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Joanie Gillispie, Ph.D. on Cyber.Rules | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Joanie Gillispie, Ph.D. on Cyber Rules", posted September 1, 2007. Dr. Van Nuys interviews psychologist Joanie Gillispie who, together with colleague Jayne Gackenbach, has written a book titled "Cyber.Rules" which is aimed at helping educate parents about how modern pervasive modern digital media are affecting children and adolescents. This is a complex topic that might pull for a simplistic analysis and prescriptive approach. However, this book apparently offers a more thoughtful and educative approach that Dr. Van Nuys finds refreshing and valuable. Dr. Gillispie's contention is that parents, teachers and clinicians need to become more aware of the ways that the connected world is affecting children so that they can help educate and guide children to avoid the worse outcomes while still benefiting from what is useful and good. Her simple metaphore for how parents, who may be playing catch-up and feeling insecure about how to present themselves as knowledgable, is to deal with the internet in the same way that one would deal with teaching children how to cross a street. This is to say, children need to be protected in developmentally appropriate ways from the worse of the net when they are too young to appreciate its dangers, and they need to be offered the graduated freedom (again in developmentally appropriate ways) to explore the net as it becomes appropriate for them to do so. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Fleming, MD on Preventing Addiction | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "John C. Fleming, MD on Preventing Addiction", posted July 15, 2007. Dr. Fleming is a strong advocate for parents taking strict but loving steps to restrict and limit childrens' opportunities for becoming addicted. He suggests that parents do not model drinking in front of children, indoctrinate children against substance abuse in the same way that they would teach children to not run into the street, to not allow children to have long periods of unsupervised time, to lock medications and alcohol away from children, and to use breathalizer and other drug tests on at-risk children to disincentivize them from using or experimenting. So as not to shock children with a sudden change of the rules, these measures should be implemented from birth and be applied consistantly. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Clarkin, Ph.D. on Transference Focused Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "John Clarkin, Ph.D. on Transference-Focused Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder", posted August 1, 2007. John Clarkin, Ph.D., a clinicial psychologist, is a proponant of Transference-Focused Therapy (TFT), a form of therapy that updates older transference based psychodynamic psychotherapy ideas. TFT is a semi-manualized therapy, meaning that its principles are written down in a book, but session-by-session therapist directions are not provided. TFT is highly 'here-and-now' focused, using the relationship that forms between patient and therapist as a laboratory environment in which the patient's interpersonal problems will play out. TFT therapists help patients to understand and become aware of their maladaptive interpersonal patterns so that they can start to alter them. TFT therapists encourage patients, many of whom are disabled, to get out and work, even if that work is only on a volunteer basis. Conflicts that occur in the work environment are discussed in therapy | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Steven Hayes, Ph.D. on Accetance and Committment Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D. on Acceptance and Committment Therapy", posted March 21, 2007. Dr. Steven C. Hayes' Acceptance and Committment Therapy (ACT) is a relatively new variety of psychotherapy that puts cognitive behavioral techniques into the service of helping people excape their symbolic prisons by teaching them how to become more conscious of and less bought into and embedded in their symbolic prisons. When painful experience is not avoided anymore people become more able to connect with what they value and then to act (commit) to actions that are consistant with their values (rather than consistant with avoiding what they fear). Though experiential in orientation and practice, ACT is firmly based in science, and is supported by multiple clinical trials that provide evidence for its' efficacy. | 4/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Drimimer Psy.D. on Positive Psychology | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast, hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "David Drimmer, Psy.D. on Positive Psychology", posted February 12th, 2007. Historically, psychology and psychotherapy have focused on understanding and fixing negative states of being, such as mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Little energy was ever devoted towards helping people understand how to avoid such negative states in the first place, or, for that matter, how to enhance one's normal life experience so as to become a happier, more fulfilled person. Recently, a new movement within psychology has turned it sights towards understanding the positive aspects of human experience; those behaviors and beliefs that help people to thrive through adverse circumstances and to live life to their fullest capacities. In this first ever Wise Counsel podcast, Dr. Drimmer describes how learning how to cultivate happiness and optimism can dramatically impact your life for the better. | 4/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Lorna Hyde Graev on Living With Bipolar Disorder | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Lorna Hyde Graev on Living With Bipolar Disorder". This Wise Counsel Podcast features an interview with Lorna Hyde Graev and is from the patient's rather than from the therapist's perspective. Mrs. Graev, who is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, is a public relations professional who serves on the board of directors of Fountain House, a mental illness rehabilitation and advocacy organization based in New York City. She spoke with Dr. Van Nuys about her illness and about the work done by Fountain House on behalf of members suffering with severe and persistent mental illness. | 4/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shinzen Young on Mindfulness | Mental Help Net (Www.Mentalhelp.Net) Presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (Wisecounsel.Mentalhelp.Net), Hosted By David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "shinzen Young on Mindfulness Meditation". in this Installment of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys Interviews Shinzen Young, a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and Buddhist Scholar. As a Westerner Fluent in the Practice of Eastern Meditation, Young Has Set Himself the Goal of Making Meditation More Easily Available to Average Western People. He Has Reformulated Buddhist Concepts Into Language That Westerners Can Understand, and Has Developed a Website Through Which He Teaches Online Classes so As to Make Meditation Instruction Available to Most Anyone Regardless of Location Or Financial Resources. His Third Goal is to See Buddhism and the Long Training Period Necessary to Learn How to Become a Skillful Meditator Become Obsolete Through the Development of a Merged Western-Eastern Neuroscience and Brain-Based Approach to Meditation. He is Excited to Note That Part of this Merging Between Science and Meditation is Occurring Today With the Development of Mindfulness-Based Forms of Psychotherapy. | 3/22/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Sarah Chana Radcliffe on Raisi | Mental Help Net (Www.Mentalhelp.Net) Presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (Wisecounsel.Mentalhelp.Net), Hosted By David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "sarah Chana Radcliffe, M.Ed., C.Psych.Assoc. on Raising your Kids Without Raising your Voice". in this Installment of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys Interviews Sarah Chana Radcliffe, a Canadian Psychologist With 30 Years of Experience As a Parent Educator and Psychotherapist. Ms. Radcliffe Has Recently Written a Book Summarizing Her Advice to Parents, Titled, Raise your Kids Without Raising your Voice. Following the Guidelines Outlined in this Book Will Give Parents Their Best Opportunity to Help Their Children Grow to Become Happy, Healthy and Emotionally Intelligent Adults Who Enjoy Staying in Contact With Their Parents. | 3/15/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Richard Shulman on Volunteers in Psychotherapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Richard Shulman, Ph.D. on Volunteers In Psychotherapy". Dr. Van Nuys talks with Dr. Richard Shulman about his non-profit organization Volunteers in Psychotherapy. Volunteers in Psychotherapy provides clients access to truly private psychotherapy free from the influence of managed care or insurance, in exchange for their agreeing to volunteer their time with organizations such as non-profits, and charitable and governmental agencies (including homeless, hospice, hospital, ambulance, and fire services) that benefit the community. Clients must volunteer four hours of their time for every hour of psychotherapy they are eligible to receive. They get a record of their participation and then give a copy of that record to VIP which awards them therapy credits. Patients may then redeem these therapy credits for free or low cost psychotherapy with a network therapist secure that their private business will remain their private business, and free from inappropriate coercion to medicate their problems, or see them as signs of an illness rather than simply a difficult life problem. | 3/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Irvin Yalom on Death Anxiety | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Irvin Yalom, MD on Death Anxiety", posted February 15, 2008. Dr. Van Nuys interviews Dr. Irvin Yalom, a psychiatrist and Stanford professor about his new book "Staring At The Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death". This book follows up on a theme previously explored in Yalom's earlier classic work \"Existential Psychotherapy\", namely that death anxiety permeates life and is a cause of many psychological symptoms and conditions, and that confronting one's own personal death can result in symptom reduction and a generally richer and more fulfilling life. | 2/19/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Annie Fox on Parenting 21st Century Teens | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Annie Fox on Parenting 21st Century Teenagers", posted February 1, 2008. Dr. Van Nuys interviews Annie Fox, educator, author and maintainer of several websites aimed at helping teenage children negotiate the difficult transition to adulthood. She has been answering questions from teenagers and parents of teenagers online at her websites, "theinsite.org" and "anniefox.com" since 1996. According to Ms. Fox, the quickened pace, advanced communications technology and media saturation characteristic of the 21st century has resulted in a generation of children who are much more stressed out than prior generations. The level of academic and social performance expected of them has increased, they are encouraged to be sexual at earlier and earlier ages, and they have no regular periods of downtime. As a result, children are more stressed and pressured than ever before. Parents need to respond by becoming more active guides for their children's social and emotional development. | 2/4/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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David Barlow, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic Disorders | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "David H. Barlow, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic Disorders", posted January 15, 2008. Dr. Van Nuys interviews David Barlow, Ph.D. a highly influential clinical psychologist and psychotherapy researcher well known for his seminal work on anxiety and panic disorders. In this interview, Dr. Barlow talks about some of the knowledge that research over the last several decades has taught us about the nature of the anxiety disorders. Among the important insights are these: 1) anxiety and fear are distinct emotions, 2) anxiety and panic are fundamentally distinct though related problems, 3) The older exposure-based treatments for anxiety disorders don't work well. What does work well is to work with people's avoidance of their emotions and emotional experiences; not so much their avoidance of situations. One current project Barlow is working on is a unified model for how to do effective therapy with all of the emotional disorders. In order to do this right, it is necessary to cross old boundaries between therapy schools and incorporate behavioral, psychodynamic and humanistic techniques in a systematic fashion. Barlow predicts that in the future the historic distinctions between these schools of psychotherapy will become more or less irrelevant as research based treatments focus on what works, not where it came from. | 1/16/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Richard Heimberg on Anxiety Research and Treatment | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Richard Heimberg, Ph.D. on Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder Research and Treatment", posted January 1, 2008. Dr. Richard Heimberg is one of the leading scientists in the world currently working on developing effective psychotherapies for anxiety disorders. Recently, he has been conducting research on how to best treat people who have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), a condition characterized by chronic disabling worry over seemingly unimportant life issues. At this time, his research suggests that people with GAD tend to fall into the habit of worrying over little and unimportant life events as a way of distracting themselves from more pressing and serious concerns, much in the way that a student might avoid studying by cleaning her apartment. GAD sufferers get stuck in the cycle of distracting worry and do not easily move on to problem solving. Dr. Heimberg used to study Social Anxiety Disorder, which used to be called Social Phobia. The name was changed so that the word phobia could be reserved for more specific sorts of fears (such as fears of spiders). Social Anxiety Disorder, which is the second most common mental disorder after major depression, involves a more generalized fear of negative evaluation by other people and fear of the resulting feeling of humiliation and embarrassment that would follow being negatively evaluated. Social Anxiety Disorder can get so bad that some people never go on dates despite wanting to, or do not go to school or take jobs that involve social interaction for fear of being rejected. More mild cases of social anxiety disorder also occur when people are afraid of public speaking, but otherwise can function. | 1/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tony Madrid on repairing broken maternal/infant bonds | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Tony Madrid, Ph.D. on the relationship between broken maternal-infant Bonds and asthma", posted December 15, 2007. Dr. Van Nuys interviews Tony Madrid regarding his development of a therapy treatment protocol to help mothers who have not bonded well with their children to develop a stronger bond. There seems to be a relationship between a disrupted maternal infant bond and the prevalence of childhood asthma, and successful strengthening of the maternal infant bond results in a reduction of asthma symptoms, and a general lessening of tension and stress for both mother and child. Treatment consists of work to identify and resolve traumas and emotional problems that have caused a mother to be distant and preoccupied, and to deeply re-imagine a more positive birth scenario where separations do not occur. Hypnosis and EMDR are employed as the main therapies utilized. | 12/19/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Francine Shapiro on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)", posted December 1, 2007. Dr. Van Nuys interviews Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., the founder of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy or EMDR. EMDR is a very new form of therapy, dating back only to 1987. It is related to Systematic Desensitization, a technique drawn from behavior therapy, but represents an expansion or evolution of that earlier technique such that EMDR is now a quite distinct therepeutic approach. According to EMDR, emotional problems as well as disturbing beliefs are caused by the activation of old, disturbing memories, and if you can reprocess those memories so as to make them less troubling and disturbing, you will reduce or eliminate the emotional problems and beliefs they cause. Reprocessing of disturbing memories occurs while patients access their memories while engaged in eye-movement and similar reprocessing techniques. | 11/29/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Amy Baker on Parental Alienation | Parental Alientation occurs when one parent manipulates children into believing that the other parent has rejected them and is otherwise no good and should be themselves rejected. Parental Alienation Syndrome is what happens to the children who are subject to this treatment. PAS only applies when there is evidence of parental manipulation and there is no other good reason why a child might reject a parent (e.g., becuase that parent was abusive, etc.). The syndrome was first identified in the 1980s as something that occurred in the context of divorce and custody battles. Dr. Baker suggests that while this classic sort of PAS does occur (e.g., when a narcissistic or otherwise troubled mother in the midst of a divorce turns her children against her former husband), there are also other variants to how PAS may occur. PAS may occur in the midst of an intact but troubled marriage, for instance, and PAS may also be something initiated by fathers against mothers, contrary to the normal stereotype. | 11/16/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Laris Macpherson - The Therapy Client's Experience | One of the things that we have hoped to do in this series from time to time is to get the psychotherapy client's perspective. We have interviewed a number of well-known and highly-respected therapists, counselors, and research academics, representing a wide variety of theoretical perspectives. To balance out the picture, it's also important to hear from client's themselves about both the benefits they have received, as well as the challenges and possible setbacks they faced in their therapeutic journey. Today's interview is with Laris Macpherson, a 36 year old woman from the Netherlands. Laris left home at 16, setting off on what proved to be a rocky road that over the years would include some success as a radio and TV announcer, but also several diagnoses, visits to multiple therapists, an eating disorder, marriage and divorce, and an eventual diagnosis and treatment for ADHD. At his point, she feels better than she ever imagined possible and is planning to study to become a counselor herself. | 11/2/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marsha Linehan, Ph.D. on Dialectical Behavior Therapy | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Marsha Linehan, Ph.D. on Dialectial Behavior Therapy", posted October 15, 2007. In this interview, Dr. Van Nuys talks with Dr. Marsha Linehan, who is widely known as the founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), an empirically validated form of psychotherapy useful for treating people who have borderline personality disorder, suicidal people, and other people who are in severe and chronic psychological pain. DBT represents an integration of two traditions: the behavior and cognitive-behavioral therapy tradition which is focused on developing technologies of change, and the mindfulness tradition that comes out of various spiritual practices including Zen Buddhism and contemplative Christian practices. The main change target of Dialectical Behavior Therapy is to help patients stop engaging in life threatening behaviors. If that goal can be achieved, then the focus of the therapy shifts to work on understanding and altering behaviors that interfere with patients' ability to attend and benefit from therapy. This second focus inevitably calls attention to the quality of the relationship between the patient and the therapist. | 10/16/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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William and Carlene Glasser on Happier Marriages | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Marsha Linehan, Ph.D. on Dialectial Behavior Therapy", posted October 15, 2007. In this interview, Dr. Van Nuys talks with Dr. Marsha Linehan, who is widely known as the founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), an empirically validated form of psychotherapy useful for treating people who have borderline personality disorder, suicidal people, and other people who are in severe and chronic psychological pain. DBT represents an integration of two traditions: the behavior and cognitive-behavioral therapy tradition which is focused on developing technologies of change, and the mindfulness tradition that comes out of various spiritual practices including Zen Buddhism and contemplative Christian practices. The main change target of Dialectical Behavior Therapy is to help patients stop engaging in life threatening behaviors. If that goal can be achieved, then the focus of the therapy shifts to work on understanding and altering behaviors that interfere with patients' ability to attend and benefit from therapy. This second focus inevitably calls attention to the quality of the relationship between the patient and the therapist. | 9/17/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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119 |
Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D. on Motivating People to Eat Healthy and Book 'waistland' | Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D. on her book 'Waistland'", posted October 1, 2007. Through her book 'Waistland' and in this interview, Dr. Deirdre Barrett, a Psychologist specializing in Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Medical School, talks about some of the currently prevalent wrong ideas and myths that make it difficult for people to become motivated to lose weight and make healthy food choices. The worst idea out there is that people should trust their instincts when making food choices. This idea is dangerous becuase our instincts were set up during a time in human history when all foods were obtained through active hunting and gathering of naturally occuring food resources. Dietary fat and sugar was very scarce and we evolved to crave these diet elements so as to motivate us to pursue these elements which are necessary in small proportions for good nutrition. Today, fats and sugars are both commonplace (making them too easy to get) and highly refined (which reduces their nutritional content). We are still attracted to these elements, but now they make us fat and often set us up for lifestyle related diseases. | 8/4/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 119 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
This is an incredible resource
For laypersons or professionals. It serves as a great introduction to a wide range of topics related to psychology. The conversations are lively, accessible, and of course educational! Thank you dr Dave.
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