Hi there. I am starting this web log (blog) so that you can learn more about what I do and how I approach my work. I, in turn, am really interested in hearing about you. I have recently been reading a book about blogging called Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. The book, while geared to business readers, has helped me understand the benefit of transparency in the work I do as a psychologist.
For me, there isn't anything really secret or hidden about psychology or psychotherapy. It should be a transparent process. I think that what I do is serve as a very clear, skillful mirror for people.
Mirrors are handy. My wife and I eat a local seafood place a lot. One of the sides I order is Italian Spinach- basically, it is spicy spinach with some Parmesan cheese. Tasty. Spinach, as you probably have noticed, looks really bad when it is stuck to your teeth. Currently, because of my accident in 2004, I have braces. Spinach sticks to braces, it seems, even more than it sticks to regular teeth. So, I can eat a dish I really enjoy, with my side of Italian Spinach, but I might leave the restaurant with a speck of spinach on my teeth.
That's where a mirror is handy. In the absence of a mirror, another person that I trust (in this case, my wife, Carol) is quite handy. Carol says something like "Uh, dear, you might want to swish with some water..."
I am glad to have that feedback. In essence, I think that is what psychotherapy does-- it shows you where you might have spinach on your teeth that you cannot see. Or, to be very concrete, it shows you where your best thinking is self-defeating, where the WAY you are trying to solve your problems could very well be problematic.
Kelly Wilson and Steve Hayes (and a lot of other people) have created something called ACT -- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy -- it is worth checking out. In essence, there isn't much to it-- figure out what is important to you and do it. Kelly and Steve have just figured out how to publish articles about it-- publishing is helpful if you are in a university and I guess it might give you some credibility with some clients now and then.
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