Psychotherapy and Counseling

In recent years, there has been considerable attention within the social work profession surrounding diverse personal, family, and community issues pertaining to sexuality, yet social workers typically receive very little training on sexuality. This article discusses several such issues before introducing a recently proposed positive sexuality framework, which was designed to help facilitate sexual diversity and resolve a wide range of sociosexual problems. The positive sexual-ity framework is comprised of eight interrelated dimensions and, while designed to address sexual issues specifically, overlaps with and complements social work generalist practice. Thus, social workers and helping professionals may find increased success in better understanding and addressing a wide variety of sociosexual problems and issues by utilizing a positive sexuality framework in conjunction with generalist practice.

This volume offers a rich tapestry of psychoanalytic thought. The authors demonstrate bold creativity in their use of psychoanalytic concepts to think about a wide range of problems in philosophy, art and the clinic. The collection grew out of ‘Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society,’ a conference for postgraduate students and research fellows organised by the Centre for Psychoanalysis, Middlesex University, London, in June 2014. The range of themes addressed at the conference demonstrates the interdisciplinary character of psychoanalytic studies.

Die Analyse der ersten zehn Minuten einer audio aufgezeichneten psychoanalytischen Sitzung fuhrt zu der Entdeckung und Beschreibung einer psychoanalytischen Prozedur, die wir als »Tanz der Einsicht« bezeichnen. Die Sitzung ist nach den Standards der Konversationsanalyse transkribiert und wird auf drei Ebenen analysiert. Zunachst kommt eine klinische Analyse zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Analytikerin bei zwei Gelegenheiten ihre Gesprachsposition verandert; sie spricht, als ware sie die Patientin. Die klinische Perspektive bringt diese Beobachtung mit dem Konzept der Modellszene und dem methodischen Prinzip der »Komplettierung der Szene« in Beziehung und einigen weiteren Befunden der Sauglingsforschung. Zum zweiten lasst sich mit den Mitteln der Konversationsanalyse erkennen, wie die Therapeutin dies Manover ausfuhrt und wie die Patientin darauf reagiert. Diese Analyse beschreibt detailliert die »slots«, an denen ein solches Manover auf naturliche und ungekunstelte Weise ausgefuhrt wird. ...

Art therapy, as a means of self-expression and healing, is used in a variety of clinical and rehabilitation settings. Here, it is tested with a population judged to be involved in terrorism-related activities. This paper presents an extensive review of the art therapy program at Mohammed Bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The objective of this study is to showcase the use of art therapy in the care and rehabilitation of ex-jihadists, with suggestions for best practices. This paper is the first description in the literature of the efforts of the Saudi government to explore the use of art therapy in counterterrorism. Art therapy outcomes on a population incarcerated for terrorist activities are presented alongside treatment and reconstruction of extreme ideology through art production. We conclude that a successful art therapy program is required within the overall approach to counterterrorism. Further, a strong understanding of the cultural backgrounds of the subjects, along with recommendations for relying upon specific artistic components of the therapeutic process are clearly indicated. According to government sources, together with the other programs offered to ex-jihadists, the art therapy program discussed here, which has been in operation since 2007, has achieved an 86.17% success rate, with (as of January 2015) a 13.83% recidivism rate. This is a strong indication that art therapy is an efficacious approach in counterterrorism.

A child’s vehement rejection of a parent after divorce or separation can present the courts with a number of challenges. These can be exacerbated when children or parents make allegations of harm or abuse against the parent who is being rejected. Whilst there is no settled definition of parental alienation in psychology, it is a term that has meaning within England and Wales case law and is something that magistrates and judges are increasing required to deal with in both private and public law cases. Drawing on established psychological and psychoanalytic constructs, as well as international research into the phenomenon of children’s post-separation rejecting behaviours, this paper will offer insights into the complex dynamics that can lead to alienation and the developmental harm that these may cause to children.

In order to accept this Student Recruiter agreement with the College of Mental Health Counselling, you must believe in and agree with the value of learning about counselling through the online course described at www.ctihalifax.com, and you must act in good faith accepting that the College will remunerate you as per the terms of this agreement in #5 below. Because a Student Recruiter must communicate the following, therefore completing the below steps is considered a Skill Test in order to qualify. When the College receives full tuition from your first referral, you will be considered a Student Recruiter.

Psychology, like other mental health professions, has experienced difficulty addressing the issue of therapist-patient sexual intimacies vigorously, carefully, and effectively. Six fundamental challenges, based on frequently made comparisons of therapist-patient sex to incest and rape, are identified as crucial in addressing forms of sex abuse in which perpetrators are predominantly male and victims are predominantly female: (a) acknowledging the scope of the phenomenon, (b) affirming the notion and the mechanisms of accountability, (c) assessing the validity of allegations, (d) evaluating the nature and validity of research evidence, (e) overcoming perpetrator stereotypes and inclinations to collude with or to enable sex offenders, and (f) confronting the notion of victim responsibility.

Counselling psychology’s dual emphasis on the use of the self as both vehicle of therapeutic change and legitimate focus of inquiry and research is one of the features by which the profession may be distinguished from related fields such as clinical psychology
or psychotherapy. This paper discusses the relevance of the psychoanalytic concept of projective identification in understanding the extent, nature and subtlety of the ways in
which the therapist’s ‘self’ and emotions may be deployed within the therapeutic relationship. Illustrated with reference to the film ‘Ripley’s Game’ and a clinical case vignette, Searles’s (1978) advocacy of ‘a richness of emotional participation’ within
clinical work is discussed in relation to the pluralist philosophy of counselling psychology; implications for the training and personal development of counselling psychologists are also briefly explored.

It is an oft-noted clinical phenomenon that the analyst's mistakes are beneficial to the analytic process. Although the analyst's mistakes, misunderstandings, and faulty functioning have been described by psychoanalysts of various theoretical persuasions, no overall theory has been advanced to account for this clinical phenomenon. To address this theoretical lacuna the central Lacanian notions of lack and desire are brought to bear. In particular, lack, or nothing, is presented as an essential working condition of the analyst, one that if understood, recognized, and tolerated can positively inform the analyst's attitude. By contrast, theoretical biases that privilege presence can obscure lack as an important contributor to the analyst's attitude. A clinical case demonstrates that both analyst and patient struggle with deep anxieties generated by lack, and that both are repeatedly tempted to solve these struggles by settling for obsessional solutions.

In this afterword to an important collection of essays that address the clinical aspects of the new phenomenology's concept of "atmospheres" in terms of psychopathology, I consider whether gestalt therapy may be an hospitable modality for these concerns.  I approach gestalt therapy as a clinical phenomenology and, as such, see many possible ways for the new phenomenology and gestalt therapy to critically engage one another. 

Please cite: Dan Bloom, D. (2019). Neither from the “Inside” Looking “Out” nor from the “Outside” Looking “In.” In G. Francesetti & T. Griffero (Eds.), Psychopathology and Atmospheres, neither inside nor outside (pp. 178–190). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

I vissuti corporeo-relazionali in psico-oncologia:
la Gestalt Therapy oltre il limite del modello della Kübler-Ross
Analizzando i vissuti corporeo-relazionali nella triade paziente-familiari-curanti, l’autrice Paola Argentino presenta la prospettiva gestaltica in psico-oncologia.  In modo originale correla alcuni principi epistemologici della GT all’intervento clinico di psicologia sanitaria, individuando quattro aree: l’intercorporeità estetica, funzionale, cenestesica e liminare.  Evidenzia, infine, come la GT, fornendo strumenti clinici di sostegno specifico nel percorso di consapevolezza di malattia, supera i limiti del modello della Kübler-Ross, affinchè l’ultima fase della malattia non consista nell’accettazione della propria morte, ma nel raggiungere l’integrità e la pienezza di vita.

Psychological Healing Through Creative Self-Understanding and Self-Transformation

(ISBN: 978-1-62857-075-5)

Are you ready for psychological healing? This book is your liberating guide to psychological growth, including self-understanding, self-transformation, healing psychologically painful inner conflicts, as well as achieving psychological and spiritual fulfillment. Some aspects of psychological health and fulfillment clarified in this book include, authenticity, sincerity, integrity, creativity, intuition, empathy, inspiration, vitality, courage, strength of character, unselfish love (or warmhearted caring), emotional security, inner wholeness, and fulfillment.

Readers will discover a new understanding of effective psychotherapy, groundbreaking diagnostic psychological testing research, as well as the distinction between the ego self-concept, the experiential self, and the transpersonal self (the real self, the relational self, or the holistic self).

The authors deeply explored their own psychological pain and experiential truth to write this book, as a way of helping readers achieve greater self-understanding, fulfillment, and liberation from psychological pain. These principles of psychological self-understanding and healing self-transformation can also enhance the development of interpersonal relationships, as well as facilitate effective and fulfilling ways of living in society. Self-transformation at your fingertips!


About the Authors

The primary author, Dr. Max Hammer, was a distinguished Psychology Professor and supervisor of graduate students and interns in the clinical psychology, psychotherapy, and counseling practice training program of the Psychology Department at the University of Maine, for many years, as well as a respected psychotherapist and clinical psychology consultant and diagnostician. Dr. Max Hammer was one of the original core clinicians who founded and developed the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Maine, beginning in the 1960′s. In his work with graduate and undergraduate students in that program, Dr. Max Hammer provided a refreshing Humanistic and Transpersonal perspective, with an emphasis on flexible, warmly caring, empathic responsiveness to the needs of the individual psychotherapy client. A secondary contributing author is Dr. Alan C. Butler, a distinguished colleague and friend of Dr. Max Hammer’s. Dr. Butler, a Cooperating Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Maine, as well as a psychotherapist, clinical psychology consultant, and diagnostician, was one of the original staff members at the University of Maine counseling center, and served as the Training Director for its internship program for over thirty years, which he was instrumental in developing. Both Dr. Max Hammer and Dr. Alan C. Butler helped gently nurture and encourage thousands of graduate and undergraduate psychology students in their own individual journeys of personal reflection and transformation. The other secondary contributing author, Dr. Barry J. Hammer, also from Maine, has a specialization in the history of world religions, and for many years has studied the process of psychological and spiritual transformation, and its applicability to enhancing human relationships and compassionate social change.

The primary author, the late Dr. Max Hammer, was an editor and a major contributor of two previously published books, The theory and Practice of Psychotherapy with Specific Disorders (Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1972); and The Practice of Psychotherapy with Children (Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press, 1967). He also published about 30 articles in the fields of psychotherapy and clinical psychology.

The primary author, Dr. Max Hammer, is deceased, therefore, this website will be managed by his eldest son and secondary contributing author Dr. Barry J. Hammer. Another secondary contributing author is Dr. Alan C. Butler.

This chapter draws from George Monbiot’s (2017) thoughts on the political power of storytelling. He emphasizes that stories function as schema through which people organize information and develop a sense of order and purpose. It is a mistake, he warns, to try to rely on data to challenging a misleading story since ‘[t]he only thing that can displace a story is a story’ (Monbiot, 2017, p 3). In short, information is not sufficient to challenge disinformation: we must also supply a meaningful framework in which that information makes sense. In this chapter, I suggest that the success of ‘false memory’ was due, largely, to its compelling narrative features. False memory advocates were skilled at retelling the story of child abuse as a drama with heroes (people falsely accused of abuse and their allies) and villains (therapists, social workers, feminists) locked in a battle of good (science, reason, rationality) against the forces of darkness (dogma, fantasy, hysteria). Attempts by experts in trauma and dissociation to counter this story with data have, at times, struggled for purchase, since they have not challenged the affective foundations of the ‘false memory’ narrative.

In this chapter, I argue that we have the opportunity to tell a new, and more hopeful, story about abuse and trauma. While the ‘false memory’ story persists, it has been destabilized by revelations of widespread clergy and institutional abuse, and its valorization of staunch individualism and devaluing of health and welfare services has lost much of its sheen. At the same time, the conceptual apparatus of trauma has taken on increasing social and political as well as psychological significance as a descriptor for the violation of human relationality and the restorative power of care and support. Increased public interest and understanding of trauma provides much of the material for counter-narratives that oppose the alienating individualism and cynicism promoted by ‘false memory’ advocates. As public and professional interest in trauma grows, ‘storifying’ trauma in principled and solutions-focused ways offers a genuine alternative to the outmoded narratives of the past.

As hundreds of so-called "psychotherapies" have been foisted onto the public, all claiming to treat "mental illness," newer understandings of how the human brain actually works and the processes which drive the formations of mentation that we refer to as "the mind," demand a reassessment of what exactly we are referring to by the term "mental illness" and what kinds of intervention would be feasible in both the prevention of and recovery from cognitive and behavioral disorder. A fundamental process in the formation of an individual's mentation is the associations of experience. These associations not only account for constructive behavior, but can also lead to deleterious or negative behavior, suggesting that some associations are negative and therefore the negative behavior can be remolded through contrasting positive associations; however, to understand what this really means and how it works, we must start at the beginning and define what exactly is this negative behavior that we refer to by the term "mental illness." One of the most important axioms of life so simply but profoundly phrased by Oscar Wilde, is that "the truth is rarely pure and NEVER simple" (emphasis mine). Nothing can ever be explained by simple sound bites – oversimplification is just another word for misrepresentation – so to understand, we must truly engage the subject, and to engage the subject, we must first and foremost clearly define what it is that we are seeking to understand. In this case, it demands that we understand what exactly is mental illness.

Objective: To explain the illusory nature of the self and explore its implications for psychotherapy.

Conclusions: Our usual experience of the self is an illusion. Rather than a discrete entity, it is a network of processes that maintains apparent irreducible unity via alterations of perceptions, beliefs, intentions and memories. By pro- viding an efficient summary of an individual and its surroundings, the self-illusion allows one to predict, experience and interact with the world efficiently. Targeting mechanisms that preserve the self-illusion could provide a focus for psychotherapy. Viewing the self as a complex network offers a valuable conceptual framework for psychotherapy.

Depression is one of the most common psychological diseases, and as it happens for many other, the most widely used form of therapy is drugs: about one in every 10 Americans takes an antidepressant and the percent is more than double among women, especially in their 40s and 50s. Although the most widespread this treatment is not at all the better, for both its side effects and the fact it acts only on the symptoms, without in any way solving the causes, thereby forcing the patient to become drug-dependent for years, and sometimes for life. Counseling and psychotherapy treatment can lead instead to the identification and resolution of the causes but have limitations as well, including an apparently higher cost than drugs and a level of effectiveness not always optimal regarding the traditional psychological treatments but significantly increasing if integrative (or better holistic) approaches are applied.
From a holistic perspective every disease, especially if chronic, is a message whose purpose is to inform our consciousness that something in our life is not going in the right direction. Depending on the type of disease, this "something" can relate to diet, lifestyle, relationships, work, identity etc. Depression is an emotional disease and as such is not about feeding the body but the soul; in fact, it can be considered a form of chronic sorrow, informing us that something in our lives makes us sad. In some cases this " something " is a traumatic event (job loss, death of a loved one, a serious chronic disease, etc.) and the main goal of the therapy is to help the patient to overcome the event and move on. In much more cases depression is not related to a specific event but to an unsatisfactory way of life: a work not enough rewarding, an excess of duties with respect to the pleasures, the lack of a life purpose, loneliness, poor relationship with the partner (or with yourself) etc. In this article I will focus on this second kind of depression, whose purpose, although in a painful way, is to encourage our evolution, making us aware of what in our lives should be changed, improved or
reduced, and pushing us to do so.

Amazon Purchasing Link:

https://www.amazon.com/theory-practice-psychotherapy-specific-disorders/dp/0398025398

DOI Link:
https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.123.3.363-a

Book Description:

This book is unique in several basic ways.  It presents a theoretical discussion of the essence of the psychotherapeutic process, which goes beyond just the remediation of pathological symptoms, and also acquaints the reader with the essence of the growth process, which enables one to continue one's personal growth beyond the removal of pathological symptoms to personal maturity, fulfillment, and self-realization.

This book is also unique in that its format approaches the understanding of the therapeutic process through the understanding of the treatment of patients with specific psychopathologies discussed by consistently successful professional psychotherapists.

This book is unique as well in that in addition to the various major neurotic and psychotic disorders, it also covers areas rarely, if ever, found discussed in other psychotherapy books, such as psychodynamics and psychotherapy of suicidal patients, psychotherapy of patients with psychosomatic disorders, psychotherapy of patients with acting-out disorders, psychotherapy of patients with sexual disorders, psychotherapy with the aged, and an entire chapter devoted to establishig some basic criteria for an effective psychotherapy process.

Essentially, this book is designed to serve as a source book or reference book for professional psychotherapists, and students studying to be psychotherapists in such fields as psychology, psychiatry and social work, and it could also be useful as a textbook for advanced courses in psychotherapy, as well as a supplemental text for basic introductory courses in psychotherapy.  Each of the contributors has deliberately taken the pains to try to communicate in a way that will be intelligible to the student, as well as offer material that will be new, informative, and challenging to the more sophisticated clinician. This book goes beyond being what may be called a how-to-do-it type primer. It is not meant to be a structured "cookbook" or set of formulas blueprinting the course of psychotherapy.

Each contributor to this book is a renowned authority  in the area of the treatment of the specific disorder  about which he is writing, and he shares with the reader his understanding of the basic nature of the disorder, along with the therapeutic  considerations and insights that he has found to be most valuable in dealing effectively and successfully with persons with this particular kind of pathology. Case illustrations are appropriately supplied in order to help clarify  for the reader how this contributing therapist deals with the particular kinds of patients under discussion.  However, the suggestions made by each contributor should in no way be interpreted as the only way such problems can be approached and resolved. Rather, it only represents the way that one outstanding clinician tends to deal with the special problems involved in the treatment of persons with the particular disorder under discussion, and it is meant to serve only as a helpful guide for the reader.

As the reader may have already gathered,  the emphasis in this book is primarily focused on the professional and practical aspects rather than on the academic aspects of psychotherapy.  It is meant to fill a void and be consistent with a growing trend today in which professional clinicians and students studying to be psychotherapists want material to study that will provide them with the necessary skills most relevant to exactly what they will be doing in their professional career, rather than the strongly academic emphasis to which they have been exposed at most educational institutions.

This book recognizes that effective psychotherapy is not something that can be learned by being exposed only to theories, techniques, or research findings. Psychotherapy is not just a doing, or a predetermined set of techniques, as such, and, therefore, there is no formula, or systematic defined procedure, that has to be mastered. Rather, it involves an empathically sensitive, genuinely caring, engaged, being-with or intimate experiential communion, and the understanding of patients that naturally arises from that, from which then flows the therapist's appropriate responses. One has to truly, and deeply, here before one can act appropriately and meaningfully. Thus, the best way for one to really come to learn anything significant about effective psychotherapy is to have those clinicians who are truly masters of the art and science of psychotherapy share with others their sensitive and profound understanding of the nature of psychotherapy with patients with particular pathological symptoms.

This research seeks to investigate Clients’ Experiences of Family Constellations
(FC) in Psychological Healing. The qualitative research model of heuristic inquiry is used. The phases of the research model that were utilized are initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis. The collection of data was done via an interview process to allow for exploration of the meanings and essences of client’s experiences of Family Constellations in psychological healing, an increase in the knowledge and possibilities of the approach, and to best serve and support clients and those around them. Co-researchers’ experiences are explicated through the following themes in hopes to better understand their lived healing experiences using FC, and increase their awareness of self and relationships with others and the world: (1) experiences of healing; (2) somatic experiences; (3) experiences of emotion; (4) experiences of connection; (5) changes in perception and understanding; and (6) impact on relationships and self. It is anticipated that this study will give a voice to this approach to psychological healing. Clinically, the expectation is that the findings of this study could be used to further understand the essence of the challenges of psychological suffering, its impact on the family system and the individual, the clients who are challenged by it, and to inform future psychological treatments. This study may give the mental health, and maybe other professions, another instrument to use with clients. Since there is also a shortage of research on this topic, it is hoped that this study helps bridge the gaps between studies and experiences, and may further explore the efficacy of Family Constellations in working with individuals.

This milestone text provides a comprehensive and state-of-the art overview of perfectionism theory, research, and treatment from the past 25 years, with contributions from the leading researchers in the field. The book examines new theories and perspectives including the social disconnection model of perfectionism and the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism. It also reviews empirical findings, with a special focus on stress, vulnerability, and resilience, and examines perfectionism in specific populations. Finally, it considers how perfectionism relates to physical health and psychophysiological processes and introduces new approaches to effective prevention and treatment. By increasing our understanding of perfectionism as a complex personality disposition and providing a framework for future explorations, this landmark publication aims to promote further research in this field. It will be invaluable reading for academics, students, and professionals in personality psychology, clinical and counselling psychology, applied psychology and related disciplines.

Clinical psychology has developed into many theories enhancing different parts or dynamics of the psyche. The common link is that these theories are all dealing with intrapsychic conflict (IPC). Yet in psychotherapy, patients may have multiple levels of conflicts which do not all refer to the same structure. Analyzing patients in the limits of one theory may be a hindrance to the patient's development. Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance appears as a means to concentrate on the conflict itself, when it is actual, rather than only on the personality, or personalities, within an individual. It allows the exploration, not only of multiple levels within the personality, but of the multiple levels included in a conflict, such as relational, psycho-sociological, cultural, intellectual, philosophical, spiritual, relative to survival, emotions, interactions, drives, and thus addresses conflicts that arise from daily life.

This downloadable PDF is designed to give to students or others being trained as counselors. There is a compehensive list of essential knowledge and skills for counselors focused on engagement with challenging clients with substance use and coexisting mental health issues.

Leadership is everywhere: it has a dominant and privileged place in our society; it is constantly in our news, politics, businesses, films, books and magazines. Leadership is part of our social narrative, predominantly as a mythological force of goodness and success.
A key aim of this book is to deconstruct leadership, to challenge over-simplified accounts of leadership that may be desirable and offer us the comfort of ‘messiahs’ who can save us, but that actually distort leadership in unhelpful ways. Another aim is to reconstruct leadership, to offer new accounts of leadership for new times.
The  book identifies four dominant leadership discourses that have developed through socio-political and economic forces. The first 3 are Controller Leadership , Therapist Leadership, Messiah Leadership  reveal how leadership has developed in relation to changing contexts the past century. The final emergent discourse outlined is Eco-Leadership, and this chapter points to the need for new leadership for new times.

timelessness. We experience this oneness within the world and the world within oneness; we experience non-duality within duality and duality within non-duality. We are beings in the world. We can experience purity within polarities, love within hate, and hate within love. This is the true purity of appearance and eventually the purity of apparitionalness.

Gender, sexuality, and relationships are all given a high level of importance in 21st century western culture. We’re generally asked to identify ourselves on the basis of our gender, sexual ‘orientation’, and relationship status on forms and on social media, and there are moral panics over those who step outside the perceived norm in any of these areas. Consider recent news stories, TV documentaries, and social media ‘storms’ around trans people or sex addiction for example. Gender, sexuality, and relationships are likely to be of great significance in our clients’ lives, and it is important to have a good working knowledge of the diversity of forms they can take. Before going into this however, we need to have a clear sense of the understanding of gender, sexuality, and relationships that dominates in our current cultural context. This understanding will shape how we – and our clients – make sense of ourselves and others, and how we experience the world.

This article discusses the evolving role of mental health counseling in Fiji in the context of current social and cultural changes. Although counseling traditionally has been reserved for cultural elders and the clergy, the term counselor is being redefined, due to Western influences, to include persons who are formally educated and trained to provide mental health services. Contemporary issues such as changing gender roles, violence, and suicide are discussed as forces that are influencing the need for trained mental health counselors. This article discusses the current status of educating and credentialing counselors in Fiji and emphasizes counselor education that stresses methods suited to the cultural characteristics of persons in the region.

Successfully engaging difficult and resistant clients in substance abuse treatment is a frequent and prevalent obstacle for counselors particulalry when client's insight and motivation levels may be limited or questionable. Learning to utilize a Change Initiative is a critical guildeline for effectively managing these challenges

The book: Taking the Escalator: An Alternative to the 12 Steps explains the assessment of one's Change Initiative as a simple measure for insight and motivation. The following document explains how to use a Change Initiative measure in greater detail specifically for substance abuse counselors who are attempting to engage difficult clients in treatment

Presenting ideas into what underlying causes could have manifested using four different therapeutic approaches. A hypothetical case that involves a forty-year old Hispanic female. The theoretical approaches I will be presenting are: "Person-Centered Therapy" developed by Carl Rogers, "Existential Therapy" developed by Viktor Frankl, "Gestalt Therapy" developed by Fritz and Laura Perls along with Paul Goodman.

Pierderile pot fi: … vieţi omeneşti, a unui vis, un lucru important, o fiinţă de orice fel, a sănătăţii….pierderea prin deces sau pierderea prin despărţire,…dispariţia …NU TOŢI OAMENII SIMT LA FEL (chiar şi după ce au avut acelaşi tip de pierdere )…unii simt tristeţe, alţii furie, frică, “gol”, blocare…sau nu cred că s-a întâmplat asta.
Poate fi şi anxietate, inutilitate, vină, pierderea siguranţei de sine, neîncredere, confuzie, pot avea atacuri de panică,...Alţii se aruncă în muncă chiar până la epuizare şi nu vorbesc despre durerea pierderii.

All counselors need to be prepared to appropriately address client setbacks in with engagement in view. The following is a guide for counselors when addressing setbacks with challenging clients, with a view toward maintaining rapport and positive engagement in treatment

Erikson's ideas on basic trust are reviewed, along with a briefer review of Winnicott's thoughts on the importance of trust for the psychoanalytic process.  I seek to answer the following questions about mistrust by patients in their analysts.  (1) What is mistrust?  Is it a developmental arrest or deficit?  Or is it more accurately understood as a defense against intimacy and vulnerability.  (2) Is there a special relationship between mistrust and trauma? (3) When and to what degree is mistrust normal or healthy? (4) What personality types or clinical syndromes are prone to mistrust? (5) How problematic is mistrust for a psychoanalytic process?  Is trust a prerequisite for psychoanalytic treatment.  Can mistrust be analyzed, or can trust be earned?

This paper has been published in a somewhat different form in Meg Harris Williams' "Aesthetic Conflict  and its Clinical Relevance." - Karnac, 2018.

It outlines the various "knife-edge" defenses the infant mind must struggle with in the face of the emotional impact of the mother's beauty, particularly when there is no absolute guarantee of this being reciprocated.
An attempt is made to disambiguate this vulnerability from those which call into play defenses against (Kleinian) unconscious envy.
Both serve to protect the internal good/beautiful mother from destruction, in the infant mind.
One aspect of Narcissism, not usually emphasized, is the lack of conscious awareness of one's rejection of love and beauty when offered by another.
Instead, the narcissist remains almost totally merely conscious of his or her own feelings of being rejected, especially aesthetically.

The following is published on the www.takingtheescalator.com website but is also being made available on Academia.edu for review. It is designed for groups as an in-depth look at self esteem from a realistic perspective, with substance use issues in mind.

The vast majority of people in this world have heard about the idea of "hitting bottom" when it comes to addiction and making positve changes,  which can be a reality, but often can be a fallacy. "Topping Out" may be a more crucial consideration for young people who find themselves caught up in a lifestyle of drug and alcohol use, abuse and misuse