Counseling Psychology

If you’re a survivor of sexual harm, recovering your sexuality is possible. You are worthy of good care. The toxic effects of sexual trauma and abuse can be devastating and lasting. Victims’ ability to experience healthy sexuality, even if they free themselves from the abuse, is often shattered. If sexual abuse, violence, or coercive control is part of your story, certified sex addiction therapist (CSAT) and trauma specialist Tabitha Westbrook wants you to know: you are not alone, and healing is possible.

Most people don't realize how much unresolved emotional pain they carry around. They don't know why they always feel depressed, anxious, victimized, or disappointed. They wonder why they keep making the same self-sabotaging impulsive decisions. These patterns often stem from their lost inner child, which carries a false narrative that has been on repeat since childhood.

Many mental health professionals are learning to recognize the ways in which neurodivergence can be part of someone's identity, rather than a disability. While many neurodivergent individuals have unique support needs, they are not broken, nor do they need to be cured of their neurodivergence.

A new way to consider patterns of personality, with the combined application of neurobiology and traditional wisdom, Personality and Wholeness in Psychotherapy applies the perspective of interpersonal neurobiology to a traditional wisdom framework widely known as the Enneagram of Personality. This framework describes a lifespan developmental personality model of nine distinct, key strategies that people use to make sense of and cope with their experiences and interactions with the world. These strategies can be understood as nine Patterns of Developmental Pathways, or PDPs.

An affair: It can rob a couple of their relationship, their happiness, their very identity. And yet this extremely common human experience is so poorly understood. Adultery has existed since marriage was invented, and so, too, the prohibition against it - in fact it has a tenacity that marriage can only envy. Iconic couples' therapist and best-selling author of Mating in Captivity Esther Perel returns with a groundbreaking and provocative look at infidelity, arguing for a more nuanced and less judgmental conversation about our transgressions.

In this unique look at Internal Family Systems Therapy, New York Times bestselling novelist Michael Lister recounts his first year of IFS therapy with his gifted and compassionate counselor Bob Kuchta. Employing novelistic techniques that vividly bring to life IFS parts work, each session is depicted with arresting detail, providing readers with a truly immersive and moving experience. This intimate and entertaining look at this revolutionary therapy offers readers unparalleled access to the inner workings of a client’s first experiences with IFS and the wisdom and insight provided by his...

Drawing on cutting-edge research on adult attachment—and providing an innovative roadmap for clinical practice—Susan M. Johnson argues that psychotherapy is most effective when it focuses on the healing power of emotional connection.

If you're in a job interview, how should you think about the mindset of the interviewer? If you've just been promoted, how do you handle the tensions of managing former peers? And what are the telltale mental signs that it's time to start planning your next career move? Professor, author, and popular radio host Art Markman focuses on three essential elements of a successful career - getting a job, excelling at work, and finding your next position - and expertly illustrates how cognitive science, especially psychology, sheds fascinating and useful light on each of these elements.

If you're looking for ways to optimize your client sessions, consider joining the many thousands of therapists and life coaches worldwide who are learning acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). With a focus on mindfulness, client values, and a commitment to change, ACT is proven-effective in treating depression, anxiety, stress, addictions, eating disorders, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and myriad other psychological issues. It's also a revolutionary new way to view the human condition.

Yes! You really can have A Stress-free Family in Only 28 days! One morning, it was so chaotic at home, that I wore 2 different shoes to walk my kids to school. The walk home was, what I call, my (mom) walk of shame. Every single step I took was an in-my-face reminder that I was incompetent. I felt hopeless and overwhelmed. Why was this so hard for me? What was wrong with me? I was smart when it came to business, but at home, I couldn't get my kids to do anything without yelling and nagging. At home I felt inept and stupid. I also felt sad…for me and for my children. I was missing that “...

In Companions in the Darkness, Diana Gruver looks back into church history and finds depression in the lives of some of our most beloved saints, including Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Without trying to diagnose these figures from a distance, Gruver tells their stories in fresh ways, taking from each a particular lesson that can encourage or guide those who suffer today. Drawing on her own experience with depression, Gruver offers a wealth of practical wisdom both for those in the darkness and those who care for them.

In my book, I go beyond offering just a theoretical definition of what a skill is and an explanation of what it does in a counselling relationship. I share a deeper look into the skills and explore a more philosophical explanation from my own experience as a practising therapist and former counselling tutor.

From foraging and hunting for food to (more recently) finding solace and peace in a beautiful vista, humans have long interacted with the natural world. Though a connection to nature runs deep in our DNA, however, people of the modern age are indoors almost 93 percent of the day. With that said, there is a growing evidence suggests that the natural world promotes mental and physical well-being, including stress relief, improved mood, and neurological benefits.

The Way of the Psychonaut, Volumes 1 and 2 is one of the most important books ever written about the human psyche and the spiritual quest. The new understandings were made possible thanks to Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD―the microscope and telescope of the human psyche―as well as other psychedelic substances.

In The Path out of Hell psychotherapist Carolyn Cowan reveals a ground-breaking approach to working with the emotion that hides lurking behind most forms of human suffering: shame. The path you will take through this book will reveal what shame is, how you ended up with it, what you have done with it, and how to create change. It is an epic journey for which Carolyn has a thoroughly road-tested map. The end goal is to ask you to make choice to change and take responsibility for that in a way that you will have never heard, nor conceived of, before.

Research shows that attachment patterns—our patterns of relating to others, which develop in early childhood—affect far more aspects of our lives than was previously thought. Given how crucial these patterns are to how every patient relates to the world and to their own selves, how can therapists harness attachment to provide more effective therapy? Using accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy AEDP® theory and methodology as a foundation, the authors present an innovative approach that tailors treatment to attachment patterns.

Gretchen Schmelzer watched too many people quit during treatment for trauma recovery. They found it too difficult or too frightening or just decided that for them it was too late. But as a therapist and trauma survivor herself, Dr. Schmelzer wants us to know that it is never too late to heal from trauma, whether it is the suffering caused within an abusive relationship or PTSD resulting from combat.

Divorce is the dirty little secret in churches across America. It is not supposed to happen in Christian marriages, but the unfortunate reality is that it does happen to God's children. And when it does, it is traumatic in so many ways. Often, those hit hardest by divorce never dream it could happen to them. The future is so uncertain. Ideally, divorce would not happen at all. But wanting something does not make it a reality. When divorce rages through a Christian’s life, it leaves a tsunami of devastation on every level, from the believers themselves to their children, extended family, ...

IFS reveals how the subpersonalities or parts of each individual's psyche relate to each other like members of a family, and how - just as in a family - polarization among parts can lead to emotional suffering. IFS originator Richard Schwartz and master clinician Martha Sweezy explain core concepts and provide practical guidelines for implementing IFS with clients who are struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, and other behavioral problems.

In this game-changing book, trauma therapist and mental health expert Dr. Anita Phillips reveals how embracing emotion is the key to living your most powerful life. Just as gardens thrive in good ground, the abundant life you’ve been seeking can only be grown in the soil of your heart.