Elisabeth LaMotte
The development of a solid sense of one’s self is often the goal of psychotherapy. When therapy clients in their late teens, twenties or thirties seek therapy describing debilitating anxiety, depression or general dissatisfaction with their lives, these symptoms can often resolve when the client embraces the daunting task of figuring out who they are…
“If age is just a state of mind, then While We’re Young is the best kind of therapy a forty something starting to lose touch with the younger generation could hope for.” Peter Debruge, Variety Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are settling into their forties and beginning to feel all washed up. Josh,…
Teenage romantic relationships are formative experiences that can be especially difficult to capture on film. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ novel, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl captures the gritty and evasive sphere inhabited by teenagers and draws convincing, memorable performances. Thomas Mann plays Greg (“me”), a moody, self-deprecating teen who spends his spare…
During post-graduate training in couples, family and sex therapy, I was taught the importance of asking new clients about alcohol and substance use during the first session. There is a controversial but widely accepted understanding in the therapeutic field that if someone is actively abusing a substance, traditional psychotherapy will have limited benefit unless a…
As a therapist specializing in relationships, I spend a lot of time discussing dating patterns, intimacy and commitment. Many clients decide to enter therapy when they realize that their romantic life has felt unsatisfying for years. When a client expresses pain or frustration about difficulty finding love, it is often helpful to focus on the…
Writer/ Director: Olivier Assayas 2014, 124 Minutes, Rated R When therapists assign films to clients, research demonstrates that this approach can improve and enhance the effectiveness of therapy. Why? Movies — when thoughtfully selected and strategically assigned — function as powerful therapy tools because film provides a non-threatening mirror reflecting aspects of the client’s experience.…
Breakups are rough. Some rougher than others. And when the breakup happens suddenly, with no warning, the sting of what therapists often call a “cut-off” can feel as unsettling as the loss of the relationship. Cut-offs refer to important relationships that stalemate when one person refuses contact with another. In dating, the current popular term…
A few days ago, the New York Times reported on the explosion of new ideas and approaches in sex therapy and revolutionary thinking in the psychotherapy field about how to work with couples around issues of monogamy and sex. The article, “First Comes Sex Talk With These Renegades of Sex Therapy” by Amy Sohn points out that…
When a parent falls ill, the family constellation is bound to change, and multiple familial relationships usually become strained or strengthened, sometimes in unexpected ways. Most people decide to begin therapy because something has changed, and usually this change involves a family or relationship crisis. Since most of the clients in our therapy practice are…
Gary D. Chapman, Northfield Publishing How can couples who want to make their marriage work regain the loving feelings from earlier years? This is a question asked by many clients in couples therapy and obviously an excellent one. One challenge is that the whirlwind passionate experience of falling in love is magical — in part…