Elisabeth LaMotte
Spencer Northey recently spoke with Huffington Post about how to recognize when you are in a toxic friendship. The full text of her answer follows. They are not a “Friend of Your Relationship” I first heard the term “friend of the relationship” used in the book Not “Just Friends” by Jean Coppock Staeheli and Shirley…
Read MoreA reporter reached out from The Huffington Post asking if it was normal to feel “guilty” — about enjoying life post COVID, dining out, traveling — and requested comments from a broad group of therapists. Both Spencer and Elisabeth contributed thoughts on this important, complicated topic and we feel honored to both be a part…
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Lucy Barton, a relatable and compelling underdog admired by readers everywhere, is back for a third round in Elizabeth Strout’s magnificent continuation of a journey that began in a small New York City hospital room. Fans fell in love with Lucy reading the novel showcasing her name. My Name is Lucy Barton (2016) and the…
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Discovering infidelity leads many couples to seek therapy. The road to repair such a betrayal is a painful one that takes patience, commitment and hard work. As a couples’ therapist who believes in the power of prescriptive film-viewing, I often suggest that couples working through the discovery of infidelity watch movies on this topic. The…
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Years ago, I worked with a therapy client who reached out when she learned that her twenty-three-year-old daughter was addicted to opioids. Remembering early days of motherhood, my client sobbed recalling her struggles to balance a demanding career as an academic with her daughter’s pleas for attention and affection. Her daughter’s needs were obviously understandable.…
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As the film King Richard opens and viewers meet the Williams family, there are a lot of healthy relational dynamics to admire. Richard and Oracine Williams are fiercely devoted to their 5 daughters and work tirelessly to build an enriching childhood and a safe secure home. The daughters work hard, do chores, have manners and…
Read MoreRomantic relationships thrive through a healthy ability to balance separateness and togetherness. Individuals who can venture out into the world and enjoy hearty doses of independence and then come back together with their partner to connect romantically tend to report greater relationship satisfaction and less anxiety. Reliance on remote work during the pandemic has compromised…
Read MoreFollowing 18 months of remote work, many in the DMV are returning to the office with a mix of emotions. As a therapist, the greatest stressor I hear is fear about the Delta variant. At this moment, that fear is outpacing social anxiety about reacclimating to an in-person office experience and the constant social interaction…
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Therapists are taught to screen for substance abuse in the first session. Conventional training teaches that traditional psychotherapy will not be helpful if a client is actively abusing a substance and encourages clinicians to refer addicts to a substance abuse treatment program. Some therapists use a tough love approach and refuse to move beyond a…
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Most schools of psychology emphasize the significance of examining the past. As a systems therapist, I try to help therapy clients discover how past family dynamics shape current life experience. Rather than harping on the past, which no one finds particularly useful, we reflect on what a client’s life was like growing up to develop…
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