Books
Annie Grace opens her 2015 self-help book about alcohol use by asking a provocative question: “What if, by reversing years of unconscious conditioning, you could return to the perspective of a non-drinker?” Grace proceeds to talk readers through her strategy to return to a mental state where the desire for a drink disappears. She blends…
Kim Edwards, 2006, 401 pages, Penguin Books Relationships and intimacy are an expected focus in psychotherapy. Most clients reach out to our practice because something is happening — or is not happening — in an important relationship or in several relationships. Some action-forcing event often makes it clear that something has to change in order…
Some books are so special, articulate, and profound that the pages read as if the book has written itself. Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air leashes words together in poetic combinations that are both a revelation but also obvious. Sentences seem as if they were waiting to be placed beside each other with remarkable beauty and clarity.…
Alice Hoffman, Simon & Schuster, 2015 “I suppose this is what love can do to a woman, bring her into a garden at night, convinced she somehow can affect fate’s plan with her desire. Love like this was a mystery to me. I didn’t understand how people allowed sheer emotion to get the better of…
Us David Nicholls 396 pages, 2014 “It was dizzying, really, to be in love at last. Because this was the first time, I knew that now. Everything else had been a misdiagnosis – infatuation, obsession perhaps, but an entirely different condition to this. This was bliss; this was transformative.” Despite pages of engaging writing about…
The pursuit of meaningful work is a common topic in therapy. Especially in a town like Washington, DC, where the question “What do you do?” is an unfortunately mandatory opener in most social settings. The answer to this question can provoke anxiety and self-doubt, especially among those who are facing a professional fork in the…
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…
Three Generations One Story Elaine J. Cooper Group therapy is one of the most difficult forms of therapy, but it is also perhaps the most effective. World renowned group therapist Elaine J. Cooper’s new book, Let’s All Hold Hands and Drop Dead; Three Generations One Story, is part autobiography, part biography and part guide for…
Author: Jeff Hobbs Scribner, 2014, 416 pages College life is under a microscope of of significant recent media attention. The massive promotion surrounding Frank Bruni’s new book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania” makes a convincing case that an Ivy League education is not necessarily in…
Nicole Krauss, 2005, W.W. Norton & Company With Valentine’s Day approaching, love is in the air and on peoples’ minds. As a therapist, I notice that December through February is my busiest time of year. February, not surprisingly, is a month when clients in therapy want to talk about love. As a big believer in…