Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and so Can Words Any type of illness has a biological, experiential, and social facet attached to it. It is society that ascribes meaning to a particular ailment. Even though there are many grassroots movements and governmental entities stipulating the contrary, some diagnoses carry a stigma influencing policies all […]Read Post ›
The Myth of the Wounded Healer as an Archetype According to Greek mythology, Chiron had a very solemn upbringing. He was born out-of-wedlock and of lust. Repulsed by his appearance, his mother rejected his existence, and also he was abandoned by his immortal father,the Titan, Kronos. Due to the abandonment by both of his parents, […]Read Post ›
This is the first podcast for The Art of Presence.
“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care” ― Theodore Roosevelt Following the work of Carl Rogers’ Person Centered psychotherapy, Dr. Geller and Dr. Greenburg (2012) discuss the concept of presence in the therapeutic encounter as one of the greatest gifts one person can give to another. Even […]Read Post ›
John is too distraught and anxious. He is incapable of taking out the trash, sort out his laundry, even decide what to wear. Frantically, the only time he picks up the phone is to call his cousin and let her, miles away, guide him on how to do the mundane activities he was once able to do. Plagued by the […]Read Post ›
Historically, immorality and spiritual failings were banished from the righteous community members. Stigmatized nonconformists were exiled from the mainstream in an attempt to cure them from their transgressions: As the years progressed, the old stigmatizing mentality is torn down to bring in a new mentality: Mental Illness is the cause for the transgressions and lapse of reasoning: As the asylum […]Read Post ›
Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage. Ray Bradbury Since early communal living, humans have banished those who are either different or unproductive, due to an atypical physical, mental or emotional condition. Deemed different and some unproductive and/or non contributors to the tribe they […]Read Post ›
I told him to wait for me by the lobby. When I finally got the doctor on the phone, the doctor tells me to call PESP. I go find him and he is not in the lobby like I asked him to […]Read Post ›
Individual psychotherapy – that is, engaging a distressed fellow human in a disciplined conversation and human relationship – requires that the therapist have the proper temperament and philosophy of life for such work. By that I mean that the therapist must be patient, modest, and a perceptive listener, rather than a talker and advice-giver. Thomas […]Read Post ›
The Art of Presence in Mental Health 