Issues & Developments

There’s a big, hairy problem shadowing our field: what, exactly, is a mental disorder? Is using diagnostic language helping or hurting our clients? The way... Read more

Take a magical journey beyond the DSM’s pathologizing legacy to a place where therapists can name and categorize suffering, while still taking into account... Read more

A lot can go awry when you identify a person with a disorder—but avoiding diagnosis altogether isn’t always the right solution either. How are therapists... Read more

Clinical hypnosis has a rich history, broad applications, and sound research behind it—so why aren’t more therapists using it? Read more

When his wife texts to say she’s running late to pick him up at the airport, a renowned trauma expert reexperiences a life-altering moment from his past. Read more

After more than three decades of advocacy, counselors and MFTs are finally celebrating a landmark piece of legislation permitting them to receive Medicare... Read more

Premarital counseling is growing in popularity, and research indicates it has numerous benefits. So why aren't more therapists offering it? Read more

The passage of the Mental Health Access Improvement Act—the product of more than three decades of advocacy—is a historic moment that removes a significant... Read more

Despite the need to assess competency, some say licensing exams risk leaving good clinicians behind. Read more

More than 50 years after feminist psychologist Carol Gilligan's pivotal study on how women think about the choices in their lives, she speaks up about our... Read more

Despite an increasing diversity in race and ethnicity, the psychotherapy field is primarily filled with women—a reversal that's taken place over the last 50... Read more

Are therapists ready to work with an older population? In this issue, we explore the changing, sometimes challenging needs that attend aging, as well as the... Read more

Administrators today recognize this therapy as an effective treatment option for “at risk” families. Read more

A firsthand look at how a new virtual reality program is taking therapy to new places. Read more

Seclusion and restraint is a rare but extreme response to students deemed unruly. One parent, backed by some clinical allies, is drawing attention to its... Read more

When it comes to designating best practices for treating trauma, where does the research stand? And where is the field going? Read more

In this issue, we investigate how and why therapists around the country—and around the world—are reimagining their work. This rarely means starting from... Read more

In their rush to change family systems—if not the world—family therapists didn’t anticipate that they too would be affected by structural forces. Read more

Are rage rooms a passing fad? Or a symptom of a larger issue? Read more

Thinking about behavior only in terms of reinforcement and consequence is outdated. It’s not mind over matter. It’s both. Are new therapists getting that... Read more

As the culture’s sanctioned authorities on mental health, therapists are still widely expected to be equanimous in the face of inner turmoil. So, outside of... Read more

How do we hit the reset button as we begin a new year? Research on burnout across professions says the answer isn’t less work but rather more meaning and an... Read more

Although it’s never been easy to take oh-so-familiar systems principles and put them to work in real life, the devastating sweep of the pandemic has made... Read more

Building a relationship with heavily armored, developmentally regressed, profoundly sad adolescents is no small feat. They don’t exactly let you in the front... Read more

There’s a profound change occurring in our relationship to space. In working remotely, it feels at times like we’re doing home visits. In video calls, we... Read more

Over 48 million couples experience infertility every year, and over 20 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Although hope and love propel most people... Read more

Differences in how couples handle this situation can be a real bone of contention, but sometimes using humor, especially dark humor, gives us some sense of... Read more

The long, hard fight to fix a legislative gap. Read more

At times, when things fall apart, as they are in our world right now, each of us has an essential medicine to offer. So the inquiry—Who do you want to be... Read more

Even in a restrictive time like this, when so many of us are divorced from the ordinary structures of our lives, there are practical things we can do to... Read more