Psychotherapy

Watch

• The psychology of post-traumatic stress disorder - Joelle Rabow Maletis ↗TED-Ed
• The truth about electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - Helen M. Farrell ↗TED-Ed
• How Music Can Heal Our Brain and Heart | Kathleen M. Howland | TEDxBerkleeValencia ↗TEDx Talks
• How mindfulness changes the emotional life of our brains | Richard J. Davidson | TEDxSanFrancisco ↗TEDx Talks
• Mental health and resilience - the secrets of inner strength | DW Documentary ↗DW Documentary
• The healing power of music - How does music impact us? | DW Documentary ↗DW Documentary

Read

• Man's Search for Meaning ↗A profound exploration of finding purpose amidst suffering, offering a foundational perspective on existential therapy and resilience.Viktor Frankl
• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy ↗A highly accessible guide to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, providing practical techniques for managing negative emotions and fostering self-esteem.David D. Burns
• Cognitive Therapy of Depression ↗The seminal text establishing the theoretical and clinical framework for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, essential for understanding its empirical foundations.Aaron T. Beck, A. John Rush, Brian F. Shaw, Gary Emery
• The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients ↗A master clinician's distillation of therapeutic wisdom, emphasizing the relational and existential dimensions crucial for effective practice.Irvin D. Yalom
• The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality ChangeA landmark paper outlining the core relational elements required for therapeutic growth, foundational to humanistic and client-centered approaches.Carl R. Rogers
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma ↗A comprehensive exploration of trauma's impact on the brain and body, offering insights into innovative therapeutic approaches for recovery.Bessel van der Kolk

Voices to follow

• Esther Perel ↗Known for her nuanced exploration of relationships, desire, and infidelity, challenging conventional wisdom in couples therapy.Psychotherapist, author, and speaker
• Bessel van der Kolk ↗A leading authority on trauma, his work has profoundly shaped understanding and treatment of its lasting impact on the body and mind.Psychiatrist, author, and researcher
• Irvin D. Yalom ↗His blend of clinical insight and philosophical depth, often conveyed through fictional narratives, illuminates the human condition and the therapeutic process.Existential psychiatrist and author
• Gabor Maté ↗Explores the deep connections between addiction, trauma, and societal pressures, advocating for compassionate approaches to healing.Physician, author, and speaker

Glossary

• AnxietyAnxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an event with an uncertain outcome. While a little anxiety can be normal, too much can make it hard to focus, sleep, or enjoy life. For example, feeling nervous before a big presentation is normal, but if you're constantly worried about everything and it stops you from doing things, that might be anxiety.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a common type of psychotherapy that helps you identify and change unhelpful thinking patterns (cognitions) and behaviors. It teaches you practical skills to manage problems and improve your mood. For example, if you always think "I'm going to fail" before a test, CBT would help you challenge that thought and replace it with a more realistic one, like "I've studied hard, I can do my best."
• ConfidentialityConfidentiality means that what you share with your therapist is kept private and secret. Therapists are legally and ethically bound not to share your personal information with anyone else without your permission, except in very specific, serious situations. For example, your therapist won't tell your parents or teachers what you discussed unless you give them permission.
• Coping SkillsCoping skills are strategies or actions you use to deal with stress, difficult emotions, or challenging situations in a healthy way. They help you manage problems rather than letting them overwhelm you. For example, taking deep breaths when you feel angry or talking to a trusted friend when you're sad are both coping skills.
• EmpathyEmpathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, almost like putting yourself in their shoes. A therapist uses empathy to connect with you and truly understand what you're going through. For example, if your friend is upset about a bad test grade, showing empathy means you understand why they feel sad and don't just tell them to "get over it."
• Mental HealthMental health refers to your emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how you think, feel, and act, and how you handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. For example, feeling happy and able to handle daily challenges shows good mental health, just like physical health means your body is working well.
• Psychotherapy (or Therapy)Psychotherapy is a way of talking with a trained professional to understand your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors better. It helps you learn new ways to deal with challenges and improve your overall well-being. For example, if you're feeling overwhelmed by school stress, therapy can give you tools to manage it.
• Self-awarenessSelf-awareness is the ability to understand your own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, and how they affect you and others. It's about knowing yourself better, including your strengths and weaknesses. For example, realizing that you tend to get stressed before big exams and then planning ways to relax is a sign of self-awareness.
• StigmaStigma is a negative and unfair belief or attitude held by society about a particular group of people or a condition, often leading to shame or discrimination. When it comes to mental health, stigma can make people afraid or embarrassed to seek help. For example, if someone believes that only "crazy" people go to therapy, that's a form of mental health stigma.
• TherapistA therapist is a trained professional who helps people work through their problems and improve their mental health using talking therapies. They listen without judgment and guide you to find solutions. For example, a therapist might help a student who is struggling with shyness learn how to feel more comfortable speaking in class.

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Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Ritual and Practice Religion

  For thousands of years people knelt in a booth and confessed their secrets to a priest sworn never to repeat them, and walked out lighter. The modern therapy session is basically that same ritual with the religion taken out: a private hour, a trusted listener, your burdens spilled and kept safe. New setting, ancient recipe for relief.

• Causal Inference & Experiments Mathematics

  Compare wildly different kinds of talk therapy and a strange thing shows up: they mostly work about equally well. It's nicknamed the 'dodo bird verdict,' after the dodo who declared 'everybody has won.' That hints the fancy branded technique matters way less than we assume, which is a nightmare for researchers trying to prove their method is the best one.

• The Engineering Design Process Technology

  An engineer builds a small prototype and tests it before betting on a full bridge. In one kind of therapy (CBT), the therapist and client do the same thing with a belief: turn 'everyone hates me' into a tiny experiment and check it against reality. Both take a scary unknown and shrink the risk by testing a small model first.

• The Meaning of Life Philosophy

  An ancient Greek slave named Epictetus taught that things don't upset you, your opinion about them does. Two thousand years later, therapists sell almost that exact idea as CBT, a treatment for anxiety and depression. The cutting-edge therapy is basically old philosophy with a lab coat on.

• Stoicism Philosophy

  The most-tested therapy for anxiety, CBT, is basically ancient Stoic philosophy in a lab coat. The Stoic Epictetus said we're upset not by events but by our judgments about them; modern therapists lifted that idea almost word for word and proved it works in real trials.