Therapy blogs/websites

Does anyone have any good therapy or therapist websites or blogs written from the therapists perspective?

I am also interested in ones from the client's perspectives and I have already come across

Life in a bind
Tales of a boundary Ninja
How Therapy Works

http://discussingdissociation.wordpress.com

I really like In Therapy by Ryan Howes. It isn't updated regularly anymore, but there is a lot of good stuff in the archives.

I listen to the Psychology in Seattle Podcast. You can hear full episodes on Youtube, or use Patreon.

I like the short vignettes by Linda Sherbey: Inside/Outside

I read a lot of their blogs but all it ever does for me is makes me want to bludgeon them more than I already do. That Linda person and her arrogant condescending snottiness at her clients – that’s why I think those people are morally reprehensible. But I also greatly dislike Ryan house and Joseph Burgo and that Smith guy

i just read a few of her blog posts, an omg....ALL THE EYE ROLLS. i agree with you completely on her. ugh. i can't believe she actually told a client she finds her annoying.

I had never seen this blog before. Apparently one is to read Linda's book and presumably her blog "if you have ever wondered what a therapist really thinks or if she truly cares about her patients."

I am quite sure I don't want to know any more of what Linda thinks, it would destroy my faith in therapists or what little of it remains. And if that's caring, Linda needs a dictionary to relearn the meaning of the word.

I second "Psychology in Seattle," though the psychologist grates on me after a bit.

Interesting ... I don't see anything in Linda's blog that would destroy my faith in therapists. I find her very honest and caring. I check her blog regularly to see if she has written something new. Sometimes the stories sound too simplistic to me but I understand that she has to compose a sort of amalgam vignettes to preserve the privacy of her clients and also to make sure that the stories would be interesting to read. But generally I very much like her style. I became really curious what is it that I am reading or seeing differently than some other people ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by feileacan Interesting ... I don't see anything in Linda's blog that would destroy my faith in therapists.

I found the first two lines of her latest post to be less than empathetic...

"Beth smiles wanly at me as I open the waiting room door. I anticipate a long, dreary session."

I did read the entire piece (and a couple of others). It didn't change my initial opinion.

I assume a certain percentage of therapists who hold court over the internet are trolling for clients. Several of them impressed me as ill-suited for their jobs.

Exactly how my first T "got me" at start. And I found out first hand, gradually, how big a s*it show his online media is, how manipulative, untrue, and self-absorbed. I would not feel comfortable posting links to my ex-Ts stuff, just wanted to say it was my experience. My second T (who was much more honest and realistic) actually told me several times how his website is a marketing strategy and an exaggeration. And it is, I learned that as well from experience.

I'm sorry to learn of of your lousy experience.

My politely skeptical remarks responding to psych blogs are never well-received. My research found that one particularly arrogant blogger turned out to have moved to several states, had an unanswered complaint in his last one and was unlicensed in his current one.

That Burgo guy really can lose his **** when someone challenges him. He becomes positively unhinged.

I don't support therapist blogs if it includes client experiences. I realize details may be changed, but imagine how mortified a client could be reading about their experience online. Especially if it involved hurt or unresolvable rupture etc.

Do they get client/past client permission for every blog entry? If not, it's not ok, imo. Not at all.

I suppose it is a good thing he writes books about narcissists, then.

Yeah, I would not be okay if my T had a blog that talked in any depth at all about client experiences. Even recognizing parts of my experience would feel like a huge breach of trust. Plus I would spend a lot of time scrutinizing what she was saying, and I don't want to read her unfiltered thoughts like that. No no no. I would be okay with it if she had a general psychology blog or a blog about self-care or whatever, but no personal stuff.

Having just read a few Linda Sherbey and a few Ryan Howes, I would say that I find them condescending. But perhaps I am in a snarky mood tonight.

Very interesting! To me this opening line sounds honest and tuned int. I would not believe a therapist whose experience with her clients would be all softy-muffy-super sweet because I would think that this T most probably misses the point a lot of the times. Working with difficult feelings means also working with negative feelings in counter-transference and in order to work with them one first has to honestly recognise them.

I'm wondering if there is any relation between me not finding these blogs condescending and arrogant and my own experience with therapy that is super good. However, I can imagine that many times my T could have written a similar opening line for our sessions. I think to me the important this is not that the T has such feelings but rather how he/she manages them. I've read from this forum that many T's aren't able to manage their own feelings well. My experience is different because my T is super good in that. I see similar feats at least in Linda's blog - I like that she is honest in her feelings but manages them well so her clients feel heard by her.

I find it also possible that some people are triggered by everything therapy related?

I only read Linda Sherbey's article, "Misery", and also think she was condescending and lacked empathy.

For one, the therapist made so much about her rather than the client. Perhaps if she was focused on the client rather than being preoccupied with herself, it wouldn't be so dreary and she could help the client get to a better place. The T also sounded like she was complaining about the client rather than trying to understand.

Here, she put her in a box, predicting her reaction instead of recognizing her autonomy and individuality and positive capacity. I recognize this as my T has done it more than a few times.This is just crappy:

Not only that, but this statement ^ was unhelpful at best. Maybe that's why her statement was futile--because it was useless. Plus premature or anticipatory ideals or conclusions can cause them to manifest in reality (ie, if I think I'm going to fail, I sort of set myself up to fail.)

This is a crappy attitude as well:

Another useless statement, but at least she didn't say it. No wonder they get nowhere.

Here she blames the client for her feelings and makes her responsible for her own:

I understand the concept of projective identification, but therapists will say you can't make another person feel something/one isn't responsible for another's feelings; yet at the same time, claim the client is making you feel a certain way. The T doesn't own her feelings at all.

At least she recognized her tone and choice of words, which shows her own stuff was getting in the way. I don't see how she was managing her feelings effectively at all..

Instead of being collaborative with the client, she's kind of ****** through it all. Client, you are on your own--tough luck! I find these statements very unhelpful and personally don't think a person is going to, or even should, give up wanting to be cared about. That's unnatural and unrealistic and even unnecessary.

It looked like the client was ok with it, so that's what matters i suppose.

I know I'm in a snarky mood myself (trying my best to contain it here rather than let it spill over IRL at work etc) and am being a bit reactive here, but she put herself out there in the blog so her style is open for discussion and critique. However, I still think I'd feel this way no matter how good of a mood I was in as I've read other therapists' take on sessions in books and felt positive reactions...though my words might be kinder if I decided to be empathetic to the therapist's troubles (from this post, she seems troubled herself).

So perhaps some of it is personal. I don't like this therapist's style but think she is superficial, ineffective and think the T is contributing to the misery of the sessions and the client.

I'd be interested in the style of a T who is more empathetic, positive, insightful, and sophisticated--and I think that can be realized while still remaining honest. And all the crap about "taking care of yourself." No ****, many of us had done that all our life. We don't need to be constantly reminded that we are alone in it all!

I really like Robert Duff, or Duff the Psych. I have read his books F**k Anxiety and F**k Depression which weren't super helpful (as most self-help books aren't, imo) but I appreciated his refreshing approach. Above all I like his blog and his podcast, where he answers questions that are almost always interesting.

So because several posters find this Linda therapist awful (and she is!), that somehow means we are «*triggered*» by therapy and therefore not objective ?
Because that’s what you are implying.
Everytime I read a therapist blog, it always strikes me how absolutely self-serving and self-centered these therapists are.
They make it all about their own feelings, their own insecurities and take everything a client says personally.
This has also been my experience as a therapy client so the whole thing just confirms what I already think about therapists (not saying they can’t be helpful even like that).

I agree completely. I find that highly disturbing even when identifying details about clients have been changed.
Using your clients’ stories in your blog is pretty exploitative.

I have listened to this podcast as well and while I like his voice, I think this dude has a lot of bias as a therapist.

Apparently, all of this blogger's scenarios are pure fiction:

"I did want to remind you, however, that because of the issue of confidentiality, both the patients and the situations in my blogs are fictionalized. I try to present myself as true to my therapist self as I can possibly be, both in terms of what I imagine I'd be thinking and feeling and in how I imagine I'd actually respond to a real life patient."

I find this almost as distasteful as using actual client stories. Basically, she's making up stories to show how she miraculously helps these poor misguided souls - either by showing them the error of their ways or by making them cry (which seems to be the gold standard in terms of "catharsis").