Reflections on Psychiatry, Therapy, and Mental Health

As the season of giving came to a close this year I started to think a way in which I have not been giving to my patients over the years as much as I would have liked. To wit, all these years I have been formulating a theory of my patient's psychological functioning using sophisticated tools but have not shared these very same tools with my patients. Long ago one of my teachers told me that the counseling process is socratic, in effect, it is a process in which we teach our

Alcoholics Anonymous is a powerful self help movement that over decades has accrued wisdom on how people can help each other. A powerful element is the concept of 'The 12 Steps.' I'd like to borrow from step 4, 'Taking a Moral Inventory,' and see how we might apply this in the ordinary process of counseling. The idea of a moral inventory to the AA member is to enhance self-awareness in a way that promotes growth. Rather than 'moral inventory,' we therapists might consider

Not long ago a colleague chastised me when I somewhat boasted of my ability to do a 10 minute psych. eval. Being chided, of course, I...