Lessons from the psychotherapy chair
I have been in both chairs in the psychotherapy room, and I have learned the value of good therapy, and I have learned the value of bad therapy. Not only have I learned the value of therapy, but I have also learned a lot of lessons in both chairs. Today, I occupy the psychotherapist chair and sometimes the client chair, and I continue to learn lessons that both surprise me and teach me that a graduate degree does not guarantee expertise or even basic knowledge about mental health in today's world. I want to share some of the things that I have learned from both chairs that have set the course of my journey both as a therapist and a human being. These are the lessons learned by an OG WooWoo Therapist during 28 years in the therapist chair.
Lessons from the psychotherapy chair
Shame, CPTSD, and Dissociation: Understanding the Hidden Survival System
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Today I talk about healing shame when there is CPTSD and dissociation. Here is a resource list if you want to go deeper.
Bradshaw, J. (2005). Healing the shame that binds you. Health Communications.
Brown, B. (2007). I thought it was just me (but it isn’t): Making the journey from “what will people think?” to “I am enough.” Gotham Books.
Brown, B. (2012). Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead. Gotham Books.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. Basic Books.
Dana, D. (2018). The polyvagal theory in therapy: Engaging the rhythm of regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.
Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books.
Johnson, R. A. (1991). Owning your own shadow: Understanding the dark side of the psyche. HarperOne.
Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma. North Atlantic Books.
Maté, G. (2022). The myth of normal: Trauma, illness, and healing in a toxic culture. Avery.
Nathanson, D. L. (1992). Shame and pride: Affect, sex, and the birth of the self. W. W. Norton & Company.
Ogden, P., Minton, K., & Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the body: A sensorimotor approach to psychotherapy. W. W. Norton & Company.
Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.
Schwartz, R. C. (2021). No bad parts: Healing trauma and restoring wholeness with the Internal Family Systems model. Sounds True.
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Walker, P. (2013). Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving: A guide and map for recovering from childhood trauma. Azure Coyote Publishing.
Zweig, C., & Abrams, J. (Eds.). (1991). Meeting the shadow: The hidden power of the dark side of human nature. Jeremy P. Tarcher.