Finding meaning: Existential psychotherapy by Marc Handelman, PhD
The existential approach to therapy is based on helping people find meaning in their lives, and avoids trying to apply external objective criteria and schemas. In fact, the struggle for all of us is to put our lives and life histories in a meaningful context. Without a meaningful way of making sense of things, we can be left with a deep sense of emptiness, depression, and a feeling of an inner void. Continue reading →
Experiential psychotherapy by Marc Handelman, PhD
Whether we can know anything outside the world as we experience it has profound implications when we try to understand another person. This is particularly true in the context of psychotherapy. Understanding another person’s experience of anxiety, depression, and other emotional states… Continue reading →
Finding the best therapist by Marc Handelman, PhD
How does therapy work and who is the best therapist for you? What are the important factors too look for when choosing the best therapist for yourself? Does it make a difference if you see a psychologist, psychiatrist, or social worker. Does a psychotherapist’s orientation make a significant difference or is the most important factor how comfortable you feel talking to a psychotherapist and how understood you feel? Does treating different issues such as depression or anxiety call for a different approaches? Continue reading →
The failure of categories by Marc Handelman, PhD
Experience does not neatly fit into a category. When someone focuses exclusively on diagnostic criteria – your ‘symptoms’ – you become nothing more than a pathological entity. These diagnostic categories may serve the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry but not you. When choosing a psychotherapist… Continue reading →
Empathy is not enough by Marc Handelman, PhD
Empathy can be seen as the matching of feelings or the matching of minds. It can help people feel connected and understood. For a psychotherapist being empathic is essential but taken alone may not be enough. Feeling that one’s anxiety, depression, or other emotional states are understood does not necessarily lead to change. Problems around empathy may be a reflection of boundary issues for a therapist. Continue reading →
Psychotherapy and spirituality by Marc Handelman, PhD
Some people find spirituality helpful in conjunction with psychotherapy. Spirituality is not the same as religion. While it is imperative that a therapist never pushes his views and values on the person he is working with, it is also important that he avoids coming from a detached, overly analytic, purely “scientific” position in his stance as a therapist. Depression can reflect a sense of an inner void. Continue reading →
CBT and the zeitgeist by Marc Handelman, PhD
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a popular therapeutic style at this point in time. CBT relies on a purely logical and linear system, and in my experience, people in fact act and react globally. True change arises from an appreciation and acceptance of complexity. Lasting change involves integration of different aspects of your personality, of understanding why you do things, of unfolding and deepening your understanding of yourself. Continue reading→
Depression: Struggling in the dark by Marc Handelman, PhD
Depression, whether mild or profound, is a bleak landscape. Psychotherapy can help you address the issues underlying depression, and help you find meaning. It is important for a therapist to understand feelings of depression and feelings of anxiety which are sometimes associated with depression. Continue reading →
Clinical Supervision and Training by Marc Handelman, PhD
Clinical supervision is a critical part of how a psychotherapist learning to do psychotherapy. A good supervisor can be helpful to a new therapist regardless of the theoretical orientation because what’s critical is to address the subtleties around the relationship between any therapist and his patients. Issues such as inadvertent guilt induction, modeling negative behavior, poor personal boundaries, and unconscious seduction can be present. It is important to uncover and address these…. Continue reading →
Psychotherapy in NYC by Marc Handelman, PhD
There is at least a kernel of truth in every cliché, whether we like that or not. One such cliché is that New Yorkers are all in therapy – in fact, New Yorkers may suffer from more addiction, anxiety, depression, and trauma and New York City has more than its share of psychotherapists to treat them. Continue reading →
Psychotherapy and Medication by Marc Handelman, PhD
If you are suffering with emotional issues and are considering seeing a psychotherapist, you may also wonder about the use of medication. Should you seek therapy alone, try medication alone, or would it be best to try both at the … Continue reading →