This month’s question for The People’s Therapist gets to the heart of how psychotherapy – “talk therapy” – actually works: Why is psychotherapy conducted exclusively face-to-face, rather than in writing? I find that I express myself much more clearly and precisely in writing, after having had the chance to ruminate on my response — it’s [...]
Archive for the ‘AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries’ Category
Talk therapy vs type therapy
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged authentic contact, body language, facial expressions, Group therapy, psychotherapy, talk therapy, talking, writing, written word on January 25, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Unbalanced
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged balance, psychotherapy, regression, relationships on December 21, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I received the following letter concerning the tricky business of maintaining a relationship: Dear Will, I’m a recent law school graduate studying for the bar exam. I just got into another argument with my boyfriend of four years, and I’m feeling frustrated and upset. Our relationship tends to break down when I’m going through a [...]
The ex from hell
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged boundaries, confidentiality, Group therapy, psychotherapy, trust on January 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
An intriguing question from “A”: My boyfriend’s ex has gone through therapy one on one and in a group setting. She now thinks she can diagnose and help anyone. In her mind she is “helping” but in reality she is being intrusive, causing more problems, trying to find out secrets. I see this as someone who is in [...]
Separated at birth?
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged awareness, consciousness, psychotherapy, relationship, transference, transference reaction on December 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
An interesting question that touches on some basic Freudian theory: I’ve been reading your blog for the past few months and I really enjoy it. I hope you can help with this problem that has completely stumped me. Eight years ago I left an abusive relationship. In general things are much better now, I don’t [...]
Glad to be unhappy
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged passive aggression, reflective listening, victimhood on November 10, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Here’s an interesting letter that arrived unsigned: I need help addressing a situation with a friend. About 8 years ago, her dad passed away suddenly, and she continues to miss and mourn her dad. We’ve been friends for about 6 years and for as long as I’ve known her, she’s always been… down. There are [...]
Balance of power
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged associate, boundaries, enforcing boundaries, exploitation, law firm, partner, power relationship, relationship, role on September 28, 2010 | 3 Comments »
“A” wrote in with the following question: I wanted to know your thoughts on the imbalance in power relationships at law firms. My boyfriend, J,works for a partner in a firm. They’ve worked together on and off for 5 years. The partner was an associate when J joined as a trainee. They’ve been ‘friends’ but [...]
Passive. Aggressive.
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged anger, boundaries, enforcing boundaries, investigating feelings, modeling active communication, passive aggression on August 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It turns out that A.M.’s question was a two-parter. Here’s part two: What strategies can you suggest for dealing with passive-aggression, in both the workplace and in intimate relationships? Is there an effective way to set boundaries with a person who is setting out to undermine them? How can you best maintain your integrity and [...]
Stuck.
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged dissertation, Id, inner child, procrastination, stuck, thesis, writer's block on July 13, 2010 | 4 Comments »
This week’s question is from A.M.: What strategies can you suggest for someone who is stuck when writing, say a thesis or a dissertation? Two people dear to me have essentially withdrawn from society, apparently unable to deal with the ego strain of finishing this last piece of the degree. Any thoughts? And here’s my [...]
The origin of your personality
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged awareness, change, learned behaviors, nature, nurture, personality flaws, shyness on June 26, 2010 | 4 Comments »
This week’s question comes from L, in New York City. She asks: Do you think that personality “flaws” (e.g. shyness, lack of confidence/self-esteem, being an approval-seeker) are entirely learned behaviors, or do you think that to some extent you are born with these characteristics? In other words, what do you think about nature vs. nurture [...]
Maintaining a self boundary
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged competition, self boundary, toxic work environment, work environment on June 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »
This week’s question is from Laure, in Canada. She writes: Thank you for blogging about the various issues raised during your therapy sessions, I find it most interesting to read and learn from! I particularly appreciate your insight on lawyer patients, as I I will soon be entering law school, and all of your comments on [...]
Mr. Right?
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged abandonment, alliance, attraction, opposition, respect, solitude, trust on May 29, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Ashley sent in an intriguing question a few weeks ago, which I’ve been pondering… Here’s her question: I’ve been thinking about a question for you for awhile, one that might be “deserving” for your blog, but I keep coming back to the same one, so I’ll just go ahead and ask: how do you know [...]
Exchanging vows
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged commitment, marriage, relationship, relationships, vows on May 22, 2010 | 4 Comments »
This week’s question was a bit long, but it raised interesting issues, so I’ll print it in full: My boyfriend and I have decided to have a wedding. We’re not getting married in the legal sense, and in fact I share many of your views on civil marriage and lifelong commitment, but we like the [...]
A difficult friend
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged direct communication, enforcing boundaries on May 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This week’s Ask The People’s Therapist question comes from Stephanie, who’s having problems dealing with her best friend: I don’t know what to do and I am pretty angry and annoyed with myself lately. I have basically enabled a close friend of mine by consistently giving in to her wants/desires and not setting up proper boundaries [...]
A breakup. A three year old. A phone.
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged best interests of the child, divorce, infidelity, mistress, separation on May 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
This week’s question comes from “S”. Here’s a lightly edited version: Is it reasonable for a Father to ask his 3 year old son to call him every day? Due to his Father having an affair that he wishes to explore and pursue, we’re separated. The Father says that he misses his son and then [...]
Nature. Nurture. Gender.
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged bisexual, gay, gender, gender expression, intersex, lesbian, nature, nurture, trans, transgender, transsexual on May 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This week’s question come from Dwyn and Marissa: And here’s my answer: To submit a question to Ask The People’s Therapist, please email it as text or a video to: wmeyerhofer@aquietroom.com If I answer your question on the site, you’ll win a free session of psychotherapy with The People’s Therapist!
Not much of a talker
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged expectation, prediction, resolving the transference, The Silent Patient, transference, treatment transference on April 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This week’s question is from Gwynne. She wrote to say she might be interested in trying psychotherapy, but has a hesitation: What if I’m not much of a talker – at least when it comes to talking about me? An excellent question. Here’s my answer: To submit a question to Ask The People’s Therapist, please [...]
It’s a heartache
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged anxiety, childhood, heartache, loneliness, parental separation on April 16, 2010 | 6 Comments »
I received another challenging question this week, from Carl. He sent it to me via video, so without further ado, here’s Carl’s question: And here’s my answer: Thanks to all of you who have sent in and continue to send in questions. I will be tackling one each week. If I answer your question, I [...]
Our first winner – and a tough question
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, family, I-Statement, leading with your feelings, questions on April 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Thank you to everyone who sent in questions! I’ve received so many good, interesting – and challenging – questions that I’ve decided to go ahead and create a new weekly feature – “Ask the People’s Therapist” – and answer one question every week. Here’s our first winning question – it’s a tough one – along [...]
Big contest! Exciting prizes!
Posted in AskThePeople'sTherapistSeries, tagged Contest, prizes on April 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »
A major announcement from The Peoples’ Therapist: Please submit your questions – either in an ordinary email or, if you’re feeling creative, a video – to wmeyerhofer@aquietroom.com. I’ll give them a look-over. If your question is chosen, you will see it up on ThePeoplesTherapist.com, along with my answer, and you will win ONE FREE SESSION [...]
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