Psychotherapy
Verbal First Aid in the Real World
I got this lovely letter from a reader at the Huffington Post, who has graciously given permission to reprint it here. 
Hi Jude,
Your point about children tending to "interpret things literally, think magically, and respond viscerally" to heal right away, I observed when my daughter, known then as the "Little Princess", crawled atop a chair and "unintentionally" dove into the edge of a coffee table. Contact point: right eyebrow, which accommodated her explosion of kinetic energy with a half inch gash.
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Modern Medicine: Healing or Stealing?
About a year ago I heard a sermon about two brothers, Cosmas and Damian, both of whom were doctors. Trained in Syria they practiced as physicians in the seaport Ægea, now Ayash, on the Gulf of Iskandrun in Cilica.
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The Trauma of Betrayal
When people talk about infidelity—whether in marriage or in committed relationships—they talk about trauma.
I recently met a man whose wife cheated on him repeatedly. As he told me the long and circuitous story of suspicion, denial and revelation, he moved through a snake pit of emotional confusion—anger, hurt, longing, disbelief, shock. And as I watched him weep, rant, deflate in despair only to bound back in self-reproach (“how could I have been so stupid?!”), I saw that he was still in shock, in the trance of his own disappointment. He was only bodily in the office with me. Most of him was lost in the torment of his recent past and his fear about the future.
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Psychotherapy and Boundaries: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
Holistic Psychotherapy With A Heart
The other day a patient told a story of how she got her first kitten. It wasn’t anything like what one might expect—found a litter in the alley behind the house, or a stray wound up on their porch. Her family doctor was over for dinner with his wife and he had found a kitten.
“Your doctor came over for dinner?” I asked.
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First Press – Verbal First Aid
Shocked by Suffering
In a recent episode of Bones, the psychiatrist on staff, Sweets, is on a train with a kid who’s just received a text. He looks like he’s crying, so Sweets leans over and asks him if everything’s all right. The kid is weeping and excitedly recounts for Sweets how he’s had lymphoma for years and has finally been declared cancer-free. He tells Sweets all the things he’s going to do with his new lease on life. The kid is obviously overjoyed and Sweets is clearly moved by the good news. Because it’s a dramatic series, as the Producers would have it, an earthquake rattles the train, turns the cars up and over, and throws the delighted kid into a pole, killing him instantly.
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