Finding Meaning

As a therapist, I am struck more and more intensely by the importance of personal responsibility. So many clients come in overwhelmed with despair and helplessness. They express deep feelings of having been treated unfairly by the world. One of my jobs is to help them see that the series of choices they have made in their lives has led them to the very place they find themselves—spiritually, if not otherwise. The late great psychiatrist Viktor Frankl based much of his work on

By Elizabeth O’Brien, M.A., LPC There is a term being bandied about in psychological circles—and in the media—called “adaptive competence.” National Public Radio (NPR) did a story recently on the secrets of aging well, and this high-falutin’ term dominated the story. It seems that individuals with adaptive competence, which basically means “rolling with the punches” of life, live longer (by some seven years, according to the research). They are also more productive and happy

By Elizabeth O’Brien, M.A., LPC Last fall, I was asked by veteran therapist Mark White, LCSW/LMFT, to co-lead a parent group called “Holding On and Letting Go: A Group for Parents of Adolescents and Young Adults.” The group was so successful that we are holding it again this fall. A psycho-educational/support entity based on the latest research in Attachment Theory and developmental psychology, the group helps parents gently step back and restructure their roles as parents as