When a Therapist and Journalist Comes Clean About Her Self-Doubt

As a career therapist since 1979 who decided to traverse a professional writing path beginning a bit less than a decade later, I have blended two of my passions; guiding people on their own journeys and communicating the thoughts that insist on being documented for posterity. Lofty pursuits? Perhaps. Fraught with challenges and responsibility for integrity? Absolutely. Thus, this article. A week ago, Psych Central published a piece called, “How the President’s Communication Style Is Like That Of An Abusive Parent”. Like much that I write, I couldn’t NOT do it. Some concepts are ripe for the picking and, with the massive changes that took place after the 2016 election, it would be irresponsible to abstain from framing the feelings that many — some of them clients in my therapy practice — are experiencing. I was not attempting to diagnose either the president or those who have expressed their distress over the dynamics of their interactions, even at a distance, even if their paths never cross directly. Those for whom the words and actions of the man in the Oval Office trigger traumatic memories, are not weak, not “snowflakes” who need to “suck it up” or “get over it”. They are people in pain whose lives were impacted by others who committed destructive acts and hurled invectives at them. While I write this, the article has been shared nearly 20,000 times on Facebook alone, which indicates that it struck a chord among rea...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Aging Minding the Media Personal Trauma Authenticity Politics Self-Doubt Stigma Trauma Informed care Vulnerability Source Type: blogs