Posts by Christine Hutchison
Unhappy Holidays
Therapists know the weeks between Mid-November and January 2nd to be one ginormous suck-fest. Pumpkin Spice makes its appearance and we start hearing people’s real holiday feelings: “This is my first holiday since my divorce, I don’t know how I’m going to survive it.” “I look back on this last year and have no idea…
How to Get Someone to Go to Therapy
I love it when people tell me they don’t think they need therapy, because often it’s the telltale sign that they do. You might have someone in your life that you KNOW needs therapy. They might insist, after their millionth angry outburst, or perhaps coolly rationally while you are confused and crazy, that they’re fine…
Narcissism and the American Dream: What Donald Trump’s Presidential Candidacy Reveals about Us.
It’s the year 1985 and the self-proclaimed “richest and most powerful man in America” has arisen in the nation’s spotlight as an example of the pinnacle of American greatness. He resides in an opulent 27 story Vegas-style Casino, fashioned with his name and face emblazoned in brilliant lighting. He sits on a golden throne-like chair in…
Black Lives Matter and Psychotherapy
This month marks the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, and the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Eleven psychotherapists, from the Bay Area, Seattle, and Austin, TX, share how Black Lives Matter has impacted their work, how they work cross-culturally, and how race and racism appear in the therapy room. How does the Black Lives…
Speak! (Even if your voice shakes)
“Wow,” the pastor of my former church said, looking over the coffeeshop counter at me. Jessica had stopped into the Peet’s where I worked on her day off. She was wearing her usual hiking boots in the middle of the city, with her unruly hair that she was letting turn fully gray after years of dying…
PMS and Sexism
Is normal all things male? Fear of PMS is about masculine normativity and how women should be like men!
Your theology is your psychology: Or, why you need therapy as well as prayer.
Our psychological and emotional structures, largely created in our early lives, shape our ideas of God/Spirit.
Falling In Love In Therapy
There’s sort of a cliche about falling in love with your therapist. What popular culture often misses is the fact that we therapists fall in love with you, too. If you’re in therapy right now, I would put money on the fact that your therapist is in love with you.
Grief and Gratitude
Grief is water, washing away the gunk that makes our gratitude dull and opaque. Grief brightens our gratitude, gratitude likewise polishes our grief when grieving time comes.
Small changes are big changes
One November morning, when I was early in my graduate training to become a therapist, one of my professors stood at the front of the classroom, with his wild hair and even wilder eyes, and said slowly: “I want to talk to you all about something important.” The room fell silent. This man was known…
Statements of Self: searching for “true self”
It’s a funny thing that you know you’re doing good work in therapy when your language gets really simple, almost childish. Which is ironic, because studying to be a therapist means you have to learn a lot of pretentious jargon. Therapists go to conferences and, depending on what style of therapy we practice, we talk about…
Beyond “first world problems”
The work of therapy, at least in the early stages, is to go deeper into what is painful, rather than trying to escape it by deflecting towards others who “have it worse.”