Psychotherapy Bulletin
Browse articles, research, and updates from the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy.
1108 articles found
The Family That Never Arrives: An Integrative Framework for Attachment, Ambiguous Loss, and the Ghost Family
A woman receives a warm text from her mother. Hope fills her heart. Maybe this time we can talk honestly. The woman changes all of her plans and contacts her mother ready to repair years of distance. The conversation remains pleasant until she mentions something painful. The words barely make it into the air before […]
Emily Williams, MA
September 9, 2026
Digital Therapeutics and Mental Health Apps: What Should Therapists Know?
In this day and age, the vast majority of our therapy clients have smartphones. Many clients are using, or at least monitoring, their phone nearly constantly throughout the day. Clients use their phones for entertainment and social media, but also practical daily living tasks like communication, navigation, checking their finances, and even monitoring their physical […]
Noel Cooper, PsyD
September 9, 2026
The Moment Before the Intervention: What Informs a Therapist’s Next Move in Complex Trauma Treatment
The client enters the office and begins the ritual. The shoes come off, the blinds get tilted down, the lamps get adjusted, the phone goes face-down on the coffee table, the clock gets turned away. The therapist watches quietly. Over time, these small acts have become how this client crosses into the therapeutic space, whether […]
Shoshana Twersky, PsyD
September 7, 2026
Artificial Intelligence and Psychotherapy: Opportunities, Challenges, and Recommendations
A Report of the AI and Psychotherapy Work Group Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy American Psychological Association, Division 29 September 2026 Work Group Chair: Stewart Cooper, PhD Work Group Members: Firouz Ardalan, PhD John Gavazzi, PsyD Astrea Greig, PsyD Gerry Koocher, PhD Erica Lee, PhD Xu Li, PhD James Lichtenberg, PhD Wonjin Sim, […]
Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy
September 4, 2026
President’s Column 61 (3): The Need for Collaboration
In life, social connections matter. In my last presidential column (https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/presidents-column-61-2/) I wrote in detail about the value of belonging. At an individual level, healthy social connections are a strong predictor of happiness and longevity (Allen et al., 2022; Cambieri, 2024; Waldinger & Schulz, 2023). Positive social connections can provide us with emotional support, offer […]
Joshua K. Swift, Ph.D.
August 17, 2026
When Love Hurts: Acute and Post-Traumatic Attachment Activation
Adults frequently present for psychotherapy in acute distress following the actual or threatened loss of a romantic partner. For some, betrayal, rejection, infidelity, breakup, or divorce can destabilize a significant relationship, along with one’s source of coregulation and sense of self. Unlike bereavement, these losses involve withdrawal by a still-living attachment figure, which sustains hope, […]
Shannon L. McIntyre, Ph.D.
August 11, 2026
Psychotherapy Snippet
I’m not sure how I got myself entangled in these ropes. He beckons me with kindness in his eyes, maintains respectful distance. No doubt it’s a ploy. I creep ahead, both gloves raised. He waits barehanded, one elbow on the turnbuckle. Still compelled, my next foray is simple desperation. Clinching smoke, I jab in vain. […]
Christopher Scribner, PhD, MFA
August 7, 2026
The Ambiguous Nature of Clinical Supervision and its Impact on the Development of the Novice Supervisor
Pica (1998) described the ambiguous nature of clinical training and its impact on the development of student clinicians. That paper, which has become influential of graduate curricula, training, and research (Bailey et al., 2024; Bettney, 2017; Booy et al., 2025; Burgess et al., 2013; Everson, 2013; Pickard et al., 2023; Richardson et al., 2018; Witte […]
Michael Pica, PsyD
August 3, 2026
Artificial Intelligence in Psychotherapy: Enhancing Clinical Practice While Preserving the Human Element
Introduction Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is transforming psychotherapy and is playing an increasingly significant role in mental health, its primary area of application to date (Cruz González et al., 2025). While AI undoubtedly offers substantial benefits –such as expanding access or supporting personalization of care (Oo et al., 2026)-, it also entails important risks and […]
Fernanda Longo Elia, BSC + 4 more
July 29, 2026
Danger, Not Damage: Attachment, Emotion, and the Somatic Language of Relational Threat
Bowlby’s insight was somatic before it was interpersonal: the attachment system is fundamentally a threat-regulation system. The infant’s nervous system is organized around a question it continues to ask throughout life: am I safe, and is help available (Bowlby, 1969/1982)? Viewed this way, attachment does not simply shape how clients relate to others. It also […]
Joel Jin, PhD
July 28, 2026
The Integration of Traditional and Collaborative Approaches to Psychological Assessment: Recommendations for Graduate Training
Psychological Assessment in Clinical Psychology Psychological assessment has long been one of the foundational responsibilities of clinical psychologists. Reviewing the history of psychological assessment, Weiner (2013) noted that it always has and always will have a place in the field of clinical psychology. As such, it stands as a pillar of clinical training. Looking ahead, […]
Michael Pica, PsyD
July 27, 2026
The Price of Tradition: Why Legacy Structures are Losing the Next Generation of Psychologists
Introduction The current professional landscape in clinical psychology is characterized by a growing concern regarding the perceived disengagement of Early Career Psychologists (ECPs). From state psychological associations to the leadership of the American Psychological Association (APA; broadly referred to as ‘the guild’), there is widespread alarm over declining membership rates, a lack of volunteerism in […]
Jacinta Dickens, PhD
July 26, 2026