Paradox Outta Da Box

nsobel19

Welcome to the Asylum of Paradox, where we're broadcasting live! Join Eliot Kaplan, Ph.D., Naftoli Sobel, LCSW, and others in the field as they delve into the worlds most dangerous therapy - Paradox Psychology. Discover how this revolutionary therapy overcomes treatment resistance and more through the key ingredient to therapy - the therapeutic alliance. Tune in to explore the power of paradox - why it works, when to apply it, and how to harness its potential for transformative healing. To learn more or contact us visit Paradoxpsychology.com

  1. vor 3 Tagen

    #54- CHATcbgb is Amazing! Right?

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is still in its early stages. But by all accounts, it is already the next major phase in the ongoing technological revolution. With AI’s help, we already have driverless cars, and robots that can perform complicated surgeries, among other advances. Corporate executives are using AI programs like CHATgpt to produce detailed reports, generate company presentations, create fund raising campaigns, and much more.   In psychotherapy, AI has already become part of the landscape. CHATgbt is able to generate treatment plans for various mental health diagnoses, using a broad range of modalities depending on the therapist’s request; while also enhancing the ability to facilitate progress notes to sum up therapy sessions. As AI is becoming more refined, people are turning to CHATgpt as a ‘therapist’ to share their dark emotions, feelings, and thoughts, while often feeling comforted by an ‘empathetic response’ generated back.   However, particularly as therapists, we need to be wary. After all, AI is and will always be a part of technology. It does not have a living, breathing soul, and all its responses, no matter how ‘genuine or empathetic’, are always ARTIFICIAL. The danger is that people who rely on AI for comforting words and the illusion of a ‘relationship’ will eventually feel a profound sense of abandonment, aloneness, and isolation. While AI can be programmed to say the right ‘therapeutic phrases’, it can never have the feelings of a living person. It will never shed tears of joy at a wedding, nor feel proud when an infant takes their first step.

    52 Min.
  2. 25. Juni

    #53- Treating OCD: Does ERP Really Work?

    There’s a treatment called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). Therapists who work with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) know all about it. It’s a specialized form of CBT that is used to treat anxiety and OCD issues. Unfortunately, it has become a ‘cornerstone’ of OCD treatment. On the surface, the approach makes so much sense that nobody even bothers to question it.   The logic is simple. The idea is to expose clients to anxiety-provoking thoughts or situations, while encouraging the person to refrain from their habitual compulsive or avoidant behaviors (e.g., handwashing, checking, excessive cleaning, etc). The hope is that the client will learn that his fears are baseless, and that by tolerating distress and uncertainty, he will get passed being stuck in repetitive behaviors and compulsive rituals to relieve anxiety. Sounds good right?   So what’s the problem?! The problem is that the method is designed to treat only the superficial behavior. With OCD, the compulsive behavior is what we see; however, this only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, there is a ‘massive iceberg’ below the (water’s) surface which is a debilitating sense of aloneness and isolation. It is the unconscious experience of aloneness, and difficulty in connecting with others, that drives the surface behavior and compulsions. Ultimately, if this core issue of abandonment is not addressed, the therapist is ‘spinning his wheels’ since the underlying issue remains unresolved. The result is that the client ultimately falls back into his old patterns.   This podcast will address what needs to happen for lasting change to take place.

    51 Min.
  3. 13.11.2025

    50) Top Down or Bottom Up

    Which type of therapist are you? Are you more the ‘expert’ therapist that guides your client in a ‘top down’ approach to behave in an appropriate manner, think more rational, or see things in a more realistic way. Or are you more the ‘explorer’ type who works from the ‘bottom up’ to help realign blocked emotions, ‘parts’, or thoughts to encourage internal integration and growth.   Either way the therapist comes with a ‘helping agenda’ designed to move the client forward to achieve the end goal of being more ‘functional’. The problem, of course, is that even the most motivated of clients’ are not always ready to keep up with their therapist’s well-meaning ‘helping agenda’.   This leads us to suggest a third possible option that is beyond ‘top down’ or ‘bottom up’; what might be called a ‘Here & Now’ approach. Here, in a paradoxical manner, the therapist is willing to let go of his personal agenda to change the client. In so doing, the focus of treatment is to simply strengthen the alliance based on enhancing a trusting relationship that is not dependent on changing behavior, emotions, or thoughts. The focus is to simply accept the client ‘as he is in this moment’.   Instead of trying to encourage the client to be or do more of ‘who he is not’, - in the ‘here & now’ we offer empathy, humor, and genuineness to relieve the client’s underlying experience of abandonment, isolation, and feeling stuck. This unconditional acceptance results in feeling a profound sense of internal relief. When done correctly, this instigates an organic, unplanned, and unexpected level of change that is not subject to a linear or logical agenda.

    55 Min.

Info

Welcome to the Asylum of Paradox, where we're broadcasting live! Join Eliot Kaplan, Ph.D., Naftoli Sobel, LCSW, and others in the field as they delve into the worlds most dangerous therapy - Paradox Psychology. Discover how this revolutionary therapy overcomes treatment resistance and more through the key ingredient to therapy - the therapeutic alliance. Tune in to explore the power of paradox - why it works, when to apply it, and how to harness its potential for transformative healing. To learn more or contact us visit Paradoxpsychology.com