Research findings from a team at Emory University Medical School provide evidence of “transgenerational epigenetic inheritance” – that environment can affect an individual’s genetics and then be passed on. As a family therapist I have intuited this often in my consulting room. There are times when a young adult with severe sadness sits with me, and I can sense that the sorrow is somehow lager that she is; it is too big a sorrow for someone that age. When together …
Blog Posts
What is emotional intimacy? Listen to Dr Rob Garfield talk about the importance of mens’ friendships and discuss his book, “Breaking the Male Code” with one of my favorite radio personalities, Brian Lehrer: https://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/510645 …
Last month, CCAF faculty, residents and fellows were treated to a wonderful lecture by family psychiatrist Dr. Geri Fox. “Gear Shifts and Spirals” was an interactive discussion of video taken by Dr. Fox of her own family filmed over 25 years. Dr. Fox began her filming long before the now ubiquitous culture of self documentation. She is a pioneer ethnographer, recording the turning points and challenges of everyday family life through the lens of her video camera. She …
"I wrote this for us, for our health, our longevity, and our children," said Dr. Rob Garfield, family psychiatrist, author, and CCAF faculty member of his new book, Breaking the Male Code: Unlocking the Power of Friendship. …
The National Association for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has awarded Dr. Ellen Berman, CCAF Founder and Director of Training, with a 2015 Exemplary Psychiatrist Award. The clinical and training faculty at CCAF extend our warmest congratulations for this well deserved recognition. The recipients of this award have demonstrated their commitment to work along with NAMI members for access to care, research, funding, and other NAMI priorities. As a Board Member of NAMI Pa., Main Line, Dr. Berman has worked to …
Silences, grudges and cutoffs between family members that can last for decades. How does this happen, what’s the price everyone pays and why is it so difficult to let go of resentment? Let’s talk about what we don’t talk about—family rifts and estrangement. Dr. Ellen Berman, founder of the Center for Couples and Adult Families discusses ways to re-establish communication and review when that might not be possible. Listen to her conversation with Dr. Dan Gottlieb: http://whyy.org/cms/voicesinthefamily/ …
Social-emotional relationship therapy offers guidelines for how to address issues of power, such as class, race, gender and sexual orientation. Read about this in the new AFTA Springer Series Brief: Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy: Bridging Emotion, Societal Context, and Couple Interaction. AFTA members can find the link on the AFTA home page: Home And here is a wonderful blog post about the revolutionary potential of this model: http://familytherapyblog.com/2015/03/30/new-couples-therapy-approach-centers-societal-context-and-mutual-support/ …
"We work as a collaborative team with the family to adopt a position of curiosity about what brought them to this moment in time." …
Conversations about money and its meanings are a crucial part of couple connections. …
Coming Back Together: A guide for successful reintegration after your partner returns from military deployment, by Steven Sayers (New Harbinger publications, 2014) is a terrific book for spouses and partners of deployed service members and veterans. For many years, families of servicemen and women were given scant attention by those treating veterans with post deployment issues. As we understand more about the toll that long deployments take on their partners and children, and the difficulties of reintegrating into civilian life, …
