Author: Velleda C. Ceccoli Ph.D.

MALE OR FEMALE? VIVE LA DIFFERENCE!

After I finished reading the Sunday New York Times article on the feminization of psychotherapy (click the following – Need Therapy? A Good Man is Hard To Find), I was once again reminded of how wedded we have become, particularly in America, to the idea of equality. Don’t get me wrong, we have had to work […]

ON LIES AND LYING ON THE COUCH.

I have been thinking about lying, and particularly, about lying on the couch, and the possibilities of why, anyone undergoing psychoanalysis or psychotherapy might be moved to not tell the truth. Therapy is, after all, a way of understanding oneself and ones’ personal history or personal truths. So at first blush, it makes no sense […]

LET’S GET PHYSICAL.

Really? Yes. Or as physical as one can get in a blog, and as a psychoanalyst. Lets talk about bodies. Our bodies. How they speak and what they say. This is an area that has been largely ignored, or relegated to second place in psychoanalysis. Mostly, because as psychotherapists we have grown more comfortable with […]

ON SPEAKING AND FINDING OUR VOICE.

  Much of the psychotherapeutic hour is based on dialogue. On putting our experience into words, as an attempt to communicate to another what has happened, what we feel, what we remember. The interchange that ensues in each clinical hour is particular to the experience of each patient and their analysts’ experience of them. Each […]

I DO I DO! On relationships and commitment.

What does it mean to make a commitment to another, to be in an intimate  relationship with another? Beyond the vows that we make, the intentions that we have in our heart, the passion and attachment that we may feel, what is commitment really about? Our culture tells us that relationship and commitment are something […]

ON DREAMS – And Making Movies.

Dreams are a type of self- communication. In some cultures, they are a communication from unknown parts of the universe, and as such they are shared in town meetings and included in community decisions. The Raramundi of Northern Mexico plan their sleeping arrangements to facilitate waking and discussing their dreams. The Ashanti of West Africa, […]

ON BOUNDARIES – And Internal Architecture.

Boundaries are something that we do not often think about, at least not consciously, until we find ourselves in an uncomfortable situation, usually an interpersonal one. Yet, it is boundaries that provide us with a sense of personal safety. Boundaries delineate where we stop and another begins. Think of it as a geographical frontier: a […]