Winners and Losers
Hyper-competitiveness and a focus on the winning, with contempt for losers, often reflects a defense against underlying feelings of shame and inferiority.
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Points of Departure
The basic emotional issues that drive us, and their implications for the most common psychological problems: depression, anxiety, shame, low self-esteem, etc.
Separation and Merger
Each of us can bear differing degrees of separation and distance from our loved ones.
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Basic Shame, Toxic Shame
Basic shame is the awareness, often unconscious, that we are emotionally damaged. This article discusses how the excruciating experience of being broken or damaged leads to certain defensive and avoidant behaviors to escape from it.
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About the Author
California Clinical Psychologist License No. 12878 Joseph Burgo, Ph.D., has practiced psychotherapy for more than 30 years, holding licenses as a marriage and family therapist and clinical psychologist. He is the author of Why Do I Do That? Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape Our Lives and The Narcissist You Know: Defending
About this Website
Welcome to After Psychotherapy, an online mental health resource for those who may have begun their journey of self-discovery during psychotherapy and want to continue along that road now that their treatment has ended. As any good therapist would do, the posts here aim to bring you closer to those parts of yourself outside of
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Contact
PRESS CONTACT ONLY: Sharon Bially, (508) 655-2676sharon@booksavvypr.com LITERARY AGENT: Gillian MacKenziegmackenzie@gillianmackenzieagency.com FILM & TELEVISION: Michael Eha & Associatesmichaeleha1&gmail.com INQUIRIES MEANT FOR DR. BURGO SHOULD BE SENT TO HIM DIRECTLY AT: afterpsy@gmail.com Because the volume of site visits has grown so dramatically and I now receive daily appeals for advice, I’m no longer able to provide
About Narcissistic Personality Disorder
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV, the following are the essential features of Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: (1)Â
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About Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They are different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through from time to time. Bipolar disorder symptoms can result in damaged relationships, poor
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About Autism
From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following: 1. marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction 2. failure to develop peer