Working in Psychological Space Part II: Using the intersubjective field to access, decode and understand what lies beneath

This column also appears in the online edition of the May-June, 2010 issue of  The Therapist Magazine, the publication of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT). Abstract: Adapted from a presentation to the CAMFT Orange County chapter, this second in a three-part series examines the ways applied contemporary psychoanalytic theory, particularly Intersubjective […]



Working in Psychological space Part I: Using the intersubjective field to access, decode and understand what lies beneath

This column also appears in the online edition of the March-April, 2010 issue of  The Therapist Magazine, the publication of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Abstract: Adapted from a presentation to the CAMFT Orange County chapter, this first in a three-part series examines the ways applied contemporary psychoanalytic theory, particularly Intersubjective Systems […]



A Psychoanalytic Examination of Positive Psychology

This column also appears in the online format of the January-February issue of The Therapist Magazine, the publication of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.  While it was written for clinicians, concepts discussed are readily accessible to any interested reader. Abstract: In this column, Dr. Heller examines the clinical limitations of the Positive […]



What’s it really worth, anyway…?

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register. While conversing with a colleague recently, discussing the progress and vagaries of her doctoral dissertation and the general trends of the day, I began to think about the financial triage that has come to redefine daily life for so many people impacted negatively by the dismal […]



Sadness and Mourning

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register A screenwriter friend gave me an article discussing the salutary aspects of sadness and the ways in which our contemporary culture tends to quickly erase it or prematurely foreclose upon its gritty psychological usefulness in a quest for perennial cheery happiness.  As if happiness were a […]



Perchance to Dream: Part II

The uncanny content of dreams often makes them appear to be communications from afar.  However seductive it is to imagine mysterious and distant origins, the equally fascinating explanation is that dream images are your own mental products.



Perchance to Dream: Part I

Since the dawn of human consciousness, we have been fascinated by our dreams, visitations from the depths of our psyches.  Nothing brings us into contact more intimately with our own mental mechanics than a profound dream.  Universally appealing, no other topic of mind is quite as compelling, confounding or captivating.  Almost everyone has an opinion […]