Or a veteran of one of the wars would come to alleviate the traumatic stress of having committed or witnessed acts of violence. Or a father or mother burdened with memories of war trauma. I never proselytized my patients with my opinions-but inevitably the wars always came home and entered my treatment room as a cause of mental suffering: Perhaps a son or a sister was a combatant or working for the military. In order to do that we must earn the trust of the families that come to us.įor most of my adult life, I have been actively opposed to every foreign war the U.S. It is our chosen vocation to help heal the many ways that families can suffer.

Every day we witness others struggle within the limits of their freedom and their fate-to make choices and try to comprehend the destiny that limits their choices. We have the extraordinary opportunity-by our extensive work in groups and families-to see in a small way the panorama of human behavior and the wide spectrum of action that our fellow human beings take as they live their lives.

I believe we clinicians of group therapy and family therapy have a special role to play as human beings dedicated to the possibility of creating a world where freedom, justice, and equality abide not only in the families we treat but also in the world. Rabbi Michael Lerner Social UnconsciousĪ Public Address to Clinicians in the People’s Republic of China CREDO: What I believe [Editor's Note: Daring to challenge psychotherapists of the People’s Republic of China to uncover the social unconscious in their own culture, an American Family Psychotherapist, speaking at a conference of psychotherapists in the People’s Republic, presents ideas which may open many minds in both the People’s Republic AND United States’ psychotherapy circles.

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