CHills Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy and Buddhism
Constance G. Hills, Ph.D.

I remember in the 1980s, as I began my life as a therapist, the front page of a major magazine introduced The Wounded Healer as the prototypical psychotherapist. In 1988, in order to buoy myself in a sea of burned out mental health professionals, I began a personal meditation practice. Now, as a psychologist who practices Vipassana meditation and studies Theravada Buddhism, I have come to rely on the fruits of meditation and Buddhist teachings for the more difficult navigations in my work: suffering, disconnection, death. As a psychotherapist, one of my roles is to listen to people narrate stories of suffering. Some clients suffer in ways which are familiar to me, which resonate with me and perhaps make me feel my own suffering has not been in vain. Other clients suffer in ways which seem foreign to me. And as much as I try to imagine certain suffering, I cannot fathom its actual nature. I have not been there. In times like these, the First Noble Truth is like stepping into a stream of cool water on an unbearably hot day. In that moment of frustration and possible disconnection, what is important to remember is that we all suffer. The First of the Four Noble Truths proclaimed by Buddhasuffering as a universal experienceis of deep comfort to me. From a Buddhist perspective, sufferingdefined as unsatisfactoriness, disappointment, illness, pain, grief, sorrow, despairaccompanies the life of each and every beingclearly stating that even among the wisest men and women suffering exists. No being is free from dukkha (the Pali word for suffering). This understanding has an enormous impact on my clinical practice, my acceptance of the suffering of my clients. In addition, there is the Second Noble Truth which declares craving and attachment as the cause of suffering, the Third Noble Truth which declares that the cessation of suffering is possible, and the Fourth Noble Truth, which offers the Eightfold Noble Path as the steps necessary to achieve that cessation. I limit my reflections here to the First Noble Truth and a few other related points that are directly relevant to my clinical work. Which brings me to another nugget of Buddhist wisdom... We practice psychology in a way that requires us to diagnose patients. We identify with psychological theories that define our work through distinctive styles. In psychology, we have our separate roles (therapist and client, patient and doctor). Yet, in psychotherapy, we breathe the air of interconnectedness. Our clients pains and losses touch us deeply; we feel heavy after some sessions, we are happy when someone Or, Joanna Macy, a Buddhist teacher says, When we open to the pain of the world we discover our interconnectedness in the web of life. This is the gift of dark and dangerous times: to find again our mutual belonging. The last Buddhist gem that has proven to be a great asset to my clinical work is the practice of metta. Metta can be loosely translated as lovingkindness. Metta is a kind of spiritual force, or momentum, if you will, that encompasses human qualities such as warmth, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness. Metta is practiced or chanted at the end of a meditation sitting or retreat after the mind is calm and the heart can be quite open. As a psychologist who sometimes works with older adults in psychotherapy, I am reminded of the inevitability of death. I witness the last chance people have at the end of their lives to open their hearts and let go of pain, resentment, and sorrow they have carried many, many, many years. Here, metta can be an excellent compliment to good psychotherapy. After a client works through a particular schism with a loved one, and not sooner, metta practice (sending warmth, forgiveness, and healing thoughts towards all beings) can enhance feelings of well being exponentiallythe exact feelings clients come to psychotherapy for! When clients realize their suffering is universal, their interconnectedness to those who hurt them is ever present, they have a final opportunity to let go and love. That is the power of metta.
Constance G. Hills, Ph.D., is a member of the SPFA. A clinical and forensic psychologist, she maintains a private psychotherapy, assessment, and consulting practice in San Francisco. She has practiced Buddhist meditation for 15 years and is a student of Dr. Rina Sircar. Her meditation practice is Vipassana in nature, deeply rooted in the Burmese forest traditional of Thervada Buddhism. She also co-teaches a workshop, Transforming Awareness: Buddhist Insights for Psychotherapists, with Daijaku Judith Kinst, Ph.D., LMFT, at the Esalen Institute and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. She welcomes questions and dialogue about Buddhism and psychotherapy. She can be reached at 415-273-1301.
changes their life for the better. There are times when a client does despicable things, and I am pulled into the I/you divide. In moments like these, I reach for the Buddhist teaching of interconnectedness to bridge that divide between us. When I remember that the client and I are connected regardless of right or wrong, that we are connected because we are sentient beings, then I can remove my judgement about a client. In this, I find renewal again and again. In Buddhism, all beingsmale and female, poor and rich, healthy and not healthy, animals and humansswim together in the ocean of being we call life. Others may call it the web of life, but by any description, we are in it together. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, None of us are free until all of us are free.
june 2006
the san francisco psychologist

CHills Psychotherapy

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Psychotherapy and Buddhism

Constance G. Hills, Ph.D.

the san francisco psychologist

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