TIC: How did you get interested in the world of self-help?
MP: I had a whole other career working in Hollywood and, believe it or not, talking to people about their problems was kind of my relaxation on the weekends. I was office shrink in every job I had and, out of the necessities of work (Hollywood is completely nuts when it comes to leadship and group dynamics issues), I started doing executive coaching and leadership. Ultimately, I decided to make my hobby my career and went back to grad school.
TIC: If you had to boil down your philosophy on therapy, what are the big themes?
New Age-y as this may sounds, my fundamental belief is that the answers to all your issues are inside you and that it's a therapist's job to help you find those answers, not give you those answers. I am violently against the notion of therapists giving advice - "yes, you tell your boyfriend how you really feel - then eat that cupcake 'cause you deserve it!" Therapy is about handing you the tools to make your own decisions. Put another way, our childhoods often result in our being on emotional short circuits, e.g. "I feel wronged therefore I get angry"; therapy is there to help you break those short circuits so you can make decisions based on the adult you are now as opposed to the person you were back then.
TIC: Any recent success stories?
Success is in the eyes of the client, not me, and, barring the occassions where a client references having used a tool I gave them, the only time I really know I'm successful is when therapy terminates (it's like a rock power ballad - you only know they love you when they leave <smile>).
For more words of wisdom from Matt Prager, check out www.ThisOrProzac.com (including his pithy-titled oeuvre of self-help books) and his Grand Online Dating Experiment http://www.datingnancyp.com/.
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