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 Dr. Jerry Lawler joined the GBCC clinical staff in 2001. He received his masters degree at San Jose State University and his doctorate in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley/Alameda, Ca. Dr. Lawler works with a variety of adult issues including substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. He specializes in improving client motivation to change problem behaviors such as drinking or use of drugs, smoking, or being stuck in a relationship or job that is unsatisfying. He also works with couples and families having trouble getting along. Dr. Lawler currently conducts the adult Anger Transformation Workshop at the Center.
I sometimes joke with my clients that half the time spent in my 5-year doctoral program in clinical psychology was learning how to listen. At age 63, I think I’ve finally learned how to do it well, and it constantly amazes me how many people I see have no one in their lives who can do just that, really listen, and really try to understand.
On my desk I have a quote from a famous psychologist Bruno Bettelheim that says, “Respect the Symptom.” This simple statement urges us therapists to see whatever problem a client brings to therapy as a surface indicator of a deeper problem. When a person goes to a physician, the doctor might treat the symptom, like a fever, if it is life-threatening or disabling, but a good doctor would never ignore the underlying cause. In the same way, if a person comes to me with a symptom such as depression or substance abuse, I will treat the symptoms, but will not ignore the particular life circumstance that is causing the depression or the use of substances at just this time in the persons’ life.
Some would say, “I want my clients to just feel better,” and for most people I see in therapy this is their short-term hope. But I think it is too limited. Simply leaving therapy after a few sessions feeling better may not deal with the deeper problems that keep causing stuckness, and unhappiness. Like a tooth that needed a root canal but just got a surface filling, it will start to hurt again. The client will come back after awhile feeling worse. I’m very honest with my clients about this. To give you a long-term cure, we have to do some digging into perhaps some painful areas. At first you may feel worse, not better.
My hope for my clients is freedom, and with freedom comes a deeper enduring happiness. Not freedom in the political sense of course, but in the sense of being able to make free choices about your direction in life.
I don’t insist that my clients achieve this deeper freedom if it is not called for. I also see people who are already well adjusted but suffering temporary setbacks who may only need a quick repair job. We will together find out how deep the problem goes before we make a plan for treatment.
I’ve been a psychologist for 15 years. Since I tend to believe in the “Scientist-Practitioner” model us psychologists in the US get trained in, I spend a couple of days a week doing research at the University of Maryland in areas like substance abuse and prevention, homelessness and HIV. In my “prior incarnation” I had raised a family and had completely different career, which no longer seemed to “fit” so I guess you could say that I’m not unfamiliar with reinventing myself. Even now I feel like my interests are expanding into new areas. After a few volunteer experiences in the Middle East, I’ve become sensitize to issues of conflict resolution and now teach a class at CCBC which I developed called “The Psychology of Inter-Ethnic Conflict.” I have plans for a book on the same subject. Since conflict usually involves anger, anger management has become a related interest and I have developed a group and individual treatment for it at GBCC. Finally, since substance abuse has been part of my family history, I know a lot about how it operates in families and specialize in treating it at the Center.
At age 63, I feel like I am just beginning.
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