I came across your YouTube presentations and subscribed and find your talks very interesting and you are pleasant to listen to. Would be interesting to meet in person someday. You may visit my YouTube to hear me play piano.....I see you play guitar. Congrats on expanding yourself into new skills, understandings, and fun in life.

Daniel, I want to thank you so much for sharing your experience. I happened to stumble across your video 'Why I quit being a therapist' on You Tube and what you say is absolutely spot on. I have worked as a counsellor for many years in the mental health field in Australia (private practice) and have suffered continuous burnout for all of the reasons you mention. I agree with your suggestion that listening (and the burden of helping) is something that should be shared amongst communities, not assigned to a percentage of people who are paid to carry the load of many. This is a flawed and unsustainable system. Like many others in this field, my passion for helping has morphed over time into an avoidance of my own life and the things I truly value - and yes, it is impossible not to take client issues home with you. I completely understand the notion that, as therapists, we assist the people we meet to fly free, often at the expense of remaining in a cage of our own making. Your final reason brought me to tears, because I have been trying to put into words what this career choice has taken from me (despite what it has given) and what it stands to take if I continue. I find myself sitting in sessions thinking 'but when is it my time?'. Well, I think my time is now. Thank you for your insight and encouragement.

would you ever consider doing a video on borderline personality disorder, or the concept of personality disorders in general? I have been diagnosed with BPD 8 years ago, since then I have been in and out of therapy. Around 4 years ago i went less and less and was working more in a way which you describe in this video series about self therapy, which helped me much more than therapy. I was forced into therapy, all the while being an active artist, also a writer. No one ever REALLY considered that my work as visual artist and writer could be a vital part of my process. Since I shifted my focus on internally working on myself and also stopped focusing on the diagnosis I have been doing much better. Considering the stigma attached to BPD and other personality disorders, I think it would make an interesting video/discussion. To my knowledge there are 255 combinations of criteria that constitute an analysis of BPD, then you are told basically you are emotionally unstable, hard to handle, angry, empty, people make BPD seem like a terminal illness and paint you in some pretty dark colors. So does this label really help? I don't think so. By now I have become much more open, calm and trusting and found ways of dealing with abandonment issues and rage. Therapists have mostly been a hindrance on this path. I don't say they are always, I am sure most have been well meaning and some do great work, I won't tell anybody not to try therapy, but the whole system of analysis, medication and therapy has made me worse (for example, I gained a benzodiazepine addiction which rendered me completely fucking useless for 2 years), while I was left picking up the pieces. Your critique of therapy made a lot of sense to me, liking your channel! All the best.

Everything you said about being a therapist resonates with me. I was a Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor and often felt “actualized” in the intense world I found so fascinating, that I became unhinged. Journaling is not something I have set my mind to—I have many obsessions that prevent me from being free and happy. I, too, need to separate from my older sister who is a fundamentalist Christian with what I think are crazy impediments from leading a happy life. Thank you for the Alice Miller plug—I will look her up.

Interesting. I like your perspective - and your way of seeing the world. I like people who can think for themselves and dare to question the generally accepted 'truth'. If you asked me out I would probably say yes 😉

I just heard your Why you left Therapy video and about your personal trauma. My trauma situation is complex and multifactorial but all is better now. If I told you the story, you would never believe me. We have overcome the impossible. You are incredible and have a special gift. Thank you for sharing.

Dear Daniel, Watching your videos has changed my life. There aren’t enough words or ways to say how much. These brought me to your website. This is where I learned about self-therapy. I’d never heard of self-therapy. I’d read some things on self-help from various authors now and again but nothing was very helpful. But your book on self-therapy “From Trauma to Enlightenment” is completely different. As I read it, things started to happen. And thank you for saying that self-therapy can be done in many ways. If you had said that it could only help by writing in a journal or reading lots of books I wouldn’t be where I am now. Self-reflection, self-questioning and inner dialogue are what I find most helpful. But your videos are what started me on this path. In them, you often speak gently and always respectfully, which means the world to me. I believe it’s why people are responding to you. Please keep them online for all to see. Your films are incredibly moving and beautifully done. It’s my hope and belief that these can and will begin to change the world. All I know for sure is that because of your generosity my own inner world has begun change, and I’m finding the person I once was long ago. I need to say thank you for your openness and honesty about talk therapy and especially therapists. My experience with these has not been good - they were harmful, to say the least. These made my already difficult life so much harder. You’ve said the truth about them, things I’ve always thought and felt but didn’t know how to say, and it wouldn’t have mattered if I had because no one I knew would have understood. But now I have hope. Thank you for giving me hope. I hope your website will always be there for me and all who need it. I’m forever grateful. You’ll never know how much. maria

Hi Daniel. Have you read any of psychologist, Arthur Janov books? The 'Feeling Child' and 'Primal Healing' are so in-line with your view of healing our traumas from childhood.

Your films speak truths that need to be heard. Everyone’s experience needs to be respected protected, even when it is hard for others to understand - not pathologized and medicated. It’s about respecting every person’s dignity.

Dear Daniel, Your experiences in the mental health system and as a therapist in private practice resonate with me. I am so reassured by your skillfulness in helping anyone who finds your work realize that they are already well and whole. I’ve felt alone in my private campaign to help my clients make an honestly critical of psychiatry and, if need be, to rid themselves of psychiatry’s soul destroying “treatments” (drugs). I sincerely hope who find your videos are also reassured that there are a few good therapists out there who really do put their client’s best interests first and that see their clients as whole beings, not simply as a series of chemical reactions creating “problematic behaviors.” Frankly, in my 20 years of practice I’ve seen a lot of suffering people, but I’ve never seen a “diseased” one. Thanks again for your inspiration. Robert Barth LCSW

HI , I just wanted to say thanks for the inspiring and thoughtful youtube videos. They are truly interesting, and I too am on a journey to find the true self and move beyond the now! ACA's Unite...lol.....!

Dear Daniel, I've been inspired by you, thank you. I'm interested in relationship in particular. We all carry wounding and health. I agree, be in a good place, love from surplus. I'm thinking at the moment that I/ we can only get to this through relationship(s). We need relationship(s) to grow and mature in relationship and heal. I know it's been transformative to end a relationship, to say no. But right now I'm staying put in something that feels grim a lot of the time and has done for a long time. But growth can be like that, (horse chestnut buds look so violent around the time they split the sheath to emerge) so why not in relationship? We don't know if we're transforming to die, or to blossom anew. If I don't learn what I'm learning within relationship, can I learn it? I could leave, take the iron out of the fire to let the heat sink in, and start again more whole. I think that's a wise path. But I'm not convinced it's the only one, though I have no idea if that it wisdom or fear! I can grow, do it in this one and then review. I think Rilke talks about the conventional path, obviously at a time when divorce/ separation was less easy, was to numb, or find some arrangement, at least that worked for the man. But he saw even then, that to leave and split up, is the same. So I'm curious what you think about transforming relationships from within. And navigating the subtleties of growth and turmoil and toxicity. Turning lead into gold means handling lead. Warmly, Amanda

Daniel, I came to your blog after having seen your "Why I stopped being a therapist" video. I am a senior executive coach with many years of experience. I practice in Japan, and across culture. I, too, am leaving 'the field', and owing to a system that no longer permits me to hold my client's interest first. Your transition from your former field inspires me. Well done! I look forward to following your blog.

Hi Daniel - I just discovered your videos. They are so intellectually rich and emotionally deep. I wanted to say thank you and keep going! I so relate to many things you say including the bit about anxiety and having it after you be yourself in a strong way. That is my life experience too. Just know that when you put your videos out there and feel vulnerable that there are many of us out here watching and getting it and appreciating it on so many levels. Keep being you!

Hi Daniel, Just wanted to share that you inspire me in a Betty Dodson kind of way. Of course I know you are not a radical sex activist like Ms. Betty, but you are taking a radical stand for discussing something so natural, (sex, trauma, abuse, bad parents) that makes so many people uncomfortable yet is the complete and utter honest truth. Thank you for being so courageous. It's people like you who give me the strength to continue my inner work and go against the grain. Those of us striving to be healthy are a minority!