Ep. 113: Dr. Scott Kellogg — A Powerful Technique for Healing, Love, and Growth

My guest this week is Dr. Scott Kellogg, a therapist in private practice in New York. He’s the author of a book called Transformational Chairwork (affiliate link), and we focused on what chairwork is and why it can be so powerful. It was a great discussion about how we’re all made of different parts, and we can give voice to these facets of ourselves in a way that promotes integration and growth.

One thing I hadn’t expected in this discussion was the demonstration I did with Scott, where he led me through an experiential exercise in therapeutic chairwork. It was a timely topic—we focused on some of the feelings I was having about the 2020 presidential election. I’m guessing a lot of people will be able to relate to some of the thoughts, fears, and emotions that came up. I’ll look forward to hearing what you think.

Topics Scott and I explored included:

• The experiential practice of chairwork
• The importance of emotional connection in order for us to heal
• Voice as the integration of emotion and cognition
• Why it’s useful to experience ourselves as having different parts or voices
• How acknowledging the various parts in other people can foster greater compassion
• John Rowan’s book called Subpersonalities (affiliate link)
• Dr. Arnold Beisser and the paradoxical theory of change
• How going more deeply into an emotion can be useful
• Why it’s important to get our different parts into the room at the same time
• Overlap between chairwork and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (see this previous episode with ACT developer Steve Hayes)
• A demonstration of Scott walking me through my own session of chairwork related to the 2020 presidential election
• The emotions that can come up for both client and therapist in chairwork
• The application of chairwork to social justice trauma

Scott Kellogg, PhD, is an ISST-certified advanced schema therapist who had also trained in Gestalt Therapy and Voice Dialogue.

He created the Transformational Chairwork approach in 2008, and he currently teaches this method of psychotherapeutic dialogue to clinicians in both the US and abroad.

Scott has served on the faculties of NYU, The Rockefeller University, and Yale’s School of Medicine. He’s also a past-president of the Division on Addiction of the New York State Psychological Association.

Find Scott online at the Transformation Chairwork website and at Chairwork Therapy NYC.