Dr. William Hester

ABOUT ME

I started practicing with a Master'sdegree in 1971 and with my Ph.D in 1977 as the Director of a specialized forensic unit in Dallas, TX, dealing with child abuse cases. In 1983, I opened a private clinical &forensic practice, expanding into custody cases, sexual assault and capital murder cases, as well as trial science and psycholegal consultations.

In 1999, I started with behavioral medicine, work injuries, chronic pain management, and in 2013 I began practicing in long-term care facilities.

This has given me a broad range of experiences and has allowed me to observe many outcomes, good and bad. Believe it or not, most of the same life stressors that are going on now were going on when I started practicing psychology

.Here are some issues in which I have years of clinical experience and success:

1. Psychiatric disorders with adolescents, adults, and elders

2. Twenty years of dealing with physical child abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse

3. Divorce, contested child custody, and false abuse allegations.

4. Post-traumatic responses to crimes of personal violence, murder, and rape

5. Trauma associated with work-related injuries and loss of income.

6. Chronic pain and medically induced stressors related to serious medical issues

7. Elder abuse and stressors related to family care of the elderly

8. Biopsychosocial trauma associated with long-term nursing home care.

REALITY CHECK NO.1

If you are reading this, it is a pretty safe bet that things in your life are not going quite as well as you had hoped. This makes you human. At one time or another, everyone faces confusion, self-doubt, fears, and a sense of dissatisfaction with life. Far too often, these feelings trigger intense emotional distress.

REALITY CHECK NO 2

You and I are probably very much alike. It is not always easy, but I have to admit that, except for a few rare occasions of bad luck, about 99% of the difficulties I have faced were due to not thinking things through and making impulsive, bad decisions.

REALITY CHECK NO 3

Most of us spend way too much time worrying about situations we have little or no control over and end up neglecting issues over which we do have control. Then when things don't work out, we choose to blame bad outcomes on luck or the actions of others rather than our decisions.

REALITY CHECK NO 4

There is an endless array of therapeutic procedures and techniques. There is not a great deal of empirical evidence showing superiority of one technique over another.

Fads come and go, but all have one common goal: to help you change counterproductive behaviors into productive coping skills and enhance your ability to take responsibility for your decisions and positively impact the course of your life.

REALITY CHECK NO 5

There's no magic wand. A good therapist can help you identify effective coping skills to deal with stressors and complex social interactions, but whether or not you adopt them is up to you. You don't have to be in therapy for years, but unless you were exposed to a catastrophic traumatic event, you didn't get to where you are overnight. There is no quick fix. If you are an alcoholic or drug addict, sure, just say no. The immediate problem is solved, but why you became addicted hasn't been addressed. Good luck with continued sobriety.

The question is what to expect on your first session. I am a pragmatist. But that means, therapeutically, I want to address the issues that are negatively impacting you and identify the most effective way to deal with them so you experience improvement in your life.

One of the first things I want to know is what is going on in your life at the current time that makes you feel that you would benefit from professional psychological/therapeutic intervention.

Secondly, what are your expectations as to what would constitute an effective outcome, or resolution? In other words, are your expectations realistic and achievable?

Will my therapeutic approach work for you? I found over the years it does for most people, but not for everyone.I am warm, supportive, and enjoy interjecting a little humor, but I am also very direct when it comes to observations about your behavior and response style. I owe you that honesty.

My ethical responsibility is to render the best possible assessment and advice to help you deal with the situations that are causing you distress. There will be times when you may hear things you don't like, but shielding your feelings would be a disservice to you.