Denise, you and I are in agreement. It’s important to know what you are feeling. And certainly being able to verbalize can be an important step in elucidating those emotions. Emotions, thoughts, and physiology work synergistically – each influence and intensify the others – for better or worse. You can’t deal with just one and expect changes.

“Want the absolute quickest way to work through a negative feeling? Verbalize it!” Good first step. If you find yourself never again trading when you are tired, that strategy will have worked for you…and that’s great. But like so many other issues around trading, most required a more in depth approach than simple catharsis. And this is the real crux of the issue. How do you change behavior?

I came to your website in hopes of learning something new about the psychology of trading. Your tag line, “Pioneers in Psychological Capital”, certainly is intriguing. And I liked your description of Modern Psychoanalysis, and although it doesn’t sound much different than many other client-centered approaches that recognize the value of feeling, I’m willing to learn more. I’ll continue to read your articles and blogs. However, one thing I have learned in the many years that I did therapy is that there is no one theory that explains everything, nor is there one approach that reaches all clients.

There are only two things key elements in successful trading: First, a trading plan and money management principles that result in a positive win/loss ratio, second, the ability to execute that plan. The first is relatively easy. There are lots of trading systems that work. The second is the harder issue. I hope that we can continue to dialogue about this.

Tom, I’d like to address your comment about John McEnroe. There really isn’t any evidence that there is a causal relationship between John’s emotional outbursts and his success. If there were, we’d see all athletes using that technique. Instead, I suspect that his success was due to long, long hours of intense practice and his innate ability. What we do know is that McEnroe caused himself a lot of grief both on and off the court by his inability to control his temper.