The Radical Therapist The Radical Therapist #142 – A Developmentalist’s Guide to Better Mental Health w/ Lois Holzman
Feb 2, 2026
Lois Holzman, developmental psychologist and co-founder of the Eastside Institute, advocates social therapeutics and performance activism. She discusses play as essential adult development. She contrasts developmentalist, relational approaches with individualist, diagnostic models. She describes Vygotskian influences and improvisational practices for getting unstuck and creating new social possibilities.
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Book Originated From A Letters Column
- The book began as a letters column after a colleague's complex question prompted Lois to ask for a letter.
- Two years of responding to diverse letters showed her writing reached people and formed a new non-advice developmental practice.
Use Play To Get Unstuck
- Play by doing things you don't yet know how to do to get unstuck.
- Holzman recommends trying new performances and perspectives, treating play as experimental movement rather than frivolous activity.
Development Is Socially Created
- Development is a social accomplishment not an individual stage.
- Lois Holzman draws on Vygotsky to argue we are both products and producers of our environment, growing through relationships and contexts.
