Savvy Psychologist

Hold on to your handbasket! Every day, the headlines push our buttons of alarm, despair, and fury all at once. What’s a thinking, feeling human to do, besides invest in a Hunger Games-style bow and arrow? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 4 tips to be happy in a world that can feel like a Mad Max chase through the headlines. Read the full transcript at https://www.quickandd...

What does it take to be healthy? Exercise, sleep, and perhaps not letting hours per week playing World of Warcraft stretch into the triple digits--we know those. But what about the beliefs we hold? How does our outlook on life, the world, and the future affect our health and well-being? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen reveals 7 big beliefs healthy people share. Read the transcri...

Hangovers are bad enough. Mustering the willpower to get a glass of water, let alone make an egg sandwich, can take multiple hours. But now there’s a new symptom in the news: hangxiety, which is exactly what it sounds like—feeling anxious while hungover. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen walks you through 5 things you need to know about hangxiety, including how to avoid it in the...

Individuals who undergo cosmetic surgery expect to look better or younger, of course, but they also want to feel different—happier or more confident. But does it work? Whether you think peels are just for bananas or you’ve been under the knife more than a chopped salad, this week Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen answers the question: Will cosmetic surgery make me happier? Read the full tran...

Is your cubicle the unofficial office water cooler? Are you tempted to set up shop in the handicapped stall just to close a door and get some work done? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 5 tips for when Jeff from accounting stops by to give you the play-by-play of his morning workout. Read the full transcript at https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/mental-health...

Forward-thinking companies strive to be socially responsible. Beer commercials exhort us to drink responsibly. And every parent wants their kid to be more responsible. All in all, responsibility is a good thing, right? It is, until it’s not. What to do when you have too much of a good thing? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 4 signs of over-responsibility, plus 3 ways to ov...

The holidays mean gathering around the table with friends and family. But along with the turkey, you’ll probably also get served a nosy question or two. Therefore, when grandma demands to know why you’re not married yet, cousin Fred asks how much money you make, or your brother-in-law wonders why you’re not drinking, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen comes to the rescue with 6 ways to deal w...

With the release of the UN scientific panel’s report, climate change is looking less like an inconvenient truth and more like a inescapable crisis. Wildfires, superstorms, and typhoons are the first guests to arrive, with food insecurity and vanishing coastal cities to follow. To an individual human, the prospect of such global destruction is totally overwhelming. Is there anything we can do? Is t...

Is your love language unintelligible? Is the spark in your committed relationship more like a dying ember? Sex advice abounds, but it’s either vague (“Stay curious,” “Grow together”) or just plain weird (“Eat ice cream in bed with the lights off,” “Try a fake British accent.”) Thankfully, there is hope. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen talks with sex therapist Dr. Stephen Snyder...

It’s the eternal question: how to start a conversation in a way that’s not creepy (“You have such beautiful lips,”) an overshare (“Ugh, this thong is way too tight,”) or weird (“Do you like ham?”) This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen walks us through how to start a conversation without remarking that your conversation partner looks just like your former cellmate. Read the full transc...

What do challenges as diverse as addiction, perfectionism, narcissism, and masochism have in common? They’re driven by a family of emotions that share “a painful awareness of self,” otherwise known as shame. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen talks with psychologist Dr. Joseph Burgo about the often-misunderstood experience of shame, and most importantly, how to overcome it. Read th...

Are you harder on yourself than 40-grit sandpaper? Do you feel like you’re falling short, no matter how high you’ve climbed? Are you tough as nails on yourself, but soft as mashed potatoes with others? Welcome to the esteemed yet insecure club of the highly self-critical. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 5 signs it’s time to release the pressure. Read the full transcript a...

From a child who needs a bribe to make it through an errand to the colleague who expects you to rescue him from his poor planning, entitled individuals are more demanding than The Rock’s workout schedule. Sometimes entitlement sparks national conversation—“I got into Yale”—but more often it’s subtle: a double take and an, “Are you serious?” This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen uncove...

What makes you feel insecure (besides trying on swimwear under fluorescent lighting?) Surprise! The culprit is your very own mind. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen reveals three toxic thinking habits that keep you feeling insecure, plus offers three ways to feel more confident. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s intuitive that getting out in nature is rejuvenating, but why? What is it about going over the river and through the woods that helps us clear our heads? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen dives into why our minds love to go green. Read the full transcript at https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/mental-health/why-getting-away-in-nature-is-good-for-your-mental-healt...

Like forms of procrastination—binge-watching GLOW, shopping for dog raincoats online, or stalking your middle school friends on social media—procrastinators themselves come in many shapes and sizes. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen profiles 3 classic types of procrastinators and offers 5 ways to change today! (Or tomorrow…) Read the full transcript at https://www.quickanddirtytip...

When should you stick to your high standards? And when should you accept yourself as “enough”? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen tackles whether self-improvement and self-compassion can be two great tastes that taste great together, or if they’re more like toothpaste and orange juice. Read the full transcript at https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/mental-health/self-i...

Anyone who’s ever tried to help a friend in an abusive relationship has likely uttered the following two words: “Just leave.” But what seems so simple from the outside is much more complicated from the inside. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen dives into why victims of relationship violence return to their abusers, and exactly how abusers manipulate their partners not only into st...

Mindfulness is the biggest thing since indoor plumbing. But as the mindfulness movement rolls on, myths and misinformation have popped up, like sweets in your grocery cart when shopping with a toddler. Therefore, this week Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen busts the 5 biggest myths of mindfulness. Read the full transcript at https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/mental-health/the-...

Are your political views getting you unfriended on Facebook? Do you find yourself retreating to your particular bubble, even at the expense of relationships? Well, imagine being married to your political opposite. Now, imagine it actually working. Today’s guest, psychologist Dr. Jeanne Safer, has accomplished just that for 40 years. This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen and Dr. Safer...

It happens to everyone. You’re supposed to go out, work out, or otherwise be active, but your energy is lower than a three-watt bulb. Are you actually tired? Or just being lazy or avoidant? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 4 ways to tell when you should push and when you should rest. Read the full transcript at https://quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/mental-health/sho...

Sometimes guilt is appropriate: it links us to our moral compass and spurs us to right our wrongs. But too often, guilt crosses the line into inappropriate. It keeps us stuck, ruminating about the past, and, unchecked, can lead to depression. So what should you do if you feel as guilty as a teenage boy with a freshly erased browser history? This week, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers...

Inequality, privilege, and injustice blare from the headlines. When faced with an unjust world, how do you cope? Do you dwell on unfairness? Or do you stay out of the fray? This week, by request from Melissa in San Francisco, Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen reveals the surprising truth about how each of us is wired for justice and revenge. Read the full transcript at https://www.quickanddi...

We all find our soulmate, are successful in our chosen field, fulfill our dreams, and live happily ever after, right? No so much. Occasionally life is a bed of roses, but often it’s a briar patch. What to do when life inevitably lets you down? Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 5 ways to deal with life’s disappointments. Read the full transcript at Check out all the Quick and Dirty Tip...

The #metoo movement has shed much-needed light on sexual assault and harassment. But sexual abuse of another kind remains hidden even today. In the United States, it is estimated that 1 in 6 men was sexually abused as a child, which means that in the U.S. alone, more than 25 million men are survivors, living with and trying to heal from the effects of childhood sexual abuse. This week, Savvy Psych...