The Psychology of Depression and Anxiety - Dr. Scott Eilers

Most parenting advice creates broken adults. Society pressures us to raise "convenient" children, but this approach severely damages their emotional development and mental health. Children deserve to be emotional, needy, and sometimes chaotic as they navigate a confusing world with underdeveloped coping skills. When we force them to suppress these natural tendencies, we create adults who struggle...

Your cherished childhood memories are lying to you. Nostalgia creates a deceptive highlight reel that omits all the ordinary stress and struggles we faced back then. Those magical moments from your past weren't actually more special than what's happening right now. Our brains play three specific tricks that make old memories seem better than they really were. In this episode, I'll show you how to...

You do not have full control over your mental health. No one is guaranteed a go0d life - or a good brain. And while there always will be things you cannot control, how you influence what you can will make all the difference. I'm giving you 25 suggestions that will be worth your time in 2025. Get my ⁠5-day guide to reclaiming your time and energy despite mental health struggles⁠ . Get Practical too...

A lifetime of being labeled "lazy" taught me there's a crucial difference between choosing not to act and being unable to act. My struggles with depression were constantly misinterpreted as a lack of motivation or drive. Once I understood the difference between depression and laziness, I finally stopped blaming myself for something beyond my control. In this video, I break down five key difference...

There's a reason therapy often makes you feel worse than you did before you started. Good therapy helps disengage and deactivate negative coping mechanism you're using to handle the harsh reality of what you're facing. However this often happens before you're able to create new, healthier coping skills. This reality leaves you with two choices. 🪣 Get my 5-day guide to reclaiming your time and ene...

High-functioning depression is the most misunderstood subtype of depression sufferer. Get my 5-day guide to reclaiming your time and energy despite mental health struggles. Get Practical tools for navigating life with depression and anxiety, delivered weekly⁠⁠⁠ . ⁠3 Unique ways to work with me⁠ ⁠⁠Mood Bloom games for depression and anxiety⁠⁠ (I have partnered with this brand) ⁠Dramatically improve...

Most mental health advice about trauma recovery is dead wrong. Traditional therapy approaches often make PTSD symptoms worse, not better. You're struggling not because your brain is broken, but because it's protecting you from something real that happened. Through my decade of trauma therapy experience and personal journey, I've discovered five essential rules that actually work. In this video, I'...

How will you survive the onslaught of the winter/holiday season if you struggle with your mental health? I'm sharing my personal survival guide in this episode. Get Practical tools for navigating life with depression and anxiety, delivered weekly⁠⁠⁠ . ⁠3 Unique ways to work with me⁠ ⁠⁠Mood Bloom games for depression and anxiety⁠⁠ (I have partnered with this brand) ⁠Dramatically improve your sleep...

Technology isn't ruining your mental health - your relationship with it is. Our society's relationship with screens has become deeply unhealthy, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of escapism and deteriorating mental health. Living with mental illness means having higher baseline needs for self-care and stability than most people realize. In this video, I'll show you how bottom-up time budgeting t...

Making healthy decisions is one of the most difficult things to do for people struggling with mental illness. Conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, affect both our conscious thoughts, as well as, our emotional experiences. Living with anxiety or depression can make you doubt your judgment, leading to cycles of poor choices and regret. I've been there, and I've discovered a powerful DBT...

Most self-care advice is toxic positivity wrapped in consumerist propaganda. True self-care isn't about spa days and shopping sprees - it's about treating yourself like someone you're responsible for keeping alive. I discovered this truth while teaching burnout prevention to healthcare workers, where I developed the concept of "aggressive self-care." This approach treats self-care as seriously as...

Therapist credentials and education don't matter as much as you think. What truly matters is their ability to connect, understand, and implement effective treatment strategies. I've spent years watching therapists with impressive degrees fail their clients while less decorated professionals create lasting transformations. Through my experience as a clinical psychologist, I've identified three esse...

Human beings are reward-focused, and this can be extremely problematic when we don't feel appreciated. Our need for appreciation actually makes us more miserable. In this video, I'll show you three practical strategies to break free from feeling invisible and finally feel appreciated - even if the people around you never change. 3 Unique ways to work with me⁠⁠ Get Practical tools for navigating li...

Depression treatments often fail because they focus too much on the mind, ignoring the body. Your brain is an organ first and an emotion-producer second, which changes everything about treatment. Living with treatment-resistant depression isn't just about finding the right therapist or medication. Understanding whether your struggles stem from physical health, self-talk patterns, or connection dif...

Traditional therapy is failing the mentally ill community. The current system wasn't built for those battling severe mental health challenges. Insurance barriers and practice models push the most skilled therapists toward treating the "worried well." The harsh reality is that finding a therapist who truly understands chronic mental illness requires exhausting trial and error. In this video, I expl...

Society tells us lost years are wasted years. In reality, these painful periods of mental illness are not our fault, but a natural outcome of battling an invisible enemy. My own decade-long struggle with mental health taught me that recovery begins when we stop blaming ourselves. Through this journey, I discovered that managing mental illness often requires doing the opposite of what our minds tel...

Happiness isn't a natural state for everyone, and that's perfectly fine. I've spent decades fighting against my brain's inability to maintain joy. Interestingly, constantly chasing happiness makes you more miserable. My breakthrough came when I stopped fighting against my natural emotional baseline. In this video, I'll show you why accepting your unique emotional framework and focusing on less-lea...

Your messy home isn't a character flaw - it's your brain on survival mode. Research shows your brain actually develops differently in cluttered spaces, affecting everything from memory to relationship perspectives. Through my work with therapy clients, I've discovered that organizing your space isn't about perfection - it's about creating mental peace. In this video, I share six science-backed str...

Relaxation techniques aren't failing you - they're just incomplete. Most experts only teach half the solution, leaving you stuck in an endless cycle of anxiety. Effective stress management requires both physical and psychological interventions. Your brain's natural stress response operates on multiple levels, demanding a more sophisticated approach. A portion of this video is in partnership with H...

Mental illness can make you feel like you don't belong in this world, and often lead to isolation and alienation. Isolation can lead to a worsening of mental illness, which can in turn lead to greater isolation. And on, and on. Society tells us disconnection from the world means we're broken. My journey through mental illness taught me disconnection is actually a natural defense mechanism. Living...

Happiness isn't humanity's default state. Some of us are wired differently, we require active effort to maintain emotional well-being. Living with a happiness deficit feels isolating, especially when surrounded by naturally content people. As a psychologist I've discovered effective strategies for managing this unique brain type. If you're constantly struggling to feel happy despite having "nothin...

Pressure and stress motivate humans to get stuff done, but only to a certain point. After that point they become a liability - they can actually make you less likely to achieve your goals. Hard work, by itself, is not enough. You need strategy, which comes from understanding how your brain actually works. ⁠ The only app that helps you get all the benefits of meditation without all the hassle⁠ . Ge...

How you sleep matters. The way you feel and function during the day is a direct reflection of both the quantity and quality of your sleep. Somnee can help you get better sleep with just 15 minutes a night. Check out the Somnee Sleep headband I use. (Partner I believe in) It's not just about how to get to sleep fast, but how to sleep better at night naturally. And if you have 1 or more chronic ment...

Grief doesn't alway involve loss because of death. It's a natural response to any significant loss in life. In fact, grieving the living can be even more challenging than mourning the dead. Breakups, estranged family members, and ended friendships can leave us devastated. These losses often lack closure and breed guilt, making the healing process complex and drawn out. In this episode, I share my...

Many of the conventional mental health treatments are failing us. Our mainstream options only work for about half of those seeking help, leaving many to suffer in silence. Therapy and medication aren't enough. We need more innovative solutions, especially for those battling treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. In this episode, I explore alternate treatments depression like TMS, ketamine...