Therapy Thursday

In this episode we dive into why validation is so important to us, how we so often get it wrong, and offer tips on how to do it better. Learning how to better validate people's emotions (including your own) can be a key step in improving overall mental health!

Gaslighting has become a very popular phrase to be thrown around during arguments, but most of the time I hear it being used, it is being used incorrectly. Gaslighting is not just lying or remembering events differently. In this episode we discuss exactly what gaslighting is, what it is not, and how you can tell the difference. 

If you've ever heard someone say "Well that's just how I am because I'm from New York" or "I'm a Scorpio so I can't help it" or anything like that, to justify misbehavior or mistreating other people, we need to put a stop to that. No more excuses. 

Despite experiencing mental health concerns at the same rate as women, men are significantly less likely to seek help or treatment for it. In this episode, we talk about how big a problem that actually is, and one shift of thinking that might help.

Sleep is one of the closest links between our physical health and mental/emotional health. In addition to good sleep health habits, knowing your chronotype can also help you improve your sleep health, and thus improve your mental health.

September is National Suicide Awareness & Prevention month, so on today's episode we talk about suicide's warning signs, risk indicators, protective factors, and more, including what you can do specifically if you fear someone in your life is contemplating suicide. For immediate assistance, dial 988 to be connected with the suicide hotline and mental health emergency services in your area.&nbs...

Many people wonder what is the difference between setting a boundary versus trying to control someone. The short answer is this: boundaries are focused on your life, control is focused on other peoples' lives. Listen to find out more. 

As important as feelings are, they are not everything. This week we talk specifically about what feelings are not, and what are their limitations.

In the world of therapy, we do a lot of work about our thoughts - which is a good thing! But in our efforts we sometimes take the talk about thoughts a little too far. So today let's talk about the things that thoughts are not: thoughts are not facts, thoughts are not our identity, and thoughts are not completely in our control. 

Some very exciting news this week: I have officially launched my private practice and am accepting new clients! Head to tjcounselicg.com to find out more! Now the sad news: I am not accepting insurance. In this episode I talk about why that is, and how insurance companies are making access to mental health care so difficult.

In this episode we cover the basics of thinking in opposites, a.k.a. "dialectical thinking." It's a very important mental health skill that is widely applicable to almost every client I've ever worked with.

A lot of my friends and clients feel like overthinking is causing their anxiety. It shocks them to learn that it actually might be under thinking that is causing their anxiety! Find out why. 

In a new Therapy Thursday feature, we are reviewing the book "The Gap and the Gain" by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

I have 3 levels of "allyship" to help you be a better ally to LGBTQ+ people in your life, depending on where you are starting from.

Sometimes in our attempts to help someone who is going through pain, grief, or loss, we end up unintentionally saying the exact wrong thing. These are 3 of the most common ones. 

In the wake of the Roe v Wade decision, we need to discuss the importance of self determination in health care. 

Every kid gets asked the question - "what do you want to be when you grow up?" But what would happen if we altered that question to ask a kid what kind of person they want to be, rather than what job they want to have?

Let's take a crash course on attachment styles - a foundational theory of therapy used in a wide variety of cases, which helps us better understand how we function in relationships.

It's been said that any virtue taken to an extreme becomes a vice. This is what we discuss today within the context of toxicity, and how things like "toxic positivity" and "toxic masculinity" can come to be.

Pride month brings up a lot of feelings for people, some positive and some not. In this episode, I try to answer some of the questions people might have about why Pride matters, and why it's so important to LGBTQ+ people. 

It's important to not throw around terms like "toxic" at every little thing that bothers us. But it's equally important to be able to identify when something or someone actually is, truly, toxic. Unfortunately, there isn't a DSM5 diagnosis for "toxicity." So in this episode we break down a few ways to identify when a behavior or person may be considered "toxic" in my opinion.

We, as a society, have developed a bad habit of overusing and misusing terms like "toxic," "gaslighting," "trauma response," and more. We need to pull the reins on these terms being thrown around or we risk creating a boy-who-cried-wolf situation. 

If you are following along with the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial, you likely have heard about Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder. So let's examine what these personality disorders are exactly, what they mean, and what they don't. 

Lately, more and more studies are proving just how closely linked our mental and emotional health are to our gut health. So let's examine why this is, and what we can do to improve our gut health, which in turn can improve our mental and emotional health!

Dialectical thinking (basically, being able to hold two seemingly opposite truths at the same time) is a key therapy skill, so let's practice it!