You decline the invitation, again, and then spend the rest of the night replaying the text you sent to get out of it. Or you sit in the meeting with a thought you want to share, feel your heartbeat pick up, and let the moment pass. Afterward a familiar question shows up: am I just […]
Sometimes people reach a point where they want a clearer understanding of themselves or someone they love. Perhaps your teen is working hard but school seems more difficult than it should. Maybe you’ve wondered whether challenges with attention, learning, anxiety, or mood are connected in ways that are difficult to untangle. Or perhaps you’ve spent […]
If you have been researching EMDR therapy after a friend described it as transformative, or because a clinician mentioned it, this is a useful place to start. EMDR has become one of the most discussed treatments in mental health over the last decade, and the conversation tends to split between people who say it sounds […]
Defense mechanisms protect us from feelings that our mind has decided are too much to handle. It redirects, reframes, deflects, and sometimes distorts reality in convincing ways, all in the service of keeping us functional. These mental strategies are called defense mechanisms, and once we know how to recognize them, we start spotting them everywhere. […]
At first glance, May feels hopeful. The weather is warmer. Summer is approaching. School is winding down. Vacations, graduations, celebrations, and longer days finally arrive after a long winter. Yet, for many of us, May can feel less like a fresh start and more like a stressful sprint to the finish line. Calendars become packed […]
At first glance, kindness and people pleasing can look almost identical. They can appear like showing up for others. Both can look like generosity, flexibility, and care. They also both often include saying “yes,” being accommodating, and trying to make things easier for the people around us. Yet, many of us have had the experience […]