Perfectionism can be sneaky. On the outside, it often looks polished, organized, and driven. Friends or colleagues might even admire it: “You’re so disciplined!” “I don’t know how you do it all!” But inside, perfectionism rarely feels like freedom. It’s more like living under a...
If you've ever felt the sharp sting of rejection or the heavy ache of loneliness, you know it's not "all in your head." As a psychotherapist, I see it every day: the deep, tangible pain of a broken heart. It turns out, your brain agrees....
When most people hear the name Gottman, they think of couples’ therapy—love maps, bids for connection, repair attempts, the infamous “four horsemen.” It’s all about strengthening bonds, building trust, and keeping love alive. But here’s the plot twist: those same tools aren’t just for romantic...
Let’s face it: most of us have an inner critic who just. won’t. quit. It chimes in when you're trying on clothes ("Not those pants again"), when you're sending an email ("You sound unprofessional"), and especially when you’re about to do something meaningful or vulnerable,...
Mindfulness gets a lot of good press. It’s the kale of the mental health world—universally recommended, sometimes misunderstood, and occasionally hard to digest. If you’ve ever tried to sit down and “be mindful” only to find yourself flooded with thoughts, feelings, or a desperate need...
Inside each of us lives a younger self. Not just a memory or snapshot of who we were, but an active, feeling part of our internal world. This is often called the inner child—the part of us shaped by early experiences, longings, and emotional impressions...
Imagine you’ve just lived through something big, scary, or heartbreaking. Maybe it was a car accident, an unexpected medical diagnosis, a breakup, or the loss of someone you love. Your nervous system reacts like a smoke alarm that’s suddenly been set off at full volume:...
You eat less than your body needs. You think about food all the time — planning meals, avoiding meals, regretting meals. You feel the grip of control, perfectionism, anxiety, and guilt after eating even a bite more than you “should.” And yet… you’re not “underweight.”...
Let’s say you’ve struggled with food—eating too much, eating too little, worrying constantly about what and when and how. Or maybe you feel like your body is your enemy, or your emotions are all over the place (or just plain… gone). Now imagine someone tells...
Anxiety isn’t just a feeling—it’s more like a full cast of characters taking up residence inside your chest. There’s the rapid-fire narrator, the worst-case-scenario screenwriter, the doom-prepping squirrel who’s been storing acorns of worry since 1997. If you’ve lived with anxiety for a while, you...