Postpartum OCD: Understanding and Managing Intrusive Thoughts After Birth
Postpartum OCD Understanding and Managing Intrusive Thoughts after Birth
Most new parents expect some degree of exhaustion, feeding challenges, and emotional adjustment after bringing a baby home. What many don’t expect are sudden, unwanted thoughts or mental images, often about something bad happening to their baby.
Are You Codependent, or Just Deeply Committed to Not Being a Burden?
A Psychodynamic Take on Codependency, With a Wink and a Quiz
Somewhere between "I'm just a really caring person" and "I'm emotionally fused with my barista" lies the tender terrain of codependency. And while TikTok might call it a vibe, psychodynamic theory offers a deeper lens.
The Myth of the Together Person (and Why Your Lists Aren’t Helping)
You look like you’re doing fine.
You’ve got a system—sort of. You keep things moving, mostly. But behind the scenes?
You stare at your inbox like it’s a haunted house.
Your to-do list isn’t a list. It’s a self-replicating anxiety machine.
You avoid opening mail because one envelope might break you. And when you finally sit down to start? Suddenly it feels urgent to alphabetize your spices like your future depends on placing paprika in its perfect alphabetical spot.
10 Common Reasons People Avoid Therapy (And Why We Get It)
10 Common Reasons People Avoid Therapy (And Why We Get It)
Why Am I So Hard on Myself?
Why Am I So Hard on Myself?
Your inner critic isn’t the enemy. It’s a protective voice that learned its job long ago. With curiosity, reflection, and the support of a therapist— especially one trained in psychodynamic therapy— that voice can loosen its grip.
5 Tips to Boost Focus: Improve Executive Functions with Evidence-Based Practices
Learn about practices to improve focus and enhance executive functioning skills.
Mental Health and the Executive Function Connection: How ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression Relate to Executive Functioning
Mental Health and the Executive Function Connection: How ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression Relate to Executive Functioning
Coping with a Suicide Loss
The experience of losing someone significant to suicide can come with unique challenges that may complicate the grieving process. Often, people report encountering stigma surrounding the cause of death, a lack of social support, and persistent thoughts about why the loss occurred or whether it could have been prevented that exacerbate the painful experience of the loss.
Strategies for Responding to Imposter Stress
Have you ever felt self-doubt, fraudulent, or wondered if you are as competent or qualified as others perceive you to be? Believe it or not, these feelings are quite common, especially among high achieving people who have a hard time believing in their competence. These feelings and thoughts often arise when we begin something new, step into a new role, and enter environments that invalidate aspects of our identity. Here are some practical suggestions for how to respond to imposter stress.
Understanding Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD, C-PTSD, Complex-PTSD) refers to the impact of prolonged, unavoidable, relational trauma. Such repeated trauma tends to negatively impact the survivor’s sense of safety, self-esteem, trust in self, and trust in others.
Practical Techniques to Help You Handle Criticism
It is very common for people to have strong emotional reactions to perceived criticism. This is because criticism often triggers an underlying negative narrative or belief we hold about ourselves, which can provoke the experience of shame. When we receive criticism that touches on a negative belief we have about ourselves or something that we hold shame around, it can feel like that feedback is proving that there is something inherently wrong with us as a person, instead of serving as a piece of feedback about our performance.
The Relationship Between Alcohol and Anxiety
Many of us who tend to feel anxious in social situations, otherwise known as social anxiety, may lean on alcohol to help manage those feelings of anxiety when we do socialize. A few drinks can make us feel carefree and confident and this can make alcohol feel important to our enjoyment of socializing. However, the relationship between anxiety and alcohol might be more counterintuitive than it seems.
Understanding Suicidal Thoughts
If you are someone who has ever experienced suicidal thoughts, know that you are not alone. Having thoughts of suicide may not be as uncommon as you think.
Panic Attacks: Your Emotional Fire Alarm
Roughly one in ten adults will have at least one panic, or ‘anxiety’ attack every year. Fortunately, panic attacks aren’t random. In fact, panic attacks are very predictable because they are triggered by internal or external cues of perceived threats.
I think I have PTSD: Now What?
When struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), life can feel scary and limiting. Intrusive symptoms of PTSD can look like being haunted by unwanted memories of the traumatic event, having intense physical sensations like heart palpitations or sweating, experiencing strong emotions of fear, anger, or shame when reminded of the trauma, and enduring flashbacks of the event. These intrusive symptoms indicate that something about the event still needs to be processed. However, these symptoms are so distressing and confusing that many people develop beliefs such as, “I’m going crazy,” and “I can’t handle this,” and start avoiding reminders of the trauma that bring up these symptoms.
Healing During the Holidays with Dialectal Thinking
While the holiday season may be regarded with warmth, twinkling lights, and holiday cookies for some, it can activate (and trigger) unpleasant or traumatic experiences for others. This is where dialectical thinking comes into play – the reality that seemingly competing perspectives can both be true and co-exist. For example, “Your parents did the best they knew how in raising you and it still wasn’t enough”.
Changing Your Relationship with Anxiety with ACT
So how exactly do we save ourselves from this anxiety riptide? The answer lies in changing our relationship to our anxiety, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT (pronounced ‘act’), can help us with this.
Tips for Stress Management
Are you looking for help to manage your stress? Here are steps you can take to feel more calm and in control.
Skills for Anger Management
Society has conditioned us to view anger as a bad emotion. However, the experience of anger in and of itself is not a bad thing. Emotions-including anger-are neither good nor bad. All emotions have functions.
Simple Grounding Techniques
While it is important to understand and feel our emotions, not every occasion is appropriate or useful for doing so. You can use these simple grounding techniques to help you detach from emotional pain that isn’t effective for you to feel in the moment. Grounding techniques work by shifting your attention and focus to something other than the difficult emotions or thoughts you are experiencing.
Ready to find your therapist?
Start with a brief conversation with one of our directors, senior psychologists who personally guide every match. We’ll take the time to understand what matters most to you and connect you with the therapist who is the best fit for your needs.