#therapy-safety
#therapy-safety

11 hours ago

I Don't Want to Be Fixed, I Just Want to Be Heard

Couples often fight over whose reality is valid, but what they truly desire is to be heard without judgment or correction.

2 hours ago

A clinical psychologist explains that the need to 'earn' your place in every room you enter isn't humility. It's the residue of a childhood where love had prerequisites, and you internalized the application process as permanent. - Silicon Canals

Humility can mask a dangerous need for validation rooted in childhood experiences, leading to exhaustion rather than true ambition.

LGBT

fromLGBTQ Nation

15 hours ago

Why is conversion therapy so harmful? It's all about how young people form their identities. - LGBTQ Nation

Conversion therapy significantly harms LGBTQ+ youth, increasing suicidality and emotional distress during their critical identity-forming years.

fromInside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs

11 hours ago

The Hidden Cost of Success

Success can lead to self-abandonment when internal signals are overridden, resulting in a disconnection from oneself despite external achievements.

Higher education

What to Know About AI and Campus Mental Health (opinion)

Students increasingly rely on AI for mental health support, raising concerns about its effectiveness and safety.

Healthcare

fromThe Verge

This chatbot can prescribe psych meds. Kind of.

Utah allows an AI system to prescribe psychiatric drugs, raising concerns about risks and the effectiveness of expanding mental health care.

Law

fromABA Journal

Sanctions ramping up in cases involving AI hallucinations

Monetary sanctions against attorneys for AI-generated hallucinations in case documents are increasing as courts take these issues more seriously.

Healing From Our Trauma Helps Shape Future Generations

Healing breaks generational trauma patterns and transforms relational dynamics and biology.

Why Shame Is Central in Trauma

Shame is a central emotion in trauma, particularly interpersonal trauma, affecting healing and self-worth.

When Trauma Silences a Child

Narrative therapy helped a young Ukrainian boy regain his ability to speak after trauma, starting with his interaction with a guitar.

How Trauma Hijacks Your Brain (and How EMDR Can Help)

Trauma rewires key brain regions, affecting emotional responses and treatment effectiveness for survivors.

Mental health

Stop Playing Whac-A-Mole With Trauma

Parenting

Healing From Our Trauma Helps Shape Future Generations

Healing breaks generational trauma patterns and transforms relational dynamics and biology.

Why Shame Is Central in Trauma

Shame is a central emotion in trauma, particularly interpersonal trauma, affecting healing and self-worth.

When Trauma Silences a Child

Narrative therapy helped a young Ukrainian boy regain his ability to speak after trauma, starting with his interaction with a guitar.

How Trauma Hijacks Your Brain (and How EMDR Can Help)

Trauma rewires key brain regions, affecting emotional responses and treatment effectiveness for survivors.

Mental health

Stop Playing Whac-A-Mole With Trauma

more#trauma

Why Is Eradicating Adverse Childhood Experiences Critical?

Nearly 90 percent of suicide attempts among high school students are attributable to ACEs, as are 80 percent of adult suicides, translating to 109 suicides per day.

Public health

Philosophy

fromApaonline

APA Member Interview, Chloe W. Chang

Chloe Chang transitioned from business to philosophy, focusing on human existence and our relationship with AI in the digital age.

Building Wisdom With BDNF-and Ketamine

BDNF is crucial for brain health, and can be boosted through healthy habits and ketamine, aiding neuroplasticity and cognitive function.

Remote teams

fromInfoQ

How to Handle Trusts and Psychological Safety When Scaling Organizations

Trust must be built team by team; it cannot be replicated as organizations scale.

#mental-health

fromwww.cbc.ca

Canada news

2 GTA mental health treatment centres for first responders a step closer to reality with new funding | CBC News

Mental health

What Does Mental Well-Being Look Like?

When a Diagnosis Becomes Your Entire Identity

Diagnosis can aid understanding and community, but over-identifying with it can harm personal growth and self-identity.

Mental health

You Budget Your Money. Why Not Your Mental Health?

Mental health and financial health share foundational habits that lead to freedom and self-determination, emphasizing the importance of a diversified mental health plan.

Mental health

The Link Between Medicine and Psychology

Mental health significantly impacts heart and brain health, necessitating integration of mental health care into traditional medical practices.

Canada news

fromwww.cbc.ca

2 GTA mental health treatment centres for first responders a step closer to reality with new funding | CBC News

Federal government allocates $15 million for new treatment facilities for first responders with post-traumatic stress injuries in Greater Toronto Area.

What Does Mental Well-Being Look Like?

Mental health should be viewed positively, focusing on well-being rather than just the absence of illness.

When a Diagnosis Becomes Your Entire Identity

Diagnosis can aid understanding and community, but over-identifying with it can harm personal growth and self-identity.

You Budget Your Money. Why Not Your Mental Health?

Mental health and financial health share foundational habits that lead to freedom and self-determination, emphasizing the importance of a diversified mental health plan.

The Link Between Medicine and Psychology

Mental health significantly impacts heart and brain health, necessitating integration of mental health care into traditional medical practices.

Building Confidence Through Small Victories

Naming tasks and completing small actions can rebuild confidence after significant loss.

Burnt-out managers are destroying teams. These 5 daily habits reverse it

Burnout among managers is prevalent, but resilience can be built through specific daily habits, including openly practicing self-care.

fromNature

Struggling to focus on research when the world is 'on fire'? Some ways to cope

Global news events are causing burnout and mental exhaustion among researchers, impacting their work and personal lives.

Careers

fromFast Company

Burnt-out managers are destroying teams. These 5 daily habits reverse it

Burnout among managers is prevalent, but resilience can be built through specific daily habits, including openly practicing self-care.

fromNature

fromAlternative Medicine Magazine

Struggling to focus on research when the world is 'on fire'? Some ways to cope

Global news events are causing burnout and mental exhaustion among researchers, impacting their work and personal lives.

more#burnout

Alternative medicine

Getting the Most Out of a Medical Appointment.

Patients should prepare for medical appointments by listing symptoms, questions, and family medical history to enhance communication and care.

Psychology says people who want to change their lives but never start aren't lazy - they're waiting for a feeling of readiness that behavioral science confirms almost never arrives on its own - Silicon Canals

Feeling ready to act is often a byproduct of taking action, not a prerequisite.

Start Strong But Never Finish? 4 Causes and 4 Solutions

Starting strong and quitting is common due to tedium, poor planning, and discouragement; recognizing patterns and seeking support can help overcome this.

4 hours ago

Psychology says people who want to change their lives but never start aren't lazy - they're waiting for a feeling of readiness that behavioral science confirms almost never arrives on its own - Silicon Canals

Feeling ready to act is often a byproduct of taking action, not a prerequisite.

Start Strong But Never Finish? 4 Causes and 4 Solutions

Starting strong and quitting is common due to tedium, poor planning, and discouragement; recognizing patterns and seeking support can help overcome this.

Before You Share Your Body, Ask: Do They Know You?

Physical intimacy often occurs before emotional intimacy, highlighting a paradox in relationships where vulnerability is avoided despite physical closeness.

What Happens When We Simultaneously Seek and Avoid Intimacy?

Loneliness has escalated to a public health crisis, significantly impacting mortality rates and emotional well-being.

Psychology says the most important life lesson isn't learning to make better decisions - it's learning to live peacefully with the ones you can't undo - Silicon Canals

Irreversible choices shape our lives and learning to coexist with them is crucial for mental well-being.

fromIndependent

Retired urologist faces tribunal over alleged patient care failures and failure to triage hundreds of GP referrals

Aidan O'Brien faces a series of allegations including that he failed to provide good clinical care to 10 patients between 2011 and 2019.

Medicine

LGBT

fromLGBTQ Nation

Is "gender exploratory therapy" just conversion therapy with a new name? - LGBTQ Nation

Gender exploratory therapy is a controversial approach that some view as pathologizing non-binary identities while others see it as a cautious exploration of gender identity.

Philosophy

Respect Is a Gift, Never a Demand

Respect is a response to ethical behavior, not an entitlement that can be demanded or claimed.

16 hours ago

Psychology says the most emotionally strong people aren't the ones who never fall apart - they're the ones who fall apart privately, reassemble without fanfare, and never use their recovery as a reason for anyone else to feel guilty - Silicon Canals

Emotional strength involves acknowledging feelings and recovering privately, not denying vulnerability or pretending to be unbreakable.

When the Body Heals: Recovery From Relational Stress

Emotional stressors can lead to chronic stress, affecting immunity and increasing autoimmune disease risk, but healing can occur after relational stress ends.

#communication

fromScary Mommy

Relationships

37 Phrases To De-Escalate An Argument, According To Real Therapists

Psychology says people who reply to messages within seconds aren't just efficient - they've built their sense of safety around being reachable, because somewhere in their past, being slow to respond had consequences - Silicon Canals

Instant responses to messages often stem from a psychological need to mitigate perceived threats rather than mere efficiency.

Relationships

fromScary Mommy

37 Phrases To De-Escalate An Argument, According To Real Therapists

Knowing how to de-escalate arguments can help maintain healthy relationships and improve communication.

Psychology says people who reply to messages within seconds aren't just efficient - they've built their sense of safety around being reachable, because somewhere in their past, being slow to respond had consequences - Silicon Canals

Instant responses to messages often stem from a psychological need to mitigate perceived threats rather than mere efficiency.

How to Get Chummy With Your Discomfort

Regulating emotions and reactions is essential for managing life's challenges effectively.

When Nothing Is Wrong, but Something Still Isn't Right

Consistency in daily habits can lead to significant improvements in health symptoms.

11 hours ago

Why Confidence Doesn't Always Reflect True Self-Worth

Authentic self-worth is grounded in presence and self-acceptance, contrasting with fragile self-worth tied to external perceptions.

Psychology says people who mellow out as they get older aren't the ones who suffered less - they're the ones who decided, at some point and without always knowing they were deciding, that the suffering was going to make them more open rather than less, and that decision, remade daily in small ways that nobody notices, is the entire difference - Silicon Canals

Emotional responses to life's challenges can change over time, leading to greater peace and stability despite ongoing difficulties.

Healthcare

2 weeks ago

The Value of Everyday Healthcare and Mental Healthcare

Everyday kindness and professionalism are essential for effective healthcare and mental healthcare.

Mental Time Travel Is Our Ticket for a Healthier Society

Short-term thinking can lead to regrets; mental time travel enhances decision-making and benefits organizations through Future Design.

Relationships

Not everyone who chooses a partner with visible problems is making bad decisions. Some of them are choosing people whose damage is louder than their own, because as long as they're fixing someone else, nobody turns the spotlight around and asks what broke them. - Silicon Canals

People often choose partners with visible problems to avoid confronting their own internal issues.

Not everyone who avoids asking for help is proud. Some of them asked once, received it with a lecture attached, and learned that the cost of support was a small erosion of standing they could never quite earn back. - Silicon Canals

Asking for help can lead to unintended consequences that affect relationships and self-perception.

Take a Secret 2-Minute Mental Vacation from Stress

Change and transition lead to anxiety, but guided imagery can effectively reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Why Breathing Matters for Emotional Regulation

Slow, smooth breathing can calm the nervous system, regulate emotions, and improve health with just five minutes of practice daily.

How to Help Someone Have an Empathy Makeover

Empathy can be developed through structured reflection and practice, enhancing mental health and relationship dynamics.

3 Signs You're Carrying Someone Else's Anxiety

Empathy can lead to emotional overload for highly empathic individuals, causing them to absorb and internalize others' emotions.

Psychology

The Impact of Detached Reactions to Tragedy

How to Help Someone Have an Empathy Makeover

Empathy can be developed through structured reflection and practice, enhancing mental health and relationship dynamics.

3 Signs You're Carrying Someone Else's Anxiety

Empathy can lead to emotional overload for highly empathic individuals, causing them to absorb and internalize others' emotions.

The Impact of Detached Reactions to Tragedy

Detached responses to tragedy lower accountability and hinder empathy, while specific, caring responses promote genuine concern and action.

This Theory Explains Why Neurodivergents Are Burning Out

Neurodivergent individuals experience higher burnout rates, necessitating accommodations to balance job demands and resources.

#emotional-intelligence

Psychology suggests people who stay calm during conflict aren't less emotional - they learned early that the person who controls the temperature of the room controls the outcome, and they stopped reacting and started choosing - Silicon Canals

Controlling emotional responses during conflict can significantly influence the outcome of the situation.

People who go quiet when they're hurt instead of raising their voice learned somewhere very early that their anger wasn't received as information. It was received as an inconvenience. So they stopped sending the signal and started absorbing the damage, and they've been doing it so long they sometimes mistake silence for calm - Silicon Canals

Silence during conflict often indicates deeper emotional pain rather than composure or passive aggression.

Psychology suggests people who stay calm during conflict aren't less emotional - they learned early that the person who controls the temperature of the room controls the outcome, and they stopped reacting and started choosing - Silicon Canals

Controlling emotional responses during conflict can significantly influence the outcome of the situation.

more#emotional-intelligence

People who go quiet when they're hurt instead of raising their voice learned somewhere very early that their anger wasn't received as information. It was received as an inconvenience. So they stopped sending the signal and started absorbing the damage, and they've been doing it so long they sometimes mistake silence for calm - Silicon Canals

Silence during conflict often indicates deeper emotional pain rather than composure or passive aggression.

Psychology says people who feel like they've been living someone else's life aren't confused or ungrateful - they're often the ones who were so good at adapting in childhood that they never stopped adapting long enough to find out who they actually were - Silicon Canals

Adapting to others' needs in childhood can lead to feeling disconnected and lost in adulthood.

Remembering an Angel With a Traumatic Brain Injury

Laura, despite severe brain damage, radiated joy and built meaningful connections with caregivers, enriching their lives through her infectious spirit.

fromMindful

Just One Thing: Be Kind to Yourself by Being Kind to Others

Recognizing the importance of kindness to others leads to personal peace and fulfillment.

The Pitfalls of Being a People-Pleaser

Voicing opinions is essential; people-pleasing can lead to neglecting personal needs and preferences.

All Out Anxiety

Anxiety disorders affect 11% of children in the USA, impacting daily functioning and often leading to overestimation of danger.

What Makes Painful Memories Stick

Painful memories linger because they signal threats to core psychological needs, making them psychologically urgent and demanding more cognitive processing.

When Parts Begin to Merge: Inside Integration

Integration is a complex, lived experience involving reorganization of the self, requiring safety and support systems for healing from complex trauma.

Seen, Unseen, and Still Anxious: The Psychology of Texting

Texting anxiety stems from unanswered messages creating mental loops of uncertainty, leading to repeated checking and worry.

Dangerous Social Trends Do Not Advance Your Potential

You have control over your own thoughts and actions, but not over others' choices or behaviors.

People With Bipolar and BPD Struggle in Mental Healthcare

There is a unique kind of pain in losing your mind, not just once, but over and over. Losing your perception of reality, of your emotions, of your closest relationships-both across months and multiple times a day. Knowing deep down that something is wrong but being unable to stop it.

Mental health

Philosophy

When the Well Is Poisoned

Poisoning the well is an ad hominem attack that preemptively discredits someone by introducing negative information before they speak, contaminating audience perception and trust.

Psychology says people who apologize constantly without realizing it are more damaged than they appear - because they internalize blame and absorb conflict, a survival response from childhood, which never switches off even when they're safe - Silicon Canals

Excessive apologizing often stems from childhood experiences of mistreatment and can lead to chronic self-blame in adulthood.

A Symbolic Action Technique for Managing Anger

Unmanaged anger can lead to destructive outcomes, but a new study suggests that symbolic actions may effectively manage it.

When the World Feels Scary, These 2 Questions Can Help

Grounding techniques effectively manage anxiety and enhance personal agency by focusing on the present and what can be controlled.

Everyone Deserves Trauma-Informed Healthcare

Trauma-informed care must extend beyond mental health to all medical settings, using principles of partnering, consent, and pacing to honor patient humanity and prevent retraumatization.

How Systemic Therapists Can Improve Sleep

Sleep issues are often relational problems, not just individual disorders, highlighting the need for systemic therapy in sleep medicine.

Why Behavior Change Alone Won't Fix Your Relationship

Behavioral therapy changes observable actions, while emotionally focused therapy emphasizes emotional engagement for lasting relational change.

Why a Loved One Might Not Engage in Mental Health Treatment

Treatment engagement improves when it aligns with a person's life goals and identity.

How to Stop Taking Things Personally When You Have ADHD

ADHD can intensify the tendency to take things personally due to emotional processing and past experiences.

2 weeks ago

Mental health

When It's Not Just Anxiety

Women often misdiagnosed with anxiety may actually have ADHD, leading to a lack of effective treatment.

How to Stop Taking Things Personally When You Have ADHD

ADHD can intensify the tendency to take things personally due to emotional processing and past experiences.

2 weeks ago

When It's Not Just Anxiety

Women often misdiagnosed with anxiety may actually have ADHD, leading to a lack of effective treatment.

8 Sneaky Signs You're Being Emotionally Manipulated

Emotional manipulation often manifests through subtle control, leading to confusion and anxiety in relationships.

Caring for the Part of You That Wants to Die

Suicide ideation affects 15.6% of U.S. adults, with significant risk factors including mental disorders, trauma, and social circumstances.

Why We Don't Change-Even When We Know What's Wrong

Insight alone is insufficient for change; real experiences are necessary to challenge ingrained beliefs and expectations.

You Want a Clinician Who Treats You as Person

Evidence Based Medicine was formalized in the 1990s, largely by Canadian physician David Sackett. Sackett described the goal of EBM is to replace hunches and habits with data and clinical trials. Clinical guidelines were developed involving protocols that tell doctors which drug to prescribe first, what dose to use, when to escalate treatment, and when to refer a patient to a specialist.

Medicine

When Therapy Doesn't Work

Therapy can lead to negative experiences, with clients reporting issues such as therapists' misbehavior and perceived incompetence.

Mother, Clinician, Witness: Healing Communities

Violence against children impacts the entire community, necessitating protective programs and trauma-informed care for meaningful change.

'It Was Just an Accident'... Until It Wasn't

The movie opens with a brief prologue. A family is driving at night. They hit something on the road, which turns out to be a dog, and the dog dies. The daughter in the back seat is visibly upset. The mother consoles her by saying, "It was just an accident-Dad didn't do it on purpose." Then the title appears, and the main story begins.

Film

Stop Telling Anxious People to Be Resilient

Resilience frameworks wrongly attribute anxiety to individual weakness rather than systemic issues, leading to harmful consequences for those affected.

Outsmarting Depression: A 6-Step Roadmap to Personal Renewal

Depressive symptoms, often dismissed as everyday blues, can escalate quickly and disrupt life, highlighting the importance of recognizing and addressing mental health issues.

The Day I Realized My Son Wasn't Defiant, He Was Ashamed

Understanding a child's emotional state is crucial; shame can manifest as feelings of worthlessness, impacting behavior and communication.

Healthcare

The Power of Feeling Seen: Supporting Patients After Discharge

Post-hospital transitions often leave patients anxious and unsupported, increasing readmission risk; regular follow-ups via phone, telehealth, or AI improve adherence and confidence.

When Dissociation Changes the Rules of Therapy

Therapists face common fears and challenges when treating dissociation, requiring a collaborative approach rather than control.

An IFS Therapy Program for PTSD: A Proof-of-Concept Study

The IFS therapy-based PARTS program is a promising cost-effective treatment for PTSD and related mental health issues.

#mental-health-crisis

What Parents Need to Know About Mental Health Crisis Care

Calling 911 for mental health crises can be fatal, especially for Black and disabled children, highlighting the need for alternative solutions.

Mental health

A Better Way to Respond to Mental Health Crises

What Parents Need to Know About Mental Health Crisis Care

Calling 911 for mental health crises can be fatal, especially for Black and disabled children, highlighting the need for alternative solutions.

more#mental-health-crisis

Mental health

A Better Way to Respond to Mental Health Crises

Who Does It Help? It's a Good Question in Mental Health Care

Subgroup and biomarker-guided analyses reveal that antidepressants can produce faster, stronger responses in specific genetic or biological subgroups, reducing trial-and-error prescribing.

Why Doing Nothing Can Feel Safer (Even When It Isn't)

Omission bias leads clinicians to avoid effective interventions like EMDR, causing greater harm from inaction than from careful, responsible action.

Does AI Undermine Clinical Supervision?

An AI-informed supervision is constantly reminded to treat speech as metaphorical and not literal, since humans, including therapy patients, are very good poets and very bad reporters. AI never forgets to inquire why at this moment this thought occurred to the patient. It never forgets to consider projective identification -the communication of an intolerable feeling by getting the therapist to feel it. It never forgets to consider a lose-lose comment during a frame deviation.

Psychology

Discipline Without Drama

Consistent commitment, built through identity, repetition, and small steps, sustains long-term change more than fleeting motivation.

What Is Hope in Mental Health Treatment?

Hope is an active process involving a vision of a better future, imagination, trust, and conviction that a better life can occur despite obstacles.

Why UAP Disclosure Challenges Mental Health Ethics

If you saw something in the sky that you genuinely could not explain-something now officially categorized as an unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP-would you tell your therapist or psychiatrist? For many people, the honest answer is no. Not because they doubt their own perception, but because they worry about what might happen next. They fear being seen as unstable, having the experience reframed as a symptom, or having it documented in a way that could affect future care, employment, or credibility.