mental health
Some people carry a lot of emotional pain without it ever showing on the outside. To everyone around them, nothing looks wrong, but the weight is real, it’s just directed inward instead of out. It isn’t a formal clinical category, and nobody gets diagnosed with it as such. What it does is describe one particular way that traits associated with Borderline Personality Disorder can show up — with the emotional intensity leaning more toward internal experience than…
Most mothers who reach out for therapy do not describe an emergency. They describe a Tuesday. Everyone got fed, the laundry got folded, nobody was late for anything, and somewhere in the middle of it all came the thought you cannot say out loud to anyone: I love them, and I do not recognize my own life anymore. Therapy for moms exists for exactly that gap. Not only for crisis, though it helps there too, but for…
Finding a depression therapist can feel harder than it should. When you’re already dealing with low energy, lack of motivation, or persistent sadness, even small tasks can feel overwhelming. So trying to research providers, compare options, and reach out for help can feel like a lot. And underneath all of that, there’s often the question: How do I know if this person will actually understand me? That question matters. Because effective therapy for depression goes beyond credentials…
Online therapy in Illinois—also known as teletherapy or virtual counseling—is a way to connect with a licensed therapist through secure video sessions, rather than meeting in person. For many people, it’s a flexible and accessible way to begin mental health care without needing to travel or rearrange their entire schedule. If you’ve been thinking about starting therapy but aren’t sure how it works online, you’re not alone. Most people have questions before their first session, and once…
You’re getting through your days. You’re showing up to work, managing responsibilities, and staying on top of things. From the outside, your life might even look successful. But internally, something feels off. There’s a constant pressure. A quiet sense of anxiety. Maybe even moments where you feel overwhelmed or exhausted, without a clear reason why. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. This experience is often connected to something called high-functioning anxiety, a pattern where outward success…
Financial therapy works by helping you understand the connection between your emotions and your financial decisions, so you can begin to respond to money in a way that feels steadier, more intentional, and less overwhelming. If you’ve been curious about financial therapy but unsure what actually happens in a session, that uncertainty is very common. For many people, the idea of talking about money, especially the emotional side of it, can feel unfamiliar. But in practice, financial…
Megan Mulroy, LPC Making the choice to freeze your eggs can be an empowering and life-changing decision for many folks assigned female at birth. Many AFAB people know they want children one day but aren’t ready for that commitment. On the other hand, many AFAB people are undecided if they want to be a parent, but don’t want that choice taken away from them before it’s too late. Unfortunately, freezing your eggs is expensive and often inaccessible,…
By: Zana Van Der Smissen Hello, and welcome back to how you can use DBT skills to get what you want, part three! If you haven’t read the first two blogs of this series, feel free to go back and read those first, where I discuss interpersonal skills as a DBT module, how DEAR MAN can be effective in helping you get what you want and how GIVE helps us maintain relationships. In part three, we will…
By: Zana Van Der Smissen Hello, and welcome back to how you can use DBT skills to get what you want, part two! If you haven’t read my first blog in this series, feel free to go back. I talk all about interpersonal skills as a DBT module and how DEAR MAN can be effective in helping you get what you want. In part two, we will be talking about the next acronym, GIVE, and how it…
By: Zana Van Der Smissen Interpersonal skills are something that every person needs in order to communicate effectively in their relationships and, therefore, is also something that can be improved upon. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or DBT has a set of modules that allows the individual to work on reacting to their environment, regulating their emotions, improving their relationships as well as being more mindful/present in their life. Today, in this blog, I will be covering DBT skills…