Therapy 101

LMSW, PsyD, MD, PMH RN? What do all of these letters mean? Are these all therapists? Are any of them therapists!? When it comes to finding mental health care, it shouldn't be confusing, but it often is. In this blog, we’ll break down the different types of people who provide mental health therapy and give you a few things to consider when you're looking for the right therapist for you.

While we all handle stress differently, for some people, the effects of stressful triggers can be overwhelming. If you often find it challenging to regulate your emotional response in stressful situations, and find yourself becoming dysregulated, it could have a lot to do with your window of tolerance. But what is the window of tolerance, and how can you stay within your window, widen your window, and find more effective ways to cope?

Especially in the midst of difficult situations, positive affirmations are a way of helping overcome negative thoughts that can sometimes take over and make you doubt yourself. But how do they work? We’ll break it down for you, plus get you started with a few that might help you manage anxious thoughts and move into a more positive state of mind.

It’s normal to disagree in relationships, but how do you know when it crosses the line into gaslighting? If you feel like someone is manipulating you into doubting your perceptions, experiences, or understanding of events, it might be happening to you. Here are a few examples of gaslighting as well as some things you can do in case you think it’s happening to you.

Folks who experience August anxiety, the September scaries, or the end-of-summer blues might mourn the loss of long, sunny days and dread the cooler months. But how can you tell if you have the end-of-summer blues, and how can you beat them if you do?

If you're feeling lazy and unmotivated, you might be questioning whether you have depression or not. And if you do, are there things that you can do to feel like yourself again?

When life gets overwhelming, it often feels like there's nothing we can do. Before we can even tackle the problems we face, putting things in perspective can help. But anyone who has tried to gain a sense of perspective knows that it’s easier said than done. So how can we practice cognitive flexibility and begin to put things in perspective? Here are a few tips.

Over the last few years, self-care has become more about something you can buy than something you do to take care of yourself. But there are real problems with viewing self-care as a purchase rather than a practice. In this blog, MyWellbeing therapists Madeleine Strassler and Natalie Capasse dig into the ways in which self-care has been monetized and how you as an individual can push back against the commodification of self-care and create a practice that fulfills and sustains you.

When times are tough, who do you reach out to? Friends, family, coworkers, community members, and healthcare providers like therapists are all good people to have in your support system. But what is a support system, why is it important, and how can you build your support system so you have a network of people you can trust to care for you and support your mental health through the good times and the bad?

When it comes to your mental health, it can be difficult to know what kind of treatment is right for you. While we always advocate for working with a therapist, depending on your situation, medication can also help. But how do you know if taking medication is the right choice for you and how can you get started?

If you've ever tried to make friends as an adult, you know that it can be hard. As a child, making friends sometimes seemed as easy as sharing a ball with a stranger on the playground or being in the same class. As an adult, how do we replicate these interactions that made childhood friendships seem so simple? 

There’s a good chance that, at this point, you know all about self-care. But despite knowing all about it and what we’re supposed to do, time and again, we realize that it’s just not working for us. At its core, self-care is the practice of activities that an individual initiates and performs on their own behalf to maintain life, health, and wellbeing. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Here are a few reasons your self-care efforts might not be working.

Romantic relationships can be some of the most fulfilling of our lives, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their ups and down, and navigating them can be tricky—but a therapist can help. Here are a few anonymized examples of how therapists from the MyWellbeing community helped their clients navigate the twists and turns of their romantic relationships.

Caregiver burnout is the feeling that you have nothing else to give, that you are depleted, and emotionally exhausted when caring for another person or people. It’s common for caregivers to experience depression, resentment of the person they’re caring for, sleep deprivation, mood swings, and more. In this blog, MyWellbeing therapist Renee Hereth talks about the physical, emotional, and mental impact of caregiving, how it can lead to burnout, and what those experiencing caregiver burnout can do to prioritize themselves and cope.

MyWellbeing Therapist, Ashton Santo, LMSW discusses how to be more inclusive when discussing reproductive rights and how to amplify the voices of the underrepresented and excluded.

For many people, work can be a source of stress. Deadlines, coworkers, clients, long hours, and juggling work with the rest of our lives can make us feel like we’re spinning plates. Add to that the global, economic, and health crises from the past few years and it can be a recipe for burnout—but practicing mindfulness can help. In this blog, MyWellbeing therapist Dominique Rodriguez breaks down what mindfulness and burnout are and how you can use mindfulness techniques to cope with and even prevent burnout.

When we’re struck by feelings of stress and anxiety, it can be overwhelming—but grounding techniques can help. So what are grounding techniques, why do they work, and how can a therapist help you figure out the best ones for you? In this blog, MyWellbeing therapist Gianna Volkes breaks down what grounding techniques are and how you can use them when you’re feeling anxious.

Most of us get nervous in social situations, but when everyday interactions cause significant distress, it could be something more serious: social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia. In this post, MyWellbeing therapist Mary Cotter explains what social anxiety is, some ways that you can cope, and how a therapist can help.

There are two primary types of therapy that are often successfully used to treat anxiety: CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). Both approaches can help you manage your symptoms, but they work differently.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to affirming your gender, and when it comes to your journey, you are the expert of your needs, experiences, and body. In order to provide gender-affirming care, your therapist should support you in whichever combination of treatments is right for you—and sometimes, that includes surgery. If you do choose to pursue surgery, there are some steps to take ahead of time, including getting a letter of readiness. In this post, MyWellbeing therapist Ashton Santo breaks down what a letter of readiness is and how a gender affirming therapist can support you.

Have you ever wondered what goes on in couples therapy? We’ve tapped our community of therapists for insight about what couples therapy is, what therapy-goers can expect when they get started, plus some anonymized examples from actual sessions so you can see the range of topics covered. Whether you’re new to therapy in general or new to couples therapy, here are a few examples of what really happens in a couples therapy session.

You probably know how therapy works: You go to sessions, talk to your therapist, maybe get some homework, and say goodbye until the next session. But how can you tell if it's...working? Here is some expert insight from our community of therapists to help you understand what success can look like in therapy, plus some self-reflective questions you can ask yourself and your therapist to make sure you’re getting the most out of your sessions.

If you’ve ever been to therapy, you might know the feeling: your therapist asks you a question and, despite your best intentions of telling the truth, a lie slips out. You panic. Can your therapist tell you’re lying? What if you decide that you want to tell the truth later? Is therapy worth it if you can’t be honest with your therapist? Long story short, in an ideal world, we wouldn’t lie to our therapists. But what counts as a lie, really, and what can we do if one (or more) has made its way into our therapy sessions?

Many people in early adulthood experience a quarter life crisis. A quarter life crisis is a developmental crisis that is unique to early adulthood. These crises are times of instability and heightened emotion that can come with times of transition.