The hottest Therapy Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Health & Wellness Topics

Bad Therapists Make Good TV. But at What Cost?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 213 implied HN points • 20 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Therapy
  1. When therapists cross professional boundaries they can exploit and control patients and cause long-lasting harm.
  2. Boundary violations typically benefit the therapist and can damage the patient even if the therapist believes their motives are benign.
  3. Dramatic stories of bad therapists make compelling TV but they also spotlight real ethical problems and the serious harm those violations do to vulnerable people.

My experience with hypnotherapy for post-viral fatigue/pain/fear

Human Programming • 12 implied HN points • 26 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Hypnotherapy can externalize and reframe symptoms, turning a persistent fear-driven ‘‘red field’’ into something removable and replacing it with a reassuring image that makes movement feel safer.
  2. The sessions taught simple, usable tools like vagus-breathing and quick visualizations that provided comfort in moments of anxiety or fatigue, even if daily routines didn’t always stick.
  3. Reducing fear and building small amounts of self-trust helped restart a positive recovery cycle where more activity led to more confidence and further recovery; the therapy acted as useful momentum rather than a sole cure.

Dear Babies, I want to have sex more than my boyfriend

Maybe Baby • 425 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. A reader is asking for advice because they want sex more often than their boyfriend and are unsure how to handle the mismatch.
  2. This column continues an ongoing advice series that revisits relationship and intimacy questions similar to ones discussed before.
  3. The post solicits crowd-sourced responses from readers and is published behind a paid subscription paywall.

Arthur Brooks: Family Estrangement Is a Tragedy

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1279 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Cutting ties with a family member affects the brain much like the death of a loved one, causing real grief and loss.
  2. Family estrangement is common and can happen to anyone, including rich and famous families.
  3. High-profile breakups draw attention but reflect private problems — people often cite interference in relationships or an inauthentic upbringing when they refuse to reconcile.

how to trust yourself

bookbear express • 1133 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Trust yourself to know what’s right for you, and learn to live with and forgive both your own mistakes and other people’s.
  2. Talking, confession, and analysis won’t always fix the inner mess — embodied practices, movement, and small everyday routines are what ground you.
  3. Stop chasing approval and fearing others’ reactions; when you stop needing to be saved or fixed you become more honest, calm, and free.
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Arthur Brooks: Therapy Won’t Make You Happier. And That’s Okay.

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 908 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Therapy is now common and openly talked about, especially among younger, college-educated adults.
  2. Many people mistakenly expect therapy to make them happier, but therapy isn’t a miracle worker for producing happiness.
  3. It’s okay if therapy doesn’t make you happier; building happiness often requires other intentional practices and therapy has a different, important role in treating mental-health issues.

Perhaps You Would Be a Little Touchy Too

Freddie deBoer • 16429 implied HN points • 19 Jan 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Bipolar disorder is often misunderstood, with many thinking mood swings happen quickly, but the truth is they usually take weeks or months. It's important to really understand how the disorder works.
  2. People are increasingly claiming new and unusual diagnoses for mental health issues, which can undermine the seriousness of established conditions. This shift creates confusion and can affect how we view our own experiences.
  3. Claiming a diagnosis can feel liberating for some, but it can also lead to challenges when others misrepresent these conditions. It's tough when what you know to be true about your own illness feels threatened.

We Are Not Okay

The Audacity. • 5621 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Social media can often be a place where sincerity dies, with people sharing their struggles and miseries.
  2. There is pressure to always appear okay, even though many people are dealing with isolation and various problems.
  3. Despite progress in discussing mental health, there are still challenges like expensive therapy and inconsistent insurance coverage.

Why are young liberals so depressed?

Slow Boring • 8117 implied HN points • 01 Mar 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. The mental health of young liberals is influenced by a mix of factors including social media, politics, and societal issues.
  2. Political ideology plays a role in the mental health of adolescents, with liberal girls showing higher levels of depression.
  3. Encouraging positive emotional responses and avoiding catastrophizing can be beneficial for mental health.

A Surprising Fix for Weight Gain, Digestive Woes & Skeletal Pain

Are You Okay? • 3095 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Self-compassion is a crucial element for overall health, often more important than medication for certain symptoms.
  2. Non-pharmacologic interventions are commonly prescribed alongside medications to address complex health problems like weight gain, insomnia, and chronic pain.
  3. Self-compassion, forgiveness, and love for oneself can be the most effective remedies for inner struggles and health issues, often more powerful than medication.

Three years in: a clinician’s perspective

Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) • 3282 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Working with young people going through gender transition can be challenging due to their strong beliefs and reactions.
  2. Therapists also need to navigate the emotions and expectations of parents who seek help for their children's gender dysphoria.
  3. Clinicians working with transgender youth face unique pressures in a professional and political climate that may not always support their ethical principles.

America’s Families Are Not Okay

Persuasion • 2692 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Family estrangement is becoming more common in the United States, with societal shifts and individual empowerment contributing to the trend.
  2. The impact of estrangement on both parents and adult children can lead to deep sadness, embarrassment, and longing for familial connection.
  3. While family estrangement may seem like a socially endorsed choice, it carries a heavy emotional toll, spreading through generations and leaving individuals feeling lonely and anchorless.

Mental Health is Health 🧠

Are You Okay? • 1737 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Mental health is a crucial aspect of overall health, affecting our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as our physical health. It is not just about happiness but about acknowledging and working on our fears, moods, habits, and relationships.
  2. Being aware of our mental health, accepting the things we cannot change, and taking action over the things we can control are important steps in managing mental health.
  3. Addressing mental health issues is a nuanced process that may involve a combination of medication, therapy, lifestyle changes, and self-discovery. It requires a holistic approach considering bio-psycho-social elements.

There's got to be a morning after

Disaffected Newsletter • 2398 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Depression can feel overwhelming and isolating, but it's a temporary state that eventually lifts. It's important to remember that even in the worst times, things can improve.
  2. Understanding your past and your triggers can help in managing depression. It's not always about one specific cause or issue, but a mix of experiences and emotions.
  3. Finding small moments of joy or connection, like laughing or listening to music, can help you feel less alone. It's essential to hold onto those moments as signs of hope and recovery.

Finding Ourselves in Fairy Tales: a new online program at Pacifica Graduate Institute

The Art of Enchantment, with Dr Sharon Blackie • 1797 implied HN points • 13 Feb 24
🚌 Education Therapy
  1. The program at Pacifica Graduate Institute offers an eight-month training in personal narrative work, suitable for clinicians/therapists and individuals interested in deepening their personal work with fairy tales and storytelling.
  2. Participants will explore fairy tales as a reflection of the collective unconscious, use fairy tales to rewrite self-narratives, and learn practices for personal growth and therapeutic applications.
  3. The course structure includes monthly recorded lectures, live Zoom discussions, resource lists, and creative prompts, aiming for an interactive and engaging learning experience.

understanding pain, mental illness, and grief

Midnight Musings • 39 implied HN points • 11 Sep 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Pain happens when there's a mismatch between how we think things should be and how they actually are. It's like a warning sign from our brain telling us to rethink our beliefs.
  2. Mental illness can be seen as our struggle to deal with pain in a healthy way. Anxiety might come from fearing that pain, while depression can stem from being unable to accept our current situation.
  3. Grief starts when we adjust our beliefs to match our experiences. It's a complex emotion, but it's a part of being human and shows our understanding of life's unpredictability.

Overcome OCD With Walking Sensory Meditation

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 1397 implied HN points • 22 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Overcoming OCD can be aided by a walking sensory meditation that focuses on physical sensations and external stimuli, helping to balance analytical thinking.
  2. OCD involves complex neurobiological aspects like increased dopamine input, decreased activity in the salience network, and decreased responsiveness to punishment.
  3. Practices like walking sensory meditation can help address the sensory-cognitive balance in the brain, similar to how exercise improves cerebellar functions.

The Dawn of Spatial Medicine

Ground Truths • 5773 implied HN points • 26 Oct 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Spatial medicine is a new field that combines biology and healthcare, focusing on using spatial data to improve patient treatment. This means doctors can analyze cells and tissues in detail to better understand diseases.
  2. Recent research showed that a new treatment using JAK inhibitors was effective for patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis, a serious skin condition. This treatment worked quickly and with no side effects, showcasing the potential of spatial medicine.
  3. The integration of AI and deep learning plays a key role in spatial medicine, helping to analyze complex data and improve patient outcomes. This advancement could lead to more personalized and effective treatments in the future.

Personality or Pathology

Polymathic Being • 37 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Personality traits are real, measurable, and partly inherited, so tools like MBTI or the Big Five can help meaningfully describe how people tend to think and act.
  2. If we throw out personality frameworks, normal differences can get pathologized as disorders, while real personality disorders may be missed or hidden.
  3. Personality tests are imperfect stereotypes but useful when used carefully; they help match people to roles and prevent forcing everyone into the same behavioral box.

Is it Time to Start An Antidepressant?

Are You Okay? • 1238 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Depression is a medical condition, not a flaw. Seeing your doctor is crucial.
  2. Treatment options for depression vary and can include therapy, lifestyle changes, or medication like Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft.
  3. Pharmacotherapy, like antidepressants, can be beneficial in managing depression when used as part of a holistic treatment plan.

Getting the Crab to the Beach

Living Fossils • 29 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Distress often signals a bad fit between a person and their situation, not a fundamental personal defect; feelings can be most useful as clues about the environment.
  2. Focusing too much on thoughts, memories, or meaning can trap people in rumination; changing routines and context is often more effective than insight alone.
  3. Practical solutions usually involve altering the situation to match the person—adding structure, social context, or different schedules—because shifting circumstances is often easier and more reliable than trying to reengineer personality.

Don't Waste Your Money on the Clearblue Menopause Journey Test

The Vajenda • 2024 implied HN points • 08 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Menopause can be diagnosed clinically based on age, menstrual status, and symptoms, not through blood or urine tests.
  2. Hormone tests for menopause can be unreliable due to individual variations and do not determine when therapy should be started.
  3. Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator test may not provide reliable results and consulting with a healthcare professional is still necessary.

4 Steps Toward Reclaiming Your Health

Are You Okay? • 1158 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Recognize the normalcy of feeling stressed and prioritize removing self-stigma.
  2. Understand that doctors are there to help, not judge, and provide guidance on managing stress-induced health issues.
  3. Be honest about your struggles, ask for help, and build a support system to prioritize your health and well-being.

I Was Told to Approve All Teen Gender Transitions. I Refused.

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 6649 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Independent publications and individual testimonies have been instrumental in shedding light on the complexities of 'gender-affirming' care.
  2. The increase in lawsuits from young individuals highlights the significant consequences of life-altering treatments.
  3. Therapist Tamara Pietzke's experience reveals concerns about the current trend of 'affirmative care' for youth with gender dysphoria, urging a reevaluation of therapeutic approaches.

Two kinds of introspection

Escaping Flatland • 1709 implied HN points • 27 Jun 23
📖 Philosophy Therapy
  1. To become an artist, you don't need to know yourself fully. The art will shape you.
  2. Introspection through doing things and observing yourself can be more productive than passive introspection.
  3. It's okay to not know yourself fully; taking steps and learning from experiences can lead to self-discovery.

A trick to dissolve social anxiety: close your eyes

Defender’s corner • 339 implied HN points • 09 May 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. Closing your eyes in the middle of a conversation can help dissolve social anxiety by allowing you to focus on your thoughts without distractions.
  2. Others may not notice you closing your eyes to manage social anxiety, even though it may feel weird to you.
  3. Using the technique of closing your eyes can help you form your thoughts clearly and navigate through moments of social anxiety effectively.

the privatization of stress

Airplane Mode with Liz Plank • 884 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Therapy
  1. The privatization of stress theory highlights how mental wellness is viewed as an individual issue rather than a societal one.
  2. The cycle of stress privatization traps individuals in jobs that make them miserable, perpetuating a harmful system.
  3. Individualized causes and cures for stress fail to address the systemic issues and lack of public mental health support.