I agree that this should be a plainly systematic issue, but I also deeply feel that Saturday is odd, and I can only account for this if the week and the weekend are in different categories, so when the weekend hits, the ”counter” goes back to ”one” so it`s actually a sequence of alternating fives and twos rather than sevenses all the way down.
@@cael_aj agree with you that factually this seems right and to me saturday and sunday feel like the exception, BUT to me it's because Saturday is odd and Sunday is even
Therapist here. I hope I can help anyone who is grappling with this. I agree with a lot of what Alayna said about the levels of therapy. What I would add is this: 1. What we learned in school is that the #1 predictor of effective therapy is the relationship between client and clinician. You can gauge this by how you feel in session. Are you feeling comfortable enough to really relax? Are you feeling judged or criticized? Do you feel that you can disagree? It sometimes takes a few sessions to really get a feel...also, remember that it's going to take the therapist at least a few sessions to feel you out and find what works, as well. Note, however, that inner work can be uncomfortable, so it's important to be able to decipher what emotions are actually coming up and why. 2. It really depends on what you need from therapy. Some people need a lot of space to ramble and simply be validated, at least at first. A more direct and structured therapist is going to make that person feel shut down. However, someone who lacks self-awareness and has been living a bit chaotically or even hurtfully is going to need more boundaries and accountability in session. In other words, it's not a one size fits all. It really depends on the goodness of fit between client and clinician moreso than the skill level of the therapist. This is why one person might say that the therapist changed their life, but someone else feels like they were terrible...one person was looking to make changes in their life and the other just wanted a place to vent with less structure or accountability. Obviously, everyone should be achieving their therapeutic goals, but that's going to look very very very different from client to client. I really pride myself on being very flexible and adaptable with clients. I can be harsher when I need to, but spend the next session nodding the whole time. But not every therapist is this flexible. A lot of them have a one size fits all approach, which creates a very small pool of people that they can work with. 3. Regarding Alayna's third point regarding "are you able to do the work?" In my opinion, a good therapist will at least attempt to break this down with you. If you created a therapeutic goal and did not achieve it this week, what were the barriers? Are there belief systems stopping you from going after it? Was it a practicality issue? Etc. A lot of times, doing the work on belief systems and processing old emotions will naturally cause surface level changes that seemed unattainable at the beginning of therapy. This can also happen with dissociation...a lot of people try to dive right into the content, but a good therapist will start at the barriers. You first have to process any anxiety surrounding getting rid of the barriers, then find out why the barriers are there, then process what it would be like to not have those barriers, teach them skills for handling emotions, AND THEN get into the real content. It's such a wild, rewarding job. Hope this helps!
@xolisadebruin Exactly! It depends on the client, the presenting problem, and where they're at at that specific moment. But, people will say "that was a bad therapist" when a lot of times, it was simply a poor fit for one reason or another.
I’ve been going to therapy every week since June and I have found myself looking forward to it every week because even if I don’t talk about trauma I still have a safe place to vent about my week and talk out anything that has been on my mind without any judgement and often without specific advice but rather encouragement to be softer to myself. My therapist believes that anything I bring to therapy can be helpful to talk about even if it’s just about how traffic pissed me off. But don’t get me wrong eventually we tie it all together and I cry each session lol Whenever I have to skip a week (holidays etc) I find myself missing it and I definitely need to start journaling to fill those gaps when I’m not in therapy.
I'm a Mak, I lose all emotion if I'm faced with stressful situations or intense emotions and experiences. I partition off my emotions when they become too much.
Alayna: “She wants to identify her feelings without feeling them.” Me: Holy shit…is that an option?! Is that something I can do because sign me up?? Thank you for this episode! As soon as I got to 35:33, I sent the link timestamp to my best friend because how have I been in and out of therapy since 2009 & never heard of hypoarousal?!? Welcome to mental health resources in Southern Indiana. 😒 this helped explain why I have always hated therapy. Feeling the rise in emotions and then deciding to “not have that feeling right now.” Is basically my superpower. Lol
Alayna’s new podcast was amazing to listen to, and now this episode makes me hungry for going back to therapy. I am doing good since last time I had a therapist, but there is still so much more to discover about myself. Would be great to get back into it
Somatic therapy helped me a lot, as did internal family systems. I instinctively shut down most negative emotions and have experienced some intense disassociation in my life. Movement is key, as well as observing what my body is doing without trying to immediately analyze it. IFS helped me to be curious about my internal world without the baggage of shame. It’s something I’m still working on but I think I’ve gotten better. Best of luck to you Mak!
I can see why Ash said "I wish I was that way" when Mak described "the void." But, I have EXTREME disassociation & actually don't remember a lot of my life. Especially my childhood. Both extremes are terrible to deal w.. Loved this convo!
I’ve always been like Mak in terms of not easily feeling/identifying emotions and it’s only been as I’ve gotten a bit older I realised I had an issue with that. For anyone who’s similar, like Alayna suggested, seeing a somatic therapist has been really helpful for me. Basically just someone who helps you get more in touch with your body and the different sensations you feel in different situations. It’s also really important to work on this because otherwise people like us often go years not being in touch with our emotions which can lead to significant illnesses like chronic fatigue syndrome and autoimmune diseases. It’s literally our bodies cry for help! This happened to me but I’ve improved so much since seeing the right therapist. So please don’t keep ignoring it! It will always come out in another way. And I liked that you said a big red flag for a therapist is if you feel judged or unsafe with them - I’ve had this happen a lot and your therapist should never make you feel completely invalidated or shame for what you’ve shared with them. You should feel safe and validated, and within that they might gently challenge you to question things.
This podcast and the one that should not be named have helped me a lot. I'm thinking about some of the things you discussed today in relation with my own path on therapy. Ashley, thank you for being always so upfront and direct, I need that sometimes.
I loved my therapist, she was an older woman, we are both African American women so she inherently understood my underlying background, and she was already retired but doing counseling to just help people so she could give two shits if I got offended and didnt want to see her anymore. She told me what I needed to hear, and I kind of saw her as my third grandmother. She would validate my feelings when I was gaslighting myself with how my parents were treating me and time and time again told me to stop making excuses for them, they should have done better. But she would call me out and hold me accountable when I was doing destructive/ irresponsible behavior, like showing up to places late all the time. Yes I have diagnosed ADHD and dont have a sense of time or time management, but it is my responsibility to figure out what works for me and put systems in place to set myself up for success and stop making excuses. And if I didnt follow through, she'd be like, do you actually want to change or are you just wanting to waste time? But the difference between her and anyone else that told me "if you wanted to change, you would have done it already " is that She would work with me to figure out what systems to put in place and a bunch more because she has a son that also had ADHD. Relationships, my career, my familial relationships, my tendency to ruminate on negative thoughts and low self esteem, she helped me through all of it without letting me surrender my responsibilities if that makes sense. God Im so blessed to have had her, and Im a better person and a better adult because of her. The only reason I stopped was because I dont have insurance anymore, but I had been with her for nearly 3 years on and off so I feel she gave me a good foundation to keep going.
OMG the "endless void" line is hitting hard. Made me think about how often I realize big emotions are coming or should be (especially distressing ones) and my body's like "nope, we're actually not doing that bestie". It's made me scared that I have empathy issues or am just a terrible disingenuous person, but I really do care about people and situations around me 😭😭
you guys, please dont ever stop this podcast, im emotionally attached to it, its the bane of my existence, i feel like yall are my family, so if yall leave im gonna be devasted for years to come
44:00 - I only have power over the things inside me I get to choose that is my freedom, Ashley I feel like you're a community leader and I value your input I've been journalling a lot more because of you and Alayna and it's been helping a lot! I know you could disappear before that happens I've been around since before your canceling and I've been loyal because of your authenticity honestly and ability to navigate complex situations.
I related to Mak's discussion about emotions as well. Growing up, being outwardly emotional was frowned upon as not being "mature" or out and out "childish". Therefore, I learned to push those things down to the point that by the time I could deal with them, I no longer knew what event caused them in the first place.
I first thought my therapist didn't really ask for feedback very often. But it is not true. Every session ended with something along the lines: "Our time is starting to be at the end. How are you feeling about it?" And I answered the about the session: How I felt in the beginning, how I felt now, how I felt about walking out of the door. If I would not have answered that way. Maybe I would have received more questions.
I once saw someone comment on a Hank or John Green video that 7 x 7 = 49 is equal to Thursday and somehow something about that felt so right me. Also, I would love to hear more of your synesthesia convos. I'm fascinated by this stuff.
Omg here at 2 am bcs I couldn't sleep lol. ETA: Omg this is gonna bother me. Sunday is the first day of the week: odd. Also being raised in the church means I had to go to church: negative; therefore Sunday is odd. Mon, Wed, Fri = even. Sat= even. Sunday is odd as I said, but also bcs the Sunday-scaries. Zero would be the absence of time, which is a place i want to go, but not an existent day of the week (sorry- I am disappointed too).
Here, guys, this the formula of your podcast. It's the child coming to her parents asking for advice about how to go about life. Mom empathically and professionally replying and dad sharing his own experiences and cracking some jokes in between. Stepchildren (patreon questions) welcome. Always when this happens, instant fav episode!
I highly recommend looking into plant or psychedelic medicine retreats!! I have been able to unlock my subconscious and connect somatically in ways I never was able to in many types of therapies. I still love therapy…but these types of retreats can jumpstart so much of the work and programming to get deeper, quicker. And the nervous system release and reset is 🤯
Sunday is zero and Saturday is six. That way the weekends are both even, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are odd. Also since Sunday is zero and Monday is one, they both feel like the start of the week.
oof. i resonate with mak’s experience with emotions. it takes me four to ten business days to realise what i was feeling because my brain intellectualises the why and how it affects other people. it’s exhausting 😅
Like Mak, I felt not in tune with my own emotions. It took my therapist suggesting I practice noticing my emotions to get through that. Just NOTICE, that's all. I had marked out times of the day to sit with a list of emotions and figure out which one felt most true in that moment. Takes less than a minute. A lot of "content" but a surprising amount of anger. 10/10 highly recommend.
Wow this was SO Helpful and insightful, Mak that hard part about being that type of person is when that room cracks wide open and your body forces you to face it all at once, you don’t wanna get to that point!!
Monday, Wed, Fri, Sun = Odd, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday = even. Numerically AND emotionally lol Mon is red, Tues is blue, Wed is yellow, Thurs is green, Saturday is brown. I don't know why I have colour associations with any days of the week or why not all of them😂 ADHD verbal impulsivity wall of text incoming (sorry, not sorry? idk) ahhh: I'm late to seeing this ep but the therapy chat was a super relevant convo for me. It took me over 10 years to find a therapist who actually communicates with me in a way that I understand like you all were just talking about, I stuck with my first therapist for so long because she helped me so much with one major issue but she was honestly a terrible fit for me for literally everything else. I would say that I always leave a session with a therapist who is a good fit for me feeling better than when I walked in - I may sometimes still feel sad and go cry after, but I will at least feel like I have actions to take to do the work, I've learnt something, that I released some of the pressure build up or I just feel a lot calmer. A therapist who isn't a good fit I can leave their office feeling worse than when I walked in. Also I recently actually described in detail what hypoarousal looks like for me because thanks to these sessions I now have the language and self awareness to describe what is going on and that it needs to be explained instead of just saying "I'm exhausted". After sharing that with the therapist I'm only just realising that hey, actually, this level of struggle is probably a lot worse than I have been making out to myself a la Mak's comment "It's honestly fine" 😂 basically me "Did I die though?" 😂 I have often said that I can truly believe something with my mind but how I feel in my chest doesn't align and I think it's to do with the "hard coded" nervous system response stuff Alayna mentioned as well which has now also come up in therapy for the first time and how to work on weakening those pathways in my system. I wish 15 years ago this sort of information was understood better or communicated more clearly, it makes even single convos with my therapist render years of therapy pointless with the amount of work and info I can get out of just one session. Not sure I can afford to be a patron I'ma go look at the patreon to see, but really appreciated the whole concept of the chosen family pod and what you guys do since I first stumbled on it so trying to comment and like more to at least help a miniscule amount with reach 😅 I need to come up with a tech company idea so I can afford to qut my day job, take my own fam to Spain and become a patron 😂
Same sentiment as Mak towards emotions. Currently going through somatic exercises in my personal therapy, and it's slowly actually helping. We're also working with just - sitting - with emotions and that's.... *scrunches nose* yucky, but less gross than it used to be. Also also resuming reading in my 30's, specifically ✨fantasy✨, has helped open the emotion box a lot for some reason lol. Long story short, somatic exercises be tough, but rate it 👍👍
M-W-F are odd, T-TH are even, but my trouble occurs because saturday is odd and sunday is even, and that ruins the sequence, friday and saturday are both odd back-to-back. Holy crap, I am about to pester the hell out of all my co-workers with this. What a good question!
I go into a hypoarousal state regularly and my therapist explained my nervous system as a revving car engine with someone with their foot on the gas and break at the same time after the ramping up part. I'm frozen in place, but there's a lot of energy being used, which is exhausting and when the gas runs out I collapse into hypoarousal. Also my therapist is great and like Alayna said about good therapists, she regularly checks in about how she's doing as my therapist and what I'm needing from her.
Ashley, I ve been listening to your comedy and podcasts for about 5 years and throughout so much of realizing i was gay I looked to WHGS and then chosen family and they've meant so much to me and helped me on my journey and I hope you can remember why you started WHGS in the first place. But regardless I know you'll be great in whatever you decide to move forward with after your mysterious tech project is finished. I don't think I'm speaking for just myself in saying that we'll support you with whatever makes you happy.
LOVING this talk about therapists - I'm in my 2nd week of my Master's program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and have been wondering how people feel about having a therapist who looks like them, has similar life experiences, culture, etc. (My therapist is also a queer woman, so my experience is having a therapist who is somewhat similar to me, and she's been SO great for me, so I've been very curious if the opposite can be possible as well) Soooo you guys read my mind...?!?
My therapist always asks me "how do you feel at the end of this session ?" Also the question about whether you want someone who can relate to your identities/life experience was so interesting ! At some point in my life I was actively trying to work on my cis guilt and I felt frustrated by the exchanges with her who knew really nothing about transidentity, so a one shot with someone way queerer helped me a looot. But I also agree that it can feel safer to talk to someone outside of the queer world
On the note what to look for picking a therapist: it helped me to visualise what type of therapist I will be willing to respect and listen to. Do they need to embody a parental figure, or a big sibling, or a scientist etc.? Do I reckon I will be willing to do breathing exercises - or will I find it woo-woo hippie stuff? Basically, in my experience therapy worked when I was matched with someone whose advice I felt like had some authority for me
It’s got to be so hard to rely largely on success in online spaces for your livelihood because the internet will not let you mess up, apologize, grow, and move forward. There’s no good response to being called out because it’ll all be scrutinized until you’re wrong. On the note of therapy, give your new therapists 3-6 sessions before judging the fit unless it just feels absolutely wrong.
"Spend all my time talking about the stuff I don't want to talk about and it won't be productive." It took me 2 years of therapy before I could admit why I wanted therapy (that is, my real presenting problem). Big waste of time, right? Well, I came to think of that as a breakthrough. It was productive, in a sense, to get to the point where I could talk about what I had been avoiding. With my next therapist, I was able to dive into the real stuff much faster. Progress! Not to say that it can or should take that long for everyone, but to say that some things are productive even if they don't feel it.
For anyone interested, the book "Are u ok?" by Katie Morton has many basic questions about therapy answered. Also, what I used to do before being able to afford therapy was to type into youtube all the different kinds of therapy and learn about them- as well as trying some exercises- and see what would resonate with me. In the end and after many trials and errors, I found my therapist who is a godsend and has helped me reach a level which I honestly didn't think was possible!!! And don't forget: you have to want it and you have to work reeeaaally hard to get it, but it's sooo worth it!!!❤❤❤
12:54 - My mum read my diary as a child and got mad at me for something I wrote in it. And this is why I don't journal and, even the small amount of journalling I do, I rarely ever put vulnerable things in there JUST IN CASE someone reads it and uses it against me.
The idea of the nervous system versus the cognitive awareness of what needs to change... Ashley had meditation, and j finally found the right medicine. Sometimes therapy only goes so far, but the therapist can help search for that solution
A lot of research has been done that the biggest predictor of useful therapy is the therapeutic relationship. With this in mind id recommend choosing a therapist based on the vibe you feel with them. Is this someone I can imagine and feel safe talking to about my inner most thoughts and feelings. Also want to say on the topic of therapists and clients sharing identities debate as a trans person who's heard countless of stories of cis therapists not understanding and often pathologising their trans clients- sometimes it is really important for people to have a therapist who does have shared experience. Ofc cis people can be good therapists for trans people but more often than not they aren't.
I remember a therapist who makes TH-cam videos as well talked about how some people try to intellectualize their feelings (e.g. I know that I am upset because this thing in my past is a trigger for this core belief that I am unlovable) as a way of avoiding FEELING the emotion. It keeps it at bay so we don't have to experience it physically (because believe it or not all emotions have a physiological component). I felt very called out 😅 but I think that's what Alayna was getting at with somatic therapy. It's therapy designed to get you past your instinct to protect yourself by analyzing your thoughts and feelings as an avoidance strategy
A big breakthrough I had in therapy was when my therapist was like "You're in a feedback loop." My brain was feeling that my body was anxious (tensed muscles and etc) so it was then in turn telling my body it was anxious so my body was telling my brain it was anxious (into infinity) and the only way to make it stop was to be IN my body and work from there. Like, I couldn't think my way out of a feeling.
As someone who had debilitating anxiety since birth, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy followed by somatic work, and bodily processing past events/emotions were truly revolutionary for my peace in everyday life and my ability to handle stressors. Hyper-analyzing situations and the resulting emotions doesnt actually make them go away, turns out :/
Ok y’all, this was actually a really great episode and I feel like I got something out of it. Made me realize I went from that hyper feelin feels shite to being more shut down and being exhausted by feeling my feels and not really wanting to engage
Mak you might relate to this: I recently had a moment of rejection over text where I felt a lot of emotions rush through my body but it felt kind of like my ME, my sense of self, my rational, thinking self, was kind of like in a submarine and I could hear (/feel) the flood rush around and past me but I wasn't in the water myself? like I could physically feel the fear/anger etc. hormones being spread through my body but I as my SELF was just chilling in the middle, waiting a moment for it to be over and then I rationally thought about the situation again, got up and made dinner
really encourage people to check out the podcast Trauma Rewired! Lots of accessible information regarding the nervous system and its connection when trauma occurs
This was def one of the better episodes. It reminded me of earlier episodes when you guys were more goofy and energetic. :) Also, I'm with Mak and Jen, I don't want to feel my emotions they're exhausting. :P
My therapist always asks “How are you feeling? Did you get what you need today?” at the end of the session which is an example of a less direct way of the asking for feedback thing
Oh, also: Ashley I think you convinced me to sign up to the patreon today. I've been considering it for a while, I have to check my numbers but I think I'm in a good enough place for it now. ❤ you all.
It‘s not a number it‘s a feeling, and the answer is even: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and odd: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I‘ve always thought this any it‘s mindboggling to me that not everyone agrees wow this is a very educational episode
I’d say don’t read too much into your feelings (like feeling of being judged by the therapist) if you generally struggle with them. I feel like everybody judges me all the time and I felt this way with my therapist too. I would say things like “I’m really afraid that you’re judging me right now” and he would always say that I can ask him, how does he feel about me at the moment. It took me a year maybe to be able to ask that question because I feared the answer so much. Because I had a huge problem with that. Only after I did that with him many many times I was able to ask people in my life what they think of me in various situations. So yeah I feel like most things depend a lot on the context and the problems you may have in communication and relationships - it’s very likely that all of them will be present for your relationship with your therapist.
It made all the difference to know, what kind of therapist I wanted (in paper, obviously personality matters also a lot). 1) My hard-no was having solution focused therapist. My first choise was psychodynamic psychotherapy. Then any of cognitive backgrounds. I know my problems in surface level quite well. I did not want quick fix. I wanted therapist to help me to dig my mind to uncover the traumas and work on those. 2) I wanted therapist to have background in medicine or psychology before specialization to become therapist. (It is shocking to realize, how many therapist qualified for giving long term psychotherapy with financial support from our country, had background in something totally different than medicine or phychology. Luckily, this come up in discussion with psychiatric nerse prior to be starting to search for a therapist!) 3) I wanted therapist to have experience on working with familymembers of alcoholics. 4) I preferred male therapist over female. (This I was happy to change my mind on if I found female therapist I clicked with. I didn't.) I found my "dream therapist" (in paper and in person). First time I saw my therapist, I knew, this is it. Still tried some more to be sure. Went to therapy for 3 years for semi-severe depression and semi-severe anxiety-disorder. After that I have taken one single session with him, when I felt I had issue to process.
Mak i resonate with you sooo much. For me personally, when i feel an intense emotions, my head gets really foggy like i'm not really there. I always feel like i have to manually choose my emotions, like..there should be a button for me to decide. I don't even cried when i witnessed my grandma took her last breath, last year bcuz my body and mind wouldn't allow me to feel it, like some sort of our of body experience. But i knew..i knew i feel bad
Mak, look into an Internal Family systems approach to psychotherapy. After a couple years of CBT I started this approach and find it very helpful in bringing me back into my body/emotions without feeling quite as daunting as other somatic therapy approaches. A good book to read is No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz if you want to dip your toe in ❤
In the movie Kissing Jessica Stien, Helen asks her girlfriend Jessica what her therapist thinks about their relationship - Jessica says "oh I could never tell my therapist about us, thats too personal"
the red flag that made me decide to stop seeing my therapist was a day in which she spent the whole session telling me what i should have done in a specific situation two years before, straight off telling me i had made the wrong choice. (for context: she told me i shouldve agreed to go on a holiday with my classmates that eventually was cancelled due to covid and that not even 20% of my class wanted to go to)
I am of the realm of Jen and Mak. And I completely agree with Ashley that being able to compartmentalize my feelings away kept me sane and productive for so long. Until my poor mental health started to affect me physically 😂
“If anyone can do anything it’s you doing something” bars
Mak, you're perfectly right. Monday is Day 1, Tuesday Day 2, etc. It's that simple. No feelings involved. I stand with Mak.
Sunday is the LAST day of the week, Monday is the FIRST day of the week.
"It's not a feeling is a number" summarizes Mak so well
Tell me why I related to this
I'm with Mak on this one! 😁
53:23 “Nothing is real. The currency you give us is imaginary. So don’t worry about it.”
Best outro yet!
Just love your brain, Ashley!
Ashley: “I feel normal!!”
Alayna: “…sorry?”
I don’t know why, but this really got me 😂
monday, wednesday, friday, sunday - odd
tuesday, thursday, saturday - even
i’m with Mak on this, there should be no debate 😭😂
I just started watching but saw this comment and I agree but don't now why. It's sounds right.
I think that's factually correct HOWEVER both Saturday and Sunday do feel even to me. The rest feel right the way you laid it out.
I agree that this should be a plainly systematic issue, but I also deeply feel that Saturday is odd, and I can only account for this if the week and the weekend are in different categories, so when the weekend hits, the ”counter” goes back to ”one” so it`s actually a sequence of alternating fives and twos rather than sevenses all the way down.
@@cael_aj agree with you that factually this seems right and to me saturday and sunday feel like the exception, BUT to me it's because Saturday is odd and Sunday is even
@@cael_ajWell… if we consider sunday as day 0… that fits. 😀
Everytime y’all say “Danny bleep that” it’s funny 😆
Therapist here. I hope I can help anyone who is grappling with this. I agree with a lot of what Alayna said about the levels of therapy. What I would add is this:
1. What we learned in school is that the #1 predictor of effective therapy is the relationship between client and clinician. You can gauge this by how you feel in session. Are you feeling comfortable enough to really relax? Are you feeling judged or criticized? Do you feel that you can disagree? It sometimes takes a few sessions to really get a feel...also, remember that it's going to take the therapist at least a few sessions to feel you out and find what works, as well. Note, however, that inner work can be uncomfortable, so it's important to be able to decipher what emotions are actually coming up and why.
2. It really depends on what you need from therapy. Some people need a lot of space to ramble and simply be validated, at least at first. A more direct and structured therapist is going to make that person feel shut down. However, someone who lacks self-awareness and has been living a bit chaotically or even hurtfully is going to need more boundaries and accountability in session. In other words, it's not a one size fits all. It really depends on the goodness of fit between client and clinician moreso than the skill level of the therapist. This is why one person might say that the therapist changed their life, but someone else feels like they were terrible...one person was looking to make changes in their life and the other just wanted a place to vent with less structure or accountability. Obviously, everyone should be achieving their therapeutic goals, but that's going to look very very very different from client to client.
I really pride myself on being very flexible and adaptable with clients. I can be harsher when I need to, but spend the next session nodding the whole time. But not every therapist is this flexible. A lot of them have a one size fits all approach, which creates a very small pool of people that they can work with.
3. Regarding Alayna's third point regarding "are you able to do the work?" In my opinion, a good therapist will at least attempt to break this down with you. If you created a therapeutic goal and did not achieve it this week, what were the barriers? Are there belief systems stopping you from going after it? Was it a practicality issue? Etc. A lot of times, doing the work on belief systems and processing old emotions will naturally cause surface level changes that seemed unattainable at the beginning of therapy. This can also happen with dissociation...a lot of people try to dive right into the content, but a good therapist will start at the barriers. You first have to process any anxiety surrounding getting rid of the barriers, then find out why the barriers are there, then process what it would be like to not have those barriers, teach them skills for handling emotions, AND THEN get into the real content. It's such a wild, rewarding job. Hope this helps!
@xolisadebruin Exactly! It depends on the client, the presenting problem, and where they're at at that specific moment. But, people will say "that was a bad therapist" when a lot of times, it was simply a poor fit for one reason or another.
The 100 ep cut in from Danny was perfect
Mak is not beating the allegations 😂
lmao never 😂
Ashley is very existential recently and I’m here for it
Mak, what you’re describing could be alexithymia which is prevalent among autistic people, i have it
Sounds like it to me, being unable to locate the sensation in the body making it hard to identify the true emotion 💯
I thought the same thing, definitely worth exploring
I’ve been going to therapy every week since June and I have found myself looking forward to it every week because even if I don’t talk about trauma I still have a safe place to vent about my week and talk out anything that has been on my mind without any judgement and often without specific advice but rather encouragement to be softer to myself.
My therapist believes that anything I bring to therapy can be helpful to talk about even if it’s just about how traffic pissed me off. But don’t get me wrong eventually we tie it all together and I cry each session lol
Whenever I have to skip a week (holidays etc) I find myself missing it and I definitely need to start journaling to fill those gaps when I’m not in therapy.
I'm a Mak, I lose all emotion if I'm faced with stressful situations or intense emotions and experiences. I partition off my emotions when they become too much.
Alayna: “She wants to identify her feelings without feeling them.”
Me: Holy shit…is that an option?! Is that something I can do because sign me up??
Thank you for this episode! As soon as I got to 35:33, I sent the link timestamp to my best friend because how have I been in and out of therapy since 2009 & never heard of hypoarousal?!?
Welcome to mental health resources in Southern Indiana. 😒 this helped explain why I have always hated therapy. Feeling the rise in emotions and then deciding to “not have that feeling right now.” Is basically my superpower. Lol
Alayna’s new podcast was amazing to listen to, and now this episode makes me hungry for going back to therapy. I am doing good since last time I had a therapist, but there is still so much more to discover about myself. Would be great to get back into it
Somatic therapy helped me a lot, as did internal family systems. I instinctively shut down most negative emotions and have experienced some intense disassociation in my life. Movement is key, as well as observing what my body is doing without trying to immediately analyze it. IFS helped me to be curious about my internal world without the baggage of shame. It’s something I’m still working on but I think I’ve gotten better. Best of luck to you Mak!
I can see why Ash said "I wish I was that way" when Mak described "the void." But, I have EXTREME disassociation & actually don't remember a lot of my life. Especially my childhood. Both extremes are terrible to deal w.. Loved this convo!
I’ve always been like Mak in terms of not easily feeling/identifying emotions and it’s only been as I’ve gotten a bit older I realised I had an issue with that. For anyone who’s similar, like Alayna suggested, seeing a somatic therapist has been really helpful for me. Basically just someone who helps you get more in touch with your body and the different sensations you feel in different situations. It’s also really important to work on this because otherwise people like us often go years not being in touch with our emotions which can lead to significant illnesses like chronic fatigue syndrome and autoimmune diseases. It’s literally our bodies cry for help! This happened to me but I’ve improved so much since seeing the right therapist. So please don’t keep ignoring it! It will always come out in another way.
And I liked that you said a big red flag for a therapist is if you feel judged or unsafe with them - I’ve had this happen a lot and your therapist should never make you feel completely invalidated or shame for what you’ve shared with them. You should feel safe and validated, and within that they might gently challenge you to question things.
I really appreciate this therapy convo and breaking down the hyper vigilant vs shut down of your nervous system. This is really good stuff!!
This podcast and the one that should not be named have helped me a lot. I'm thinking about some of the things you discussed today in relation with my own path on therapy. Ashley, thank you for being always so upfront and direct, I need that sometimes.
I loved my therapist, she was an older woman, we are both African American women so she inherently understood my underlying background, and she was already retired but doing counseling to just help people so she could give two shits if I got offended and didnt want to see her anymore. She told me what I needed to hear, and I kind of saw her as my third grandmother. She would validate my feelings when I was gaslighting myself with how my parents were treating me and time and time again told me to stop making excuses for them, they should have done better. But she would call me out and hold me accountable when I was doing destructive/ irresponsible behavior, like showing up to places late all the time. Yes I have diagnosed ADHD and dont have a sense of time or time management, but it is my responsibility to figure out what works for me and put systems in place to set myself up for success and stop making excuses. And if I didnt follow through, she'd be like, do you actually want to change or are you just wanting to waste time? But the difference between her and anyone else that told me "if you wanted to change, you would have done it already " is that She would work with me to figure out what systems to put in place and a bunch more because she has a son that also had ADHD. Relationships, my career, my familial relationships, my tendency to ruminate on negative thoughts and low self esteem, she helped me through all of it without letting me surrender my responsibilities if that makes sense. God Im so blessed to have had her, and Im a better person and a better adult because of her.
The only reason I stopped was because I dont have insurance anymore, but I had been with her for nearly 3 years on and off so I feel she gave me a good foundation to keep going.
OMG the "endless void" line is hitting hard. Made me think about how often I realize big emotions are coming or should be (especially distressing ones) and my body's like "nope, we're actually not doing that bestie". It's made me scared that I have empathy issues or am just a terrible disingenuous person, but I really do care about people and situations around me 😭😭
you guys, please dont ever stop this podcast, im emotionally attached to it, its the bane of my existence, i feel like yall are my family, so if yall leave im gonna be devasted for years to come
44:00 - I only have power over the things inside me I get to choose that is my freedom,
Ashley I feel like you're a community leader and I value your input I've been journalling a lot more because of you and Alayna and it's been helping a lot! I know you could disappear before that happens I've been around since before your canceling and I've been loyal because of your authenticity honestly and ability to navigate complex situations.
thanks man
I related to Mak's discussion about emotions as well. Growing up, being outwardly emotional was frowned upon as not being "mature" or out and out "childish". Therefore, I learned to push those things down to the point that by the time I could deal with them, I no longer knew what event caused them in the first place.
wow, I just remembered my therapist asking me for feedback quite often without me realizing why she was doing it. cool
I first thought my therapist didn't really ask for feedback very often. But it is not true. Every session ended with something along the lines: "Our time is starting to be at the end. How are you feeling about it?" And I answered the about the session: How I felt in the beginning, how I felt now, how I felt about walking out of the door. If I would not have answered that way. Maybe I would have received more questions.
Omg you guys are almost at 100k ❤❤❤
I once saw someone comment on a Hank or John Green video that 7 x 7 = 49 is equal to Thursday and somehow something about that felt so right me. Also, I would love to hear more of your synesthesia convos. I'm fascinated by this stuff.
I’m 40 minutes in and fully feeling called out 😅 this is a great conversation though and something I really needed to hear at this time in my life.
Omg here at 2 am bcs I couldn't sleep lol.
ETA: Omg this is gonna bother me. Sunday is the first day of the week: odd. Also being raised in the church means I had to go to church: negative; therefore Sunday is odd. Mon, Wed, Fri = even. Sat= even. Sunday is odd as I said, but also bcs the Sunday-scaries. Zero would be the absence of time, which is a place i want to go, but not an existent day of the week (sorry- I am disappointed too).
Here, guys, this the formula of your podcast. It's the child coming to her parents asking for advice about how to go about life. Mom empathically and professionally replying and dad sharing his own experiences and cracking some jokes in between. Stepchildren (patreon questions) welcome. Always when this happens, instant fav episode!
One of the best episodes yet loved the convo
Mickey Atkins is a therapist and they have an episode about bad therapists- might be really helpful to spot some red flags
I highly recommend looking into plant or psychedelic medicine retreats!! I have been able to unlock my subconscious and connect somatically in ways I never was able to in many types of therapies. I still love therapy…but these types of retreats can jumpstart so much of the work and programming to get deeper, quicker. And the nervous system release and reset is 🤯
Sunday is zero and Saturday is six. That way the weekends are both even, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are odd. Also since Sunday is zero and Monday is one, they both feel like the start of the week.
oof. i resonate with mak’s experience with emotions. it takes me four to ten business days to realise what i was feeling because my brain intellectualises the why and how it affects other people. it’s exhausting 😅
Like Mak, I felt not in tune with my own emotions. It took my therapist suggesting I practice noticing my emotions to get through that. Just NOTICE, that's all. I had marked out times of the day to sit with a list of emotions and figure out which one felt most true in that moment. Takes less than a minute. A lot of "content" but a surprising amount of anger. 10/10 highly recommend.
Wow this was SO Helpful and insightful, Mak that hard part about being that type of person is when that room cracks wide open and your body forces you to face it all at once, you don’t wanna get to that point!!
Love this pod
This episode felt so all over the place and yet succinctly covered several topics! 🥰😅
LOVE you all so so so much💞💞💞 Incredibly grateful for this podcast🥰🤗
Monday, Wed, Fri, Sun = Odd, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday = even. Numerically AND emotionally lol
Mon is red, Tues is blue, Wed is yellow, Thurs is green, Saturday is brown. I don't know why I have colour associations with any days of the week or why not all of them😂
ADHD verbal impulsivity wall of text incoming (sorry, not sorry? idk) ahhh: I'm late to seeing this ep but the therapy chat was a super relevant convo for me. It took me over 10 years to find a therapist who actually communicates with me in a way that I understand like you all were just talking about, I stuck with my first therapist for so long because she helped me so much with one major issue but she was honestly a terrible fit for me for literally everything else. I would say that I always leave a session with a therapist who is a good fit for me feeling better than when I walked in - I may sometimes still feel sad and go cry after, but I will at least feel like I have actions to take to do the work, I've learnt something, that I released some of the pressure build up or I just feel a lot calmer. A therapist who isn't a good fit I can leave their office feeling worse than when I walked in.
Also I recently actually described in detail what hypoarousal looks like for me because thanks to these sessions I now have the language and self awareness to describe what is going on and that it needs to be explained instead of just saying "I'm exhausted". After sharing that with the therapist I'm only just realising that hey, actually, this level of struggle is probably a lot worse than I have been making out to myself a la Mak's comment "It's honestly fine" 😂 basically me "Did I die though?" 😂 I have often said that I can truly believe something with my mind but how I feel in my chest doesn't align and I think it's to do with the "hard coded" nervous system response stuff Alayna mentioned as well which has now also come up in therapy for the first time and how to work on weakening those pathways in my system. I wish 15 years ago this sort of information was understood better or communicated more clearly, it makes even single convos with my therapist render years of therapy pointless with the amount of work and info I can get out of just one session.
Not sure I can afford to be a patron I'ma go look at the patreon to see, but really appreciated the whole concept of the chosen family pod and what you guys do since I first stumbled on it so trying to comment and like more to at least help a miniscule amount with reach 😅 I need to come up with a tech company idea so I can afford to qut my day job, take my own fam to Spain and become a patron 😂
Same sentiment as Mak towards emotions. Currently going through somatic exercises in my personal therapy, and it's slowly actually helping. We're also working with just - sitting - with emotions and that's.... *scrunches nose* yucky, but less gross than it used to be. Also also resuming reading in my 30's, specifically ✨fantasy✨, has helped open the emotion box a lot for some reason lol.
Long story short, somatic exercises be tough, but rate it 👍👍
Ashley celebrating feeling normal is me 😭🤣👍🏼❤️
M-W-F are odd, T-TH are even, but my trouble occurs because saturday is odd and sunday is even, and that ruins the sequence, friday and saturday are both odd back-to-back. Holy crap, I am about to pester the hell out of all my co-workers with this. What a good question!
No, no. Sunday is odd and Saturday is even. You’re correct about the weekdays, though.
I go into a hypoarousal state regularly and my therapist explained my nervous system as a revving car engine with someone with their foot on the gas and break at the same time after the ramping up part. I'm frozen in place, but there's a lot of energy being used, which is exhausting and when the gas runs out I collapse into hypoarousal. Also my therapist is great and like Alayna said about good therapists, she regularly checks in about how she's doing as my therapist and what I'm needing from her.
Ashley, I ve been listening to your comedy and podcasts for about 5 years and throughout so much of realizing i was gay I looked to WHGS and then chosen family and they've meant so much to me and helped me on my journey and I hope you can remember why you started WHGS in the first place. But regardless I know you'll be great in whatever you decide to move forward with after your mysterious tech project is finished. I don't think I'm speaking for just myself in saying that we'll support you with whatever makes you happy.
Monday- odd
Tuesday - even
Wednesday -odd
Thursday- even
Friday - odd
Saturday -even
Sunday- odd
LOVING this talk about therapists - I'm in my 2nd week of my Master's program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and have been wondering how people feel about having a therapist who looks like them, has similar life experiences, culture, etc. (My therapist is also a queer woman, so my experience is having a therapist who is somewhat similar to me, and she's been SO great for me, so I've been very curious if the opposite can be possible as well) Soooo you guys read my mind...?!?
My therapist always asks me "how do you feel at the end of this session ?" Also the question about whether you want someone who can relate to your identities/life experience was so interesting ! At some point in my life I was actively trying to work on my cis guilt and I felt frustrated by the exchanges with her who knew really nothing about transidentity, so a one shot with someone way queerer helped me a looot. But I also agree that it can feel safer to talk to someone outside of the queer world
Looooved this episode, I'm having my first ever therapy session next week, so this was really helpful calming my anxiety about it ❤
8:14 it got a weird laugh from me that no one could hear as well 😂😂
On the note what to look for picking a therapist: it helped me to visualise what type of therapist I will be willing to respect and listen to. Do they need to embody a parental figure, or a big sibling, or a scientist etc.? Do I reckon I will be willing to do breathing exercises - or will I find it woo-woo hippie stuff? Basically, in my experience therapy worked when I was matched with someone whose advice I felt like had some authority for me
Mak is correct! Monday is 1 Tuesday 2 Wednesday 3 Thursday 4 Friday 5 Saturday is 6 Sunday is 7
It’s got to be so hard to rely largely on success in online spaces for your livelihood because the internet will not let you mess up, apologize, grow, and move forward. There’s no good response to being called out because it’ll all be scrutinized until you’re wrong.
On the note of therapy, give your new therapists 3-6 sessions before judging the fit unless it just feels absolutely wrong.
"Spend all my time talking about the stuff I don't want to talk about and it won't be productive." It took me 2 years of therapy before I could admit why I wanted therapy (that is, my real presenting problem). Big waste of time, right? Well, I came to think of that as a breakthrough. It was productive, in a sense, to get to the point where I could talk about what I had been avoiding. With my next therapist, I was able to dive into the real stuff much faster. Progress! Not to say that it can or should take that long for everyone, but to say that some things are productive even if they don't feel it.
For anyone interested, the book "Are u ok?" by Katie Morton has many basic questions about therapy answered. Also, what I used to do before being able to afford therapy was to type into youtube all the different kinds of therapy and learn about them- as well as trying some exercises- and see what would resonate with me. In the end and after many trials and errors, I found my therapist who is a godsend and has helped me reach a level which I honestly didn't think was possible!!! And don't forget: you have to want it and you have to work reeeaaally hard to get it, but it's sooo worth it!!!❤❤❤
12:54 - My mum read my diary as a child and got mad at me for something I wrote in it. And this is why I don't journal and, even the small amount of journalling I do, I rarely ever put vulnerable things in there JUST IN CASE someone reads it and uses it against me.
I really loved this episode and found a lot of these insights very valuable ❤
the void thing Mak said was super relatable for me.
the therapy talk was so helpful thanks you guys
Beepbop I'm so early, love your work ladies! ❤
4:40 ✨✨✨✨
Love you Danny!!!
The idea of the nervous system versus the cognitive awareness of what needs to change... Ashley had meditation, and j finally found the right medicine. Sometimes therapy only goes so far, but the therapist can help search for that solution
A lot of research has been done that the biggest predictor of useful therapy is the therapeutic relationship. With this in mind id recommend choosing a therapist based on the vibe you feel with them. Is this someone I can imagine and feel safe talking to about my inner most thoughts and feelings. Also want to say on the topic of therapists and clients sharing identities debate as a trans person who's heard countless of stories of cis therapists not understanding and often pathologising their trans clients- sometimes it is really important for people to have a therapist who does have shared experience. Ofc cis people can be good therapists for trans people but more often than not they aren't.
Love u guys thank you ❤ one of my favorite podcasts 🙌
Loved this episode! ❤
I remember a therapist who makes TH-cam videos as well talked about how some people try to intellectualize their feelings (e.g. I know that I am upset because this thing in my past is a trigger for this core belief that I am unlovable) as a way of avoiding FEELING the emotion. It keeps it at bay so we don't have to experience it physically (because believe it or not all emotions have a physiological component). I felt very called out 😅 but I think that's what Alayna was getting at with somatic therapy. It's therapy designed to get you past your instinct to protect yourself by analyzing your thoughts and feelings as an avoidance strategy
A big breakthrough I had in therapy was when my therapist was like "You're in a feedback loop." My brain was feeling that my body was anxious (tensed muscles and etc) so it was then in turn telling my body it was anxious so my body was telling my brain it was anxious (into infinity) and the only way to make it stop was to be IN my body and work from there. Like, I couldn't think my way out of a feeling.
has anyone else thought about the fact the mom and dad both "have" black cats...but we have never seen "both" cats in the same room....?
As someone who had debilitating anxiety since birth, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy followed by somatic work, and bodily processing past events/emotions were truly revolutionary for my peace in everyday life and my ability to handle stressors.
Hyper-analyzing situations and the resulting emotions doesnt actually make them go away, turns out :/
Ok y’all, this was actually a really great episode and I feel like I got something out of it. Made me realize I went from that hyper feelin feels shite to being more shut down and being exhausted by feeling my feels and not really wanting to engage
surviving is the first step Ashley!! 🫶
Mak you might relate to this:
I recently had a moment of rejection over text where I felt a lot of emotions rush through my body but it felt kind of like my ME, my sense of self, my rational, thinking self, was kind of like in a submarine and I could hear (/feel) the flood rush around and past me but I wasn't in the water myself? like I could physically feel the fear/anger etc. hormones being spread through my body but I as my SELF was just chilling in the middle, waiting a moment for it to be over and then I rationally thought about the situation again, got up and made dinner
You guys got me donating to the patreon on this one
really encourage people to check out the podcast Trauma Rewired! Lots of accessible information regarding the nervous system and its connection when trauma occurs
This was def one of the better episodes. It reminded me of earlier episodes when you guys were more goofy and energetic. :) Also, I'm with Mak and Jen, I don't want to feel my emotions they're exhausting. :P
22:17 - Yes, very much yes with the kitty.
My therapist always asks “How are you feeling? Did you get what you need today?” at the end of the session which is an example of a less direct way of the asking for feedback thing
Oh, also: Ashley I think you convinced me to sign up to the patreon today. I've been considering it for a while, I have to check my numbers but I think I'm in a good enough place for it now. ❤ you all.
It‘s not a number it‘s a feeling, and the answer is even: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and odd: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I‘ve always thought this any it‘s mindboggling to me that not everyone agrees wow this is a very educational episode
I’d say don’t read too much into your feelings (like feeling of being judged by the therapist) if you generally struggle with them. I feel like everybody judges me all the time and I felt this way with my therapist too. I would say things like “I’m really afraid that you’re judging me right now” and he would always say that I can ask him, how does he feel about me at the moment. It took me a year maybe to be able to ask that question because I feared the answer so much. Because I had a huge problem with that. Only after I did that with him many many times I was able to ask people in my life what they think of me in various situations. So yeah I feel like most things depend a lot on the context and the problems you may have in communication and relationships - it’s very likely that all of them will be present for your relationship with your therapist.
Also would love to see you guys talk about PMDD. Not sure if Alayna knows about it but it needs more awareness.
It made all the difference to know, what kind of therapist I wanted (in paper, obviously personality matters also a lot).
1) My hard-no was having solution focused therapist. My first choise was psychodynamic psychotherapy. Then any of cognitive backgrounds. I know my problems in surface level quite well. I did not want quick fix. I wanted therapist to help me to dig my mind to uncover the traumas and work on those.
2) I wanted therapist to have background in medicine or psychology before specialization to become therapist. (It is shocking to realize, how many therapist qualified for giving long term psychotherapy with financial support from our country, had background in something totally different than medicine or phychology. Luckily, this come up in discussion with psychiatric nerse prior to be starting to search for a therapist!)
3) I wanted therapist to have experience on working with familymembers of alcoholics.
4) I preferred male therapist over female. (This I was happy to change my mind on if I found female therapist I clicked with. I didn't.)
I found my "dream therapist" (in paper and in person). First time I saw my therapist, I knew, this is it. Still tried some more to be sure. Went to therapy for 3 years for semi-severe depression and semi-severe anxiety-disorder. After that I have taken one single session with him, when I felt I had issue to process.
Mak i resonate with you sooo much. For me personally, when i feel an intense emotions, my head gets really foggy like i'm not really there. I always feel like i have to manually choose my emotions, like..there should be a button for me to decide. I don't even cried when i witnessed my grandma took her last breath, last year bcuz my body and mind wouldn't allow me to feel it, like some sort of our of body experience. But i knew..i knew i feel bad
LOVED this episode
I needed this episode thank you ❤
Mak, look into an Internal Family systems approach to psychotherapy. After a couple years of CBT I started this approach and find it very helpful in bringing me back into my body/emotions without feeling quite as daunting as other somatic therapy approaches. A good book to read is No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz if you want to dip your toe in ❤
In the movie Kissing Jessica Stien, Helen asks her girlfriend Jessica what her therapist thinks about their relationship - Jessica says "oh I could never tell my therapist about us, thats too personal"
the red flag that made me decide to stop seeing my therapist was a day in which she spent the whole session telling me what i should have done in a specific situation two years before, straight off telling me i had made the wrong choice. (for context: she told me i shouldve agreed to go on a holiday with my classmates that eventually was cancelled due to covid and that not even 20% of my class wanted to go to)
Monday: Even
Tuesday: Odd
Wednesday: Even
Thursday: Odd
Friday: Even
Saturday: Even
Sunday: Odd
Monday is 1, but Wednesday is SO even! like I can't describe it, it is just a fact😂
so happy to hear ashley is just as upset about cody ko’s cancelation as i am
creative therapies like art/music/drama can also be helpful for people who struggle to articulate their feelings :)
I am of the realm of Jen and Mak. And I completely agree with Ashley that being able to compartmentalize my feelings away kept me sane and productive for so long. Until my poor mental health started to affect me physically 😂
I feel that "in a movie/not real" thing all the time..
“We’re chill but we can’t use the feeling’s wheel”
28:10 oh ma gawd i am 100% with you
I'm with mak with the even/odd discussion 😂😂