The Tuesday Afternoon Realization 🤔 I met Brynja on a Tuesday afternoon when Manchester was doing that thing it does—grey skies threatening rain but never quite committing. She walked in with the sort of composure that immediately told me she’d […]
Authenticity - Breakups - codependency - Heartbreak - Identity - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Relationships
In the Therapy Room: Understanding Attachment Styles and the Pitfalls of Codependency
A Tuesday Afternoon in the Therapy Room 🪑 Bramwyn arrived on a Tuesday afternoon with the particular exhaustion of someone trying to solve a puzzle using pieces from someone else’s box. He wanted to understand his ex-partner—specifically whether she had […]
Identity - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Social Anxiety - Trauma
In the Therapy Room: The Architecture of Self-Protection and the Invisible Costs of Solitude
We start to believe that our trauma has revealed something true about us, rather than something true about what we endured.
In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Relationships
In the Therapy Room: Navigating Avoidant Attachment and Intimacy in Relationships
The Dance of Distance and Desire đź’” I met Brynhild on a Tuesday afternoon in a Manchester café—not my office, but somewhere they felt safer. They ordered a flat white and immediately began explaining their relationship with the precision of […]
Friendships - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean
In the Therapy Room: Navigating the Complexity of Human Connection and Emotional Honesty in Friendships
I met Tessa in a cafĂ© on Deansgate, where she’d cornered me after overhearing a conversation about emotional honesty. She had that look I’ve come to recognize—someone who’s been running the same mental loop for weeks, desperately trying to solve […]
In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Relationships
In the Therapy Room: Avoidant Attachment Patterns
I met Bryson on a drizzly Tuesday at a cafe near Piccadilly Gardens. He’d been referred by a friend who said he “needed to talk to someone who wouldn’t just tell him to download another meditation app.” Within ten minutes […]
Families - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Personal Development
In the Therapy Room: The Invisible Costs of People-Pleasing
I met Tessa in a cafĂ© near Spinningfields on a drizzly Tuesday afternoon. She’d been referred by a friend—though “referred” isn’t quite right. More like gently pushed in my direction after confessing she’d spent twenty minutes agonizing over which sandwich […]
Dating - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Social Anxiety
In the Therapy Room: Social Anxiety and Inner Conflict
🗣️ When the Internal Conversation Becomes a Battlefield I still remember the day Tobias walked into my office. The tall man with sandy blond hair and hunched shoulders seemed to physically fold in on himself as he settled into the […]
Authenticity - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Relationships
In the Therapy Room: The Complexity of Cutting Ties and Preserving Emotional Authenticity
🚪 When “Peace of Mind” Becomes the Priority “I just can’t do fake anymore, Monica,” Bryson told me during our third session, hands clasped tightly as though holding onto his conviction. “When relationships start feeling forced, I’d rather walk away […]
Friendships - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean
In the Therapy Room: Toxic Friendships and the Difficulty of Setting Boundaries
🌪️ When Friendships Feel Like Quicksand I remember Rachel vividly—a bright 28-year-old with kind eyes that couldn’t quite hide her exhaustion when she first walked into my consulting room. She sank into the armchair with a mix of relief and […]