The Presenting Problem 🔍 I remember Tessa sitting across from me, doing that thing people do when they’re trying to convince themselves more than you—the forced smile, the quick “I know it sounds bad, but…” qualifiers. She’d just spent ten […]
In the Therapy Room - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: Infidelity, Blackouts, and Rebuilding Trust
The Presenting Problem 🚨 Brandon walked into my office twenty-five years old, eight months away from marriage, and carrying a weight that hollow eyes can’t quite hide. He’d watched his fiancée kiss her best friend at a party—a moment seared […]
In the Therapy Room - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: Rebuilding Trust After Betrayal
🔍 The Spreadsheet of Betrayal I once knew a woman who kept a mental inventory of her boyfriend’s daily behavior—every delayed text, every defensive flinch when she mentioned the party where he’d entangled himself with someone else. She calculated percentages […]
Authenticity - In the Therapy Room - Relationships - Secrets - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: Deception and Trust in Relationships
🤥 The Anatomy of a Lie That Wasn’t Really About Lying Bryson sat across from me looking like someone had just told him his life savings were in cryptocurrency that had tanked overnight. His girlfriend had caught him in a […]
In the Therapy Room - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: When Your Sister Uses God as a Pickup Line
When Spiritual Language Becomes a Tool for Control 🙏 Tobias walked into my office carrying the kind of tension that makes your shoulders live somewhere near your ears. Within ten minutes, he’d explained his situation: his sister was making sexual […]
In the Therapy Room - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: Career Regret and the Power of Reframing Past Decisions
The Problem With Trevor’s Problem 🧠 Trevor sat in my office doing that thing people do when they’re about to confess something they think disqualifies them from having real problems—he apologized for “wasting my time” before he’d even told me […]
Anxiety - Authenticity - Friendships - Identity - In the Therapy Room - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: When a Friendship Becomes Toxic
You’re not a bad person for wanting to hurt him back. You’re just a person whose emotional system is trying to solve a problem it doesn’t have the right tools for.
Anxiety - In the Therapy Room - Relationships - Sex and Intimacy - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: It’s too big! When Physical Intimacy and Emotional Connection Collide
🛋️ The Problem Behind the Problem You know those moments when someone says something so earnestly that you have to mentally count to three before responding? That was me when Tessa, a bright-eyed 19-year-old psychology major, finally blurted out what […]
Anxiety - In the Therapy Room - Intimacy - Marriage - Relationships - Sex and Intimacy - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: Asymmetrical Desire
The Intimacy Paradox 💔 Trevor sat across from me, hands fidgeting with the edge of his jacket. The weight of two decades of marriage seemed to hang from his shoulders. “It’s not that I don’t love her,” he said, his […]
Families - In the Therapy Room - infidelity - Marriage - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: When Your Father Betrays Your Family
The Impossible Position 🤐 Fifteen years ago, I met Brandon—a sharp-eyed 24-year-old who walked into my office with his shoulders curved inward like parentheses around a secret. He carried himself like someone who’d accidentally wandered into a movie he never […]