The man sat in my office in Solvang on a Tuesday morning, and the fear was written on him like a scar. Not a fresh wound—something older, something that had started sharp and turned into a constant hum he’d learned […]
Anxiety - Authenticity - Dating - In the Therapy Room - infidelity - Relationships - Samuel Hartwell
In the Therapy Room: When Love Becomes a Cage
The Jealousy That Masquerades as Devotion 💔 I remember Tristan sitting across from me on a Tuesday afternoon, his leg bouncing with restless energy. His partner, Sophie, sat beside him but not with him—there was a distance of about eighteen […]
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 […]
In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean - Relationships
In the Therapy Room: Navigating Avoidant Attachment and Intimacy in Relationships
The Dance of Distance and Desire 💔 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 […]
Emotional Bytes Theory - Friendships - In the Therapy Room - Melanie Doss
In the Therapy Room: When Apology Gifts Feel Like Emotional Hostage Situations
Tessa arrived in my office carrying an invisible weight I recognized immediately—that specific hypervigilance that comes from having your trust demolished and then being asked to trust again. She was seventeen, recently relocated, and caught in that particular teenage purgatory […]
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 - Jas Mendola - Relationships
In the Therapy Room: When Family Loyalty Becomes Emotional Quicksand
🪑Bryson sat down that first day. He was built solid, with hands that showed work and eyes that wouldn’t settle on any one spot in my office. His denim jacket had a patch from the local power plant. He twisted […]
In the Therapy Room - Relationships - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: The Emotional Significance of Material Possessions
🏺 The Case of the Disposable Girlfriend and the Design Snob Trevor, 31, worked in interior design and approached his home like a museum curator. His girlfriend of two years preferred what she called “practical solutions”—translation: whatever was cheapest at […]
ADHD - In the Therapy Room - Relationships - Sophia Rivera
In the Therapy Room: Navigating Relationships with Different Neurological Styles
🏥 Inside the Therapy Room Last Tuesday, Tessa arrived at my office fifteen minutes early, as she always does. While most clients use this buffer to scroll through their phones in the waiting room, Tessa spends it organizing her thoughts […]
Families - Identity - In the Therapy Room - Monica Dean
In the Therapy Room: When Your Voice Falls on Deaf Ears
📖 The Ghost of Conversations Past Emily was thirty-two when she first sat in my office, shoulders hunched as if carrying an invisible weight. She’d spent thirty minutes explaining her parents’ dismissive patterns before finally looking up and saying, “I […]