Are you struggling with depression, self-sabotage, or anxiety that no one else can see? In this deeply honest episode of Ask Katie Anything, licensed therapist Kati Morton explains what high functioning depression really feels like and why you might feel so empty inside, even when life looks “perfect” on the outside. We’ll explore how childhood trauma, emotional neglect, and attachment wounds shape your mental health today — and how they’re connected to self-sabotage, memory gaps, and anxiety symptoms like itching or shaking. Kati shares practical steps to break free from guilt, reconnect with yourself, and start healing.

1. Could you talk about high-functioning depression and what it really looks like? For context, I feel like I have a “perfect” life; supportive parents, a stable home, pets, a car, and all the basic things I need to live comfortably. I haven’t experienced any trauma, and from the outside, everything seems fine... 00:00:43

2. I accept my flaws and want to grow, but I zone out or give up easily. I’ve been stagnant in my studies for 3 years. How do I build real, lasting change when it feels so hard to even begin? 00:12:07

3. I’ve recently realized there are a lot of things I do not remember about my childhood. My sibling was sharing stories and kept looking at me asking, “Do you remember that?” and I rarely did. We lived in the same house so how does she remember so much more than me? 00:17:49

4. Could you please explain why people itch when they are anxious? It's something I have recently started doing without even knowing it was related to my mental health. Could you please tell me why we do this? And how we might be able to stop? Thank you love your videos and podcasts! 00:22:29

5. My question is about attachment regarding military life, having a parent unavailable but not by choice. I often hear you mention your dad being gone for work frequently when you were a child and how you believe it has an effect on your upbringing. My dad was in the military for 25 years and was often gone during my childhood—not for super long periods (maybe 4 months max), but he left and returned so often... 00:29:11

6. I’ve been on a healing journey in the last 2 years in trauma therapy. I’ve worked a lot on myself with the big challenge of feeling my own feelings. I’ve learned to sit with my feelings and finally felt safe with my therapist. I’ve set boundaries with family, lost relationships, and even lost a pet during therapy... 00:38:59

7. My old therapist is having a baby and I will no longer be able to see her. She has been so helpful and I have been able to move on from her in the past (when I “graduated” DBT). All of the therapists I have had since seeing her don’t quit live up. It’s possible that she’s my favorite person. How do I move forward with my life? 00:42:31

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This week on Ask Kati Anything (ep. 225) licensed therapist Kati Morton explains how to stop intellectualizing and actually feel our feelings, and she digs into grief and how we can process it. Then she talks about why we can feel like our mental illnesses are made up or exaggerated because we haven’t had a trauma or big event, ways we can healthily express our anger, and how she defines an eating disorder relapse. Finally, she walks us through the ways she decides what’s the human condition and what’s a symptom of a mental illness.

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Watch Khalyla Kuhn get raw and real with Kati Morton. In this powerful conversation, Khalyla shares untold truths about her very public breakup with Bobby Lee, recovering from Bell’s Palsy, launching her business Ebb Ocean Club during total chaos, becoming a mom in secret, and what it’s really like to deal with toxic internet culture.

If you’ve ever felt misunderstood, judged online, or trapped by stress, this episode will hit home.

🌊 From heartbreak to healing, betrayal to boundaries — Khalyla reminds us all that you can rebuild your life on your own terms.

My new book is available for pre-order:

Why Do I Keep Doing This? → https://geni.us/XoyLSQIf you’ve ever felt stuck, this book is for you. I’d be so grateful for your support.

Ask Kati Anything ep. 268 ⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: Khalyla Kuhn on Ask Kati Anything

02:00 – Bell’s Palsy: The stress that broke her body

07:00 – How TigerBelly actually got started

14:30 – Surviving public judgment & parasocial hate

20:00 – Trolls, takedowns & toxic culture online

26:00 – How heartbreak inspired her new haircare line

32:00 – Secretly becoming a mom: “I didn’t tell anyone!”

38:00 – Escaping the fires & finding safe places

44:00 – Trauma mode, fight-or-flight & healing

48:00 – What’s next for Khalyla Kuhn?

More Khalyla

https://www.youtube.com/@TigerBelly

https://www.youtube.com/@TrashTuesday

https://www.instagram.com/khalamityk

https://ebboceanclub.com/

ONLINE THERAPY (enjoy 10% off your first month)While I do not currently offer online therapy, BetterHelp can connect you with a licensed, online therapist: https://betterhelp.com/kati

PARTNERSHIPS

Nick Freeman | [email protected]

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In this powerful episode of Ask Kati Anything, licensed therapist and YouTube mental health advocate Kati Morton answers vulnerable audience questions about living without hope, healing from lifelong trauma, and navigating emotional burnout. We explore how to break free from chronic emotional numbness, cope with retraumatization in unsafe environments, and rebuild a sense of purpose when life feels stagnant or meaningless. Kati offers expert insight on topics like maladaptive coping strategies, therapy attachment wounds, and the overwhelming grief that comes from invisible disabilities and complex PTSD.

Thank you to liquid-iv.com for sponsoring mental health content! USE THE PROMO CODE

Audience questions for Ask Kati Anything ep. 268

1. I'd like to hear what you have to say about living without hope. My therapist and I have been... 00:01:18

2. Hey Kati, I’m a 25F with ASD. I have been abused by over 50 people (after reaching 50 I stopped counting) in almost every way imaginable, even by people who were supposed to love and/or protect me, even by therapists and teachers, from when I was 4 years old until recently. I don’t even really know what the word “safe” means. I have helped or held space for many people dealing with pain and grief, but I never learned how to receive help for myself. I was shamed and physically punished by my parents for even the smallest acts of self-care, self-soothing or my ASD symptoms themselves... 00:09:27

3. How do I get past the fact that therapy itself requires an imbalance of intimacy and sharing and just overall is not an organic give and take relationship? 00:18:07

4. How to stop obsessing over the world we live in….and how scary it’s becoming for our children. 00:25:12

5. I feel like I have nothing exciting to look forward to. This has been ongoing for years. 00:29:38

6. How can you cope with re traumatisation when you can't get out of the situation? 00:33:49

7. Is it possible for untreated mental illness to be traumatizing? I think I had a period of depression for a few months when I was 12-13ish, but I never told anyone and would always say I was fine when asked. I was functional enough to shower, eat, do school... 00:33:49

Why Do I Keep Doing This? → https://geni.us/XoyLSQ

If you’ve ever felt stuck, this book is for you. I’d be so grateful for your support.

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Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams join licensed therapist Kati Morton for an unfiltered and heartfelt deep dive into their relationship. From their awkward first date and sleep divorce setup to parenting twins and surviving cancel culture, nothing is off-limits in this revealing episode of Ask Kati Anything.

Why Do I Keep Doing This? https://geni.us/XoyLSQ

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This week on Ask Kati Anything, Kati Morton, LMFT, answers your deeply vulnerable questions around eating disorder recovery, abandonment, and the grief of losing a therapist. If you’ve ever felt “too much,” stuck in self-sabotage, or rejected by the people who should’ve helped—you are not alone.

In this episode:

What to do when your therapist wants to cut back sessions but you're not ready

How to move forward when your parents knew you were struggling but stayed silent

Why ED behaviors change shape—and how to finally stop the cycle

How reparenting work can trigger relapse (and what to do instead)

Grieving the loss of a therapist you trusted

Why your body can’t accept the good things—and how to heal that trauma response

💬 Have a question for Kati? Submit it every Sunday on her YouTube Community Tab.

📚 My New Book is Available for PRE-ORDER Now!
Why Do I Keep Doing This? https://geni.us/XoyLSQ

🎙 Subscribe and follow the podcast to never miss an episode.

#AskKatiAnything #MentalHealthPodcast #Therapy #EatingDisorderRecovery #CPTSD #HealingJourney

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In this episode Kati sits down with Rosanna Pansino to uncover the powerful story behind her success.

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Are repressed memories real? Can you recover them — and should you even try?

1. Can you talk about suppressed memories? My dad died when I was young, I was in the room, but I'm missing huge gaps in my memory. Why does this occur? And why only parts of the memory instead of the entire memory.

2. I've been going down the journey of realizing I'm autistic for a year now (I'm 40y.o. female) and the navigation of the grief of what I thought were things I could overcome but struggled to do, and now realizing I will never overcome some of my issues ever.

3. What inspired you to become a therapist, and how did you get started? I want to thank you for your incredible work.

4. My question is, how could I know if I have ever been in a dysthymia-like state, provided that I don’t recall myself as a ‘happy’ kid/teenager but someone feeling depressed and suicidal on and off for maybe a year or two? I’m 25 now and in hindsight, my first depressive episode was at age 15, due to an acute stressor. But I tend to think my personality/character hasn’t changed much since a very young age. Through the following years I’ve had quite a few distinct depressive episodes and was diagnosed with MDD, which makes perfect sense. Yet I still somehow find the ‘good’ time in between had a fleeting, almost phantom-like feature. I was happy with my friends, of course, but as soon as we parted, I was back into the default, muted mode, or a tranquil mood but in the sense of ‘tranquilliser.’

5. How do I ask my therapist for touch to ground me when I dissociate? I have a history of csa that happened from my mom from 6 to 12 and have a fear that I can have a panic attack because I have panic disorder. I tend to dissociate a lot during a session, which makes it hard to progress when I can't stay present. I have bpd which doesn't help as I am attached to my therapist and wish she was my mom. I just don't want her to think I'm weird, disgusting, or dirty for asking for touch. What can I do or say to not feel uncomfortable or weird during my session when asking?

6. I have been in some form of counselling/therapy since I was 12, I'm now 32. 6 years ago I was diagnosed with BPD and I have been having private DBT therapy for the past year, as it is not available on the NHS. I have recently had an in-depth comprehensive psychological formulation assessment (which I paid for privately) and have been told that I have a dissociative disorder as the result of complex childhood trauma. It wasn't a diagnostic assessment so I don't know which dissociative disorder I have. My question is I am still having DBT and although I really like my therapist

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What does a psychiatrist with decades in emergency medicine, psychotherapy, and the military have to say about mental health today? A lot.

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