Dear Sigmund

Oh Covid, I cannot wait until you are not raising global anxieties and spawning more conspiracy theories than I can count.  But until then, JP and I will try to help you navigate being around people who have a lot of anxiety about Covid or believe it's all a conspiracy.  We also discuss the emotional load of moving aging parents into an assisted living facility and what to do when a religious zealot imposes his beliefs on anyone close to him. 

Today we explore the differences between calling someone a narcissist and being clinically diagnosed as a narcissist.  Then, we explain the concept of orthorexia and debate whether or not eating a forkful of cat food is pica, OCD, or something else.

This week's discussion is centered around supporting vs. reality checking a relative with an unplanned pregnancy, would CBD be ok for an aging parent who's sundowning behaviors are stressful and processing what it's like to leave a cult and the damage to the family relationship.

It's quite an episode!  JP and I share what it's like to be fired by a client, talk about how to handle being around other people's babies while struggling with your own infertility, explain the relationship between obsession and compulsion necessary to be diagnosed with OCD and address a listener's concern about knowing too much about their therapist. 

Starting off with polar opposite answers, Shannon explains why she loves her clients and JP counters with the ethical dilemma it creates for him. Then we discuss the impact "ghosting" has and should have on dating app users. Finally,  JP tells us why his "heart sinks and head explodes" when therapists, not medical doctors, tell clients what medications they should be taking.

This week we dive right into your questions!  JP and I remind a listener that the infantilization of her brother is not her problem & we talk to another listener about how to protect her children from her own past trauma.  Finally, we disagree on what's an appropriate amount of emotion to bring into a relationship.

In this episode, JP and I tackle the age old question of how much drinking is too much before moving on to the topic of the microbiome's relationship to mental health and finishing with instructions on how to enforce boundaries with a pushy girlfriend. 

This week talk a lot about antidepressants; which one is known as the "Happy Skinny Sexy Pill," what combination of medications is called "California Rocket Fuel,"  and what to do if you gain weight.  Then, JP drops some knowledge on us about the relationship between inflammation and depression. And we finish up with chatting about that attention-seeking FB friend we all have in our feed.

We're giving away information about how to disclose your mental health in the workplace, if the big online therapy companies deliver on their promises, and how to accept your ailing parents' autonomy. We also go on an intense tangent about assisted suicide.

Learn with us how to manage the wannabe workplace bully, where your post Covid anxieties are coming from and how conspiracy theories gain traction and with whom.