In today's episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg discusses the causes of hopelessness, including feeling helpless to control things that you don't want to be happening. She presents the effects of hopelessness, which can include distress, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Karg teaches the audience several effective methods for helping you cope with these situations and improve your mental health. Examples of this include noticing the things you can control and taking action, such as helping others, practicing good self-care, and writing a letter to that part of you that feels triggered to empower you and renew your hope that the situation will improve.

In this episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg discusses the relationship between chemicals in your brain, emotions, and behavior. Dr. Karg describes different perspectives on the utility of psychiatric medication, and what factors to consider when you are considering psychiatric medication. She underscores the importance of communicating with your prescribing physician about any concerns you have about starting psychiatric medication and taking medication as prescribed. She highly recommends talking to the prescribing provider or a pharmacist to make a plan for coming off your medication since quitting cold turkey can be very aversive and/or dangerous. Dr. Karg also discusses genetic testing that is available to help narrow down psychiatric medication that might work best for you.

In today's episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg discusses the stages of dating a narcissist to include love bombing, devaluing, and discarding you. Dr. Karg describes methods for breaking free from a narcissist and how to remain "narc-free."

In today's episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg presents a new skill called making boundaries with yourself about what behavior you will and won't tolerate as it relates to how you treat yourself and how you practice self-care. Dr. Karg using bullying yourself as an example of one thing you can do to improve your self-confidence, self-esteem, and mood.

In this episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg shares her hot take on dating emotionally unavailable people. Dr. Karg talks about signs that you are dating, in a relationship with or in a "situationship" with an emotionally unavailable person. For people that are highly sensitive people or individuals who have an anxious attachment style, friendships, relationships or "situationships" with someone who is emotionally unavailable can be very painful and waste your precious time. Dr. Karg urges the audience to examine how secure you feel with people in your life and to make changes accordingly to ensure that you feel safe, loved, and cared for.

In today's episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg presents a new skill called compartmentalizing or "putting things in a suitcase." This skill is used to pause our emotional suffering so it doesn't negatively affect us in our daily lives.  It's a way to take away whatever is causing suffering so we can be present, work, take care of our responsibilities and live our lives. This skill set is especially important for individuals who are a highly sensitive person or HSPs. Compartmentalizing must be combined with holding space for those feelings for 15 min/day, and then putting the suffering back "in a suitcase" so your can get on with your day.

In today's episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg underscores the importance of being vulnerable and expressing our innermost thoughts and feelings with others in order to develop closeness and intimacy. Dr. Karg describes the steps you can take to ease into expressing yourself if this is new territory for you. Dr. Karg also discusses how best to respond to someone when they are willing to be vulnerable and share their thoughts and feelings with you.

In this episode of Help Me, Rhonda!, clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg discusses the origins of perfectionism -- fears of rejection or abandonment and shame. Dr. Karg also describes the relationship between perfectionism, shame, and negative self-talk or bullying yourself. Dr. Karg teaches listeners five new skills you can use to combat perfectionism, shame, and bullying yourself and begin practicing self-love, self-compassion, and being your own biggest fan.

In this episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg interviews Jonathan who shares his story of being raised by his mentally ill father who belonged to a right-wing Christian militia. Jonathan was raised believing the government was coming to kidnap his family and take them to concentration camps and that it was his job to protect the family. At the age of 13, he was sleeping with a pistol, shotguns, and AR-15 by his bed after his father staged his death to appear as if he had been murdered when in fact it was a suicide.  Jonathan describes how he was affected by years of trauma and how psychotherapy helped him heal from PTSD. Today, Jonathan doing very well and is a prime example of someone who has been able to thrive in the face of adversity. 

In today's episode of "Help Me, Rhonda!," clinical psychologist Dr. Rhonda Karg describes a very powerful tool called therapeutic journaling which has been shown to improve one's health and well-being in as little as 2-4 minutes a day. Dr. Karg describes some of the benefits of therapeutic journaling and shares different approaches to therapeutic journaling that can be used.

For a free copy of her 90-day journaling challenge, email Dr. Karg at [email protected]