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When mental-health language becomes content, it can start teaching us how to leave discomfort elegantly instead of how to stay long enough to actually change.

Most of us assume that consuming mental health content is making us more emotionally intelligent. In this episode, I look at a different possibility: that the way platforms reward and distribute this content may be teaching us how to avoid discomfort more elegantly, not how to stay in it long enough to grow or repair.

I break down how algorithms shape what kinds of emotional messages spread, why content that encourages exit and self-protection travels farther than content that asks for accountability, and what happens when therapy language becomes optimized for performance, shares, and watch time.

I’m joined by Kati Morton, a licensed therapist and one of the largest mental health creators on YouTube, to talk about what happens not just to audiences, but to mental health itself, when therapeutic ideas become content at scale.

We talk about how emotional vocabulary shifts from being a tool for repair to a tool for image management, why discomfort is increasingly framed as toxicity, and what that means for relationships, responsibility, and emotional development.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How social media algorithms shape which mental health messages spread and which ones disappear.

Why viral therapy content often teaches emotional exit instead of emotional endurance.

What it means for relationships and accountability when therapeutic language becomes optimized for performance.

If you consume a lot of mental health content and have ever wondered why it sometimes makes things feel easier but not actually better, this episode explains the tension underneath.

Xxoo Darcy

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

www.KatiMorton.com 

Why Do I Keep Doing This?: Unlearn the Habits Keeping You Stuck and Unhappy

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani and Robyn Jaenchen. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube. 

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⁠Listener Subscription

Before sadness, guilt, or hurt can register, accountability lands—and therapy language rushes in to protect how we see ourselves instead of staying in the relationship.

We like to think emotional language makes relationships safer. In this episode, I examine how words like boundaries, triggered, and protecting my peace are often used to avoid accountability without looking like avoidance.

I break down how conflict quietly gets reframed from “what happened between us” to “how you made me feel by bringing this up,” how this shift changes the power dynamic in a relationship, and why it trains partners to stop telling the truth over time.

This pattern doesn’t usually end relationships through big fights. It erodes them through silence, hesitation, and conversations that never happen — until distance becomes the default.

This episode looks at what “staying” actually means in real conflict: not performing calm, not using language to exit, but remaining present long enough to hear impact instead of protecting your position.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How emotional and therapy language can function as an avoidance strategy in conflict

• Why choosing “peace” over repair slowly drains intimacy from relationships

• What it practically means to stay in a hard conversation instead of exiting it
  If you’ve ever felt like your relationship is calm but distant, or like hard conversations keep disappearing instead of getting resolved, this episode explains the pattern underneath.

Xxoo Darcy

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REFERENCES/RESOURCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani and Robyn Jaenchen. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube. 

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In the season opener of We Need To Talk, I sit down with bestselling therapist and founder of Relational Life Therapy, Terry Real, to expose the part of you that’s actually running your relationships. We talk about the “younger part” that learned to survive in your family, how it hijacks your adult brain in conflict, and what it takes to get your wise adult back online when all you want to do is fight, flee, or fix. Terry doesn’t just explain the model—he uses me and my marriage as the live example. If your relationships keep looping the same arguments, this episode is the map.

Xxoo Darcy

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

Terryreal.com

Relationallife.com

www.instagram.com/realterryreal/

Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship 

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani and Robyn Jaenchen. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube. 

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Season 3

Before we get into this, I want to name why this episode exists.

A while back, I interviewed

Molly Roden Winter about her book More. It became one of the most listened-to episodes of this show. Not because it was shocking—but because it challenged something people quietly assume they’re not allowed to question.

While I was reading the book, I kept thinking about one thing: I want to hear this from the other side.

This episode is that conversation.

This is me talking with Stewart Winter, Molly’s husband, about what it’s actually like to live inside a relationship that refuses to default to the script. Not theoretically. Not philosophically. Practically.

We talk about intensity. About choosing a partner who doesn’t make you comfortable—but makes you honest. About the difference between expanding a relationship and escaping one. And about how people use concepts like “open-mindedness” to avoid reckoning with their own limits.

This isn’t an episode about monogamy versus non-monogamy.

It’s about what happens when you stop outsourcing your choices to culture—and start owning the consequences of the life you build.

Listen carefully. Because the real question underneath all of this isn’t what kind of relationship do you want.

It’s whether you’re willing to tolerate the version of yourself that your relationship requires.

A couple of months ago, I interviewed New York Times bestselling author, Molly Roden Winter. Her book, “More: A Memoir of Open Marriage” documents her journey as a Brooklyn Mom who ventures into the world of polyamory, as she opens her marriage. 

My interview with her sparked such a buzz from listeners — more than any other episode of WNTT. It’s linked below if you haven’t listened.  

I just re-read her book while I was on a vacation and I have to tell you, about every 50 pages I found myself taken aback by how well her husband Stewart navigated their experience. He was repeatedly in situations where there were five wrong ways of responding to things, and in my opinion, he consistently landed on the right one. 

Was he lucky? Or has he actually been taught relationship skills? 

Those were the answers I wanted, so I invited him to join me.

Stewart Winter did not disappoint.

CREDITS

This episode of “We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” was produced by Darcy Sterling. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani, Stephanie Sterling and Preston Smith. “We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. 

Link to Molly’s book: More: A Memoir of Open Marriage

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

Twitter:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube. 

Before we get into today’s episode, I want to take a moment to reintroduce one of the most important conversations I’ve ever had on this show.

This episode — Rethinking Monogamy — is the most downloaded episode of We Need to Talk.

I recorded this early in the life of the podcast, and it still holds up because it doesn’t argue for or against monogamy. It looks closely at why so many people struggle inside the relationship model they’re told is the only legitimate option.

Whether or not monogamy is right for you isn’t the point.

The point is understanding why so many people stay in relationships that look right, but don’t actually feel right — and what it costs when we never question that gap.

If this is your first time hearing it, you’re about to listen to a thoughtful, grounded conversation that’s just as relevant now as it was then.

And if you’ve listened before, it’s worth hearing again with fresh ears.

In the west, monogamy is our default relationship model. But, to be clear, monogamy is a social construct. It is not inherent to our biology. 

That’s an important fact to keep in mind throughout today’s conversation with New York Times Best Selling author, Molly Roden Winter, whose recent book “More: A Memoir of Open Marriage,” documents her journey through non-monogamy. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• Why humans adopted monogamy as our dominant relationship construct (the answer is grim).

• The surprising response she got from her therapist about opening up her marriage. 

•  Her advice on how to initiate a conversation with your partner about non-monogamy, should you be inclined. 

Xxoo

Darcy

REFERENCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/marriage-divorce.htm

Kim, J. H., Tam, W. S., & Muennig, P. (2017). Sociodemographic Correlates of Sexlessness Among American Adults and Associations with Self-Reported Happiness Levels: Evidence from the U.S. General Social Survey. Archives of sexual behavior, 46(8), 2403–2415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-0968-7

Lei, L., & South, S. J. (2021). Explaining the decline in young adult sexual activity in the United States. Journal of Marriage and Family, 83(1), 280-295.

Solomon NG, Ophir AG. Editorial: What's Love Got to Do With It: The Evolution of Monogamy. Front Ecol Evol. 2020 Apr;8:110. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00110. Epub 2020 Apr 28. PMID: 32782899; PMCID: PMC7416880.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-monogamy-has-deep-roots/

More: A Memoir of Open Marriage by Molly Roden Winter

Substack: mollyrodenwinter.com

CREDITS

This episode of “We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” was produced by Darcy Sterling, with editorial support from Vicki Vergolina. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani, Stephanie Sterling and Preston Smith. “We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube.

In this episode, I’m unpacking one of the most misunderstood dynamics in modern relationships: Certainty.

Most people think relationship breakdown happens because emotions run too hot or arguments get too big. But what actually corrodes connection over time is something quieter and far more dangerous — the belief that your perspective is the objective truth.

When we treat our interpretation as fact, disagreement stops being information and starts feeling like a threat. Curiosity shuts down. Defensiveness takes over. And instead of two people trying to understand each other, you end up with two people trying to win.

I walk through why the mind clings to certainty even when it costs us intimacy, how rigid thinking turns everyday moments into power struggles, and what it actually looks like to move from being “right” to being connected. This isn’t about abandoning your reality — it’s about learning how to hold it without weaponizing it against the people you care about most.

What you’ll walk away with:

• How certainty masquerades as emotional safety — and why it quietly undermines trust and closeness.
  

• The difference between having a perspective and defending it at all costs, especially during conflict.
  

• Practical ways to loosen rigid thinking so conversations become collaborative instead of combative.
  

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the same arguments, unheard by your partner, or convinced that the problem is simply that they “don’t get it,” this episode will challenge you — and give you a more effective way forward.

Follow and subscribe to We Need To Talk with Dr. Darcy Sterling for more evidence-based tools to build stronger, more resilient relationships.

Xxoo Darcy

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani and Robyn Jaenchen. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube. 

Have you ever looked at your relationship history and thought, “How am I here again?”Different person, different story, yet somehow the emotional blueprint feels eerily familiar.

In this episode, I walk you through what’s actually driving those repetitive relationship dynamics — not the behaviors you consciously notice, but the unconscious patterns that get activated long before you realize what’s happening. These patterns come from early learning, attachment, and the roles you were shaped to play in relationships. And unless you bring them into awareness, they continue choosing for you.

Think of this as a systems upgrade. I want you to understand the internal rules you’ve been following without knowing it — the ones that dictate who you’re drawn to, what feels “chemically right,” and why certain dysfunctions feel familiar. Once you can name your pattern, you can interrupt it and finally write a new script.

We’ll also talk about what healthy connection feels like when you stop outsourcing your self-worth to old wiring and what shifts internally when you stop mistaking intensity for intimacy.

What You’ll Learn

• Why certain dynamics feel magnetic even when they’re unhealthy.
  

• How your unconscious patterning influences who you pursue and who you stay with.
  

• What it takes to break the cycle and choose differently, not just date differently.
  

If you’re tired of the same story with different characters, this episode will help you understand the mechanics of your pattern and show you what it takes to break it for good.

If you found this episode helpful, be sure to follow, rate, and subscribe to We Need To Talk with Dr. Darcy Sterling so you never miss a new conversation.

Xxoo Darcy

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani and Robyn Jaenchen. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube.

Today we’re pulling back the curtain on a cultural shift that’s been quietly reshaping how we function in relationships, work, and daily life. Somewhere along the way, the language of therapy stopped being a tool for healing — and became a script for avoidance.

Suddenly everything is “toxic.” Every tough conversation is a “boundary violation.” And any feeling — no matter how fleeting — is treated as absolute truth.

But here’s the reality: Feelings are signals, not facts. And when we mistake one for the other, we lose our capacity to tolerate discomfort, repair ruptures, and stay connected when things get hard.

In this episode, I’m joined by RaQuel Hopkins — whose work on emotional resilience and discomfort tolerance is both grounded and refreshingly honest. Together, we break down how therapy-speak has gone off the rails and what it actually looks like to build psychological strength in a culture that rewards fragility.

You’ll walk away with:

• A clearer understanding of why “therapy language” exploded culturally — and why so much of it is being misused.
  

• The difference between true boundaries and avoidant behavior disguised as self-care.
  

• Practical tools for strengthening emotional resilience so you can stay regulated and present, even when things get uncomfortable.
  

If you’re tired of oversimplified wellness advice, if you want relationships that can handle real conflict, or if you’re ready for a more honest conversation about feelings, facts, and personal responsibility, this episode is for you.

Xxoo Darcy

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

RaQuel Hopkins

Instagram

The Capacity Workbook

The Capacity Journal

The Newsletter

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani and Robyn Jaenchen. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling 

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling  

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube. 

This week, a lot of us are heading into family time, which can be beautiful, but it can also bring up old patterns, old roles, old emotions. And while the holidays are not the time to sit someone down for a difficult conversation, they are the time when those conversations start to weigh on us.

So before we dive in, I want you to think of today's episode as grounding, as clarity, not as a call to action. This is about understanding your own emotional patterns, recognizing what gets activated around the people who raised you, and getting honest with yourself about what you need without feeling like you have to fix anything this week.

So as you listen, take what helps you feel steadier and leave the rest. There's no homework today, no confrontation plan, no conversation you should be having at Thanksgiving, just insight, just support. Let's get into it.

Ever find yourself replaying a conversation in your head—over and over—only to avoid it altogether? Maybe you want to tell a friend they hurt your feelings. Or ask for a raise. Or bring up that thing your partner said that’s still bothering you.

We all do it. But why? Why do we avoid conversations that could actually improve our relationships—and our lives?

Most of us dodge these talks because we fear conflict or don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. But avoiding the conversation doesn’t make the discomfort go away. It causes it to fester.

Today, I’m joined by someone who knows this terrain professionally and personally—my wife, Steph Sterling, LCSW. She also happens to be the most talented couples therapist I know.

In this episode, we unpack:

• How to tell if you’re avoiding a conversation out of fear or just waiting for the right time.

• The biggest mistakes people make when they finally speak up.

• How to navigate tough talks in a way that brings you closer together instead of pulling you apart (step-by-step).

Plus… Steph shares some stories about our own struggles that just might surprise you.

Xxoo Darcy

REFERENCES

www.alternativescounseling.com

Getting The Love You Want 

Forbes Article: Are Your Employees Avoiding Difficult Conversations?

https://www.instagram.com/steph_sterling_lcsw/

https://alternativescounseling.com/meet-the-owners/steph/

CREDITS

“We Need To Talk With Dr. Darcy Sterling” is a Sterling Standard Production. Editing and sound engineering by Bart Migal. Our theme music is by Trending Music. Special thanks to Amanda Cristiani. 

DISCLAIMER

Instagram:@drdarcysterling

Facebook:Dr.Darcy Sterling

Tik Tok:@doctordarcysterling 

X:@DrDarcySterling   

YouTube:@DarcySterling   

Threads:@drdarcysterling

Watch this episode here on YouTube.