Dr. Jessica Goodnight
Psychologist; thoughtful analysis on neuroscience vs. psychology in therapy, resilience, and behavior change.
Mental Health Recovery Is Lifelong, Not Total Remission
Even the most effective mental health care rarely results in total remission, and I think we need to be more candid about this. Even the most "healed" person almost certainly will experience ongoing, lifelong impacts of their condition. Under enough stress, depression will creep in, OCD will flare up, those old nightmares will come back. If we approach the healing process as a constant striving for symptom remission, people are set up to battle with themselves for life.
Find Joyful, Low‑Sweat, Low‑Risk Movement for Mental Health
Underrated mental health intervention: going on a quest to find a way to move your body that 1) you have a ton of fun doing and 2) makes you feel really good in your body. You may think you hate movement...
Spotting Trendy Therapists Lacking Real Knowledge
Signs of a therapist who is trendy but not knowledgeable: - Being opposed to behaviorism, then saying they use ERP, ACT, or DBT in clinical practice 👀 - Assuming that the idea of "parts" came from IFS - Thinking that therapy inherently neglected...
EMDR BLS Works via Memory, Not Brain Hemispheres
Really wish EMDR therapists would quit with the idea that BLS "unsticks trauma" by "activating the right and left hemispheres of the brain." EMDR is a great model, it works, it's got a great structure for addressing multiple entangled traumatic events....
Therapy Can Be Directive, Structured, and Skill‑Focused
Coaching has its place, but I swear to God some of y'all think therapy never involves directive, structured, skills-based, active intervention and it couldn't be further from the truth. Not all therapy is nondirectiveeeee
Pause, Notice Bodily Sensations, Let Emotions Ease Naturally
"Feel your feelings" does not mean staying in a spiral fyi. A spiral usually involves a whole lot of worry and rumination and attempts to suppress emotion. Feeling your feelings is about pausing, dropping down into noticing how your body...
Early OT Empowers Neurodivergent Kids, Prevents Lifelong Struggle
Some people needed OT when they were kids and that's why they're in therapy now Kids who were picked on or rejected because they were easily overstimulated or bad at sports or constantly picking their nose or struggled with body-boundaries grow...
Talk Therapy Physically Reshapes Your Brain, Studies Show
Grifters are out here telling you that talk therapy doesn't impact your nervous system as if we don't have extensive data to the contrary 🤦♀️ Psychotherapy leads to documented changes in the body including altering the ✨physical structure of your brain✨,...
Relationship Limits Are Valid Despite Others' Shortcomings
Social media relationship advice: "If they wanted to, they would." Actual truth about humans: Most problematic behavior can be attributed to lack of self-awareness, environmental stress, and/or emotion regulation skill deficits. Not everyone can overcome these barriers. You don't have to see someone...
Therapist Errors Stem From Countertransference, Not Skill Gaps
The most common blunders in therapy aren't from a missing skillset. They're from countertransference. Regardless of your theoretical orientation, if you don't have a LOT of experience examining your own reactions to different clients and getting curious about your own blind...
Self‑Criticism Won’t Perfect You, It Stalls Growth
If beating yourself up was a good way to grow out of your flaws, you'd be perfect by now.
Balancing Reform and Regulation in Mental Health Care
Here's a weird tension we don't yet have a clear path to navigate in the mental health system. - Many mental health systems we have in place have been and continue to be oppressive, carceral, and coercive, particularly to marginalized folks. and -...
IFS Dominance Masks Lack of Scientific Rigor and High Fees
You know what's gross? The fact that Dick Schwartz acts like IFS is the one and only parts model, and then charges $3k or more for trainings, without bothering to invest in the basic scientific work that is meant to...
Therapists: It’s Emotion Regulation, Not Nervous System Talk
Therapists. Do we really have to keep calling it nervous system regulation? It's called emotion regulation in like 99% of the science. "Nervous system regulation" is the pop psych term.
Self‑diagnosis Works if You Stay Open to Experts
Self-diagnosis can be valid. But if you're not willing to hear "hmm, this is actually something else" and keep an open mind when you do see a professional, it's actually not.