10 Helpful Therapists To Follow On Instagram

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Instagram has quickly become one of our favorite ways to spend our time in quarantine. But when we’re mindlessly scrolling and feeling powerless due to all of the stories of racial injustice being shared, it can leave us feeling less-than-great. So, if you’ve been looking to add something to your feed that encourages you to be more gentle with yourself, now’s the time! Check out our favorite therapists to follow on Instagram for squares that will make you pause and reflect.

1. @sitwithwhit / Whitney Goodman

Whether it’s a post about codependency or just some important words to remember to get through the day, Whitney Goodman’s feed is full of helpful posts to bring clarity and insight.

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Raise your hand if you’ve said one of these phrases to yourself while you were struggling 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻. These phrases are prime examples of toxic positivity and how we use it on ourselves. Toxic positivity denies an emotion and forces us to suppress it. When we use toxic positivity, we are telling ourselves and others that this emotion shouldn’t exist, it’s wrong, and if we try just a little bit harder, we can eliminate it entirely. The problem is, these phrases don’t get rid of the emotions. They actually just intensify it. Instead of meeting yourself with one of these responses, try to Validate the emotion you’re feeling and name it. Show yourself some empathy. Try to understand why you feel the way you feel. Have you ever used one of these phrases on yourself? What does it feel like when you do? Adding all my other posts about toxic positivity to my stories if you want to learn more! THIS MONTH WITH WHIT: – Gaslighting webinar 8/24: SOLD OUT – The Parentified Child Workbook is LIVE (link in bio) ❤

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2. @browngirltrauma / Nisha Patel

Therapy can be a lifechanging journey, but unfortunately, it hasn’t been accessible to everyone. Nisha Patel’s inclusive feed focuses on trauma and inner child healing, and they also promote family therapy for the South Asian community.

3. @the.love.therapist / Jordan Green

Whether you’re looking to discover the root cause of conflict and disconnect, or just trying to better understand your relationships, you’ll find an overwhelming about of info on this licensed therapist’s feed.

4. @lizlistens / Elizabeth Earnshaw

Struggling with boundaries? Need a pep talk about growth? Follow Elizabeth Earnshaw. She’s also the Practice Director for A Better Life Therapy, an amazing resource to connect you with online and in-person therapists.

5. @nedratawwab / Nedra Glover Tawwab

Forget the cutesy graphics and inspirational quotes. Nedra’s feed contains squares full of bullet points that will instantly have you nodding your head in agreement. Follow along for expert tips on boundaries, tools to create healthy relationships and more.

6. @marthaspeakstherapy / Martha Cowley

Therapy is more than just learning to manage our thoughts and feelings. It betters how we interact with others and the world around us. Martha’s curation is all about that — from social justice to slides about how to process the grief of losing a no-contact parent. There’s something here for everyone.

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CPTSD results from repeated trauma over months or years, rather than a single event. Any type of long-term trauma, over several months or years, can lead to CPTSD. However, it seems to appear frequently in people who’ve been abused by someone who was supposed to be their caregiver or protector. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ CPTSD is currently not in the DSM (the big fancy book that mental health workers use to diagnose). The DSM looks like an enormous dictionary right now. Mine is taped together with masking tape because the enormous size of it broke the bind in my years of using it. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Pete Walker shared that if CPTSD was included, then that huge big DSM would shrink to the size of a small pamphlet. The DSM currently largely lacks the impact of childhood abuse on adult psychological disorders. I believe this, I’ve experienced it, and I see this in my practice. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ As many of you know, I am a CPTSD survivor and have gone through recovery, but I was misdiagnosed with depression and anxiety for about 9 years until I finally found a trauma therapist. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Many of the people I work with have been misdiagnosed with: ⁣⁣⁣ -depression ⁣⁣⁣ -variety of anxiety disorders ⁣⁣⁣ -ADHD⁣⁣⁣ -bipolar ⁣⁣⁣ -labeled as “codependent”⁣⁣⁣ -borderline personality disorder⁣⁣⁣ -narcissistic personality disorder ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ This is not to say that people do not possess characteristics of such disorders or issues, but rather characterizing or labeling someone as “anxious” or “borderline” is an inaccurate, incomplete, and shaming description of what really is: Complex PTSD. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ By calling someone with CPTSD as “anxious” or “borderline” is like a doctor prescribing someone with itchy eyes, Benadryl. It “treats” it temporarily but it misses the root — does this person have a food allergy? If so, which food? Is it a pollen allergy? ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ The itchy eyes may subside with the medication. But if you just take the Benadryl, then the allergy remains untreated and no true recovery is possible. It’s just masked. I believe this is part of the reason folx suffering from CPTSD are in-and-out of treatment — it’s just glazing over while the root is untreated. ⁣⁣ ⁣ Continued 👇

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7. @theoriginaltherapist

This is one of our very favorite therapists to follow on Instagram. For those that need a little sugar-coating with their wisdom, you won’t find that here! With posts speaking out about toxic positivity and productivity, this feed is anything but “It could be so much worse, so be grateful!” And thank goodness for that.

8. @browngirltherapy

Follow the first and largest mental health community for children of immigrants for content that covers bicultural identity, achievement behaviors and how to process duality.

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Growing pains can be deeply uncomfortable, sometimes painful, yet they’re necessary for our growth and expansion ✨ One of my personal growing pains is recognizing that being called to be of service does not negate the value of my service. Wellness has been co-opted by White folks and just by being in this space, I often feel like I don’t belong. I struggle with being “one of few” and it often reinforces my belief that I have to endlessly give more than I’m allowed to ask for something in return. This community is ONLY a year old and it’s an immense labor of love, but to sustain it (and make it accessible), I can’t continue to play small, fear asking for support, or downplay my worth. So today I launched a Patreon (link in bio, and more info in stories) where you can pay what you want/are able to support the work here at Brown Girl Therapy, enable me to offer the majority of the resources for free to our community, and help sustain the growth of Brown Girl Therapy (plus the first 50 patrons get a personalized handwritten postcard with an original BGT quote and patrons get exclusive access to two monthly resources). It’s absolutely not necessary to be a patron, but I appreciate your investment in what I’m called to do! 🌱

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9. @drcarolineleaf / Caroline Leaf

It can be easy to read a caption and not apply it to your own life, but sometimes seeing quotes as examples can be eye opening. Dr. Leaf’s Instagram covers how we use language to validate or invalidate others and ourselves. Some of them can be pretty tough to read, but they will probably resonate.

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“When you are invalidating someone it is the act of rejecting, dismissing, or minimizing their thoughts and feelings. It basically implies that someone else’s experience is not important, it’s wrong, or unacceptable. It dangles on the line of emotional abuse, which makes the receiver of it filled with self-doubt. Psychological invalidation can be instigated by yourself or another person, such as a friend, teacher, colleague, romantic partner, family member, etc. Sometimes the person who invalidates another is not aware or consciously acting on doing so. They can believe they are genuinely helping the other person and don’t intend to put down or shame their thoughts and feelings. This is one of the reasons emotional invalidation can be hard to confront- the other person may be so oblivious to their own actions. On the other hand, if someone is aware that they are invalidating others, they can do so as a way to manipulate and establish control over another person. They might make the other person question their thoughts and feelings, deny their experiences, and say they are overreacting. This is where it gets dangerous- when invalidation is used as a power move to suppress someone else’s feelings and control them” @brainbodydoc For more on this topic check out my podcast episode with Nawal (episode 184): https://anchor.fm/cleaningupthementalmess/episodes/Healthy-Venting-vs–Emotional-Dumping–Common-Cognitive-Errors-That-Cause-Anxiety–Signs-of-Psychological-Invalidation-Interview-with-Neuropsychologist-Nawal-Mustafa-ehphdm (tap the link in my bio) Images by @brainbodydoc

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Ready to add some more delicious dishes to your ‘gram? Here are some Black food bloggers to immediately add to your IG feed!

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