By Dr. Michelle Hintz, Psy.D.Cadenza Center for Psychotherapy and the Arts Early in my career, I believed therapy was about helping people gain insight. I thought if I could help them see the pattern — the connection between their childhood wound and their adult choices — then I had done my job. There’s a moment […]
The Myth of Insight: Why Awareness Is Only the Beginning Read More »
By Dr. Michelle Hintz, Psy.D., Each October, Mental Illness Awareness Week reminds us that awareness is only the first step. True healing begins in the quiet moments — in the spaces between words — where understanding is born. For those of us who work in the mental health field, listening is not a passive act.
The Art of Listening: What We Hold, What We Heal Read More »
By Debra Cohen-Melamed, LCSW, CCTP, TF-CBT, CPDTP Suicide Prevention Awareness Month – September 2025 “I don’t actually want to die. I just don’t know how to keep living like this.” That’s what a 14-year-old client once whispered to me during session, and it’s something I’ve heard echoed in different ways from kids much younger than
“I Just Want the Pain to Stop”: What Suicidal Kids Are Really Trying to Say Read More »
A 4-Part Blog Series by Debra Cohen-Melamed, LCSW, CCTP, TF-CBT, CPDTP In Part 1, we explored how the Fight response turns fear into control. In Part 2, we unpacked how Flight keeps us moving to escape overwhelming emotions. But not all trauma responses are active. Some are invisible—misread as apathy, laziness, or indifference. As a
The Freeze Response – When Numbness Becomes a Way of Life (Trauma Responses, Part 3) Read More »
By Debra Cohen-Melamed, LCSW, CCTP, TF-CBT, CPDTP As a trauma therapist, I’ve seen so many clients burdened not only by the pain of BPD but by the extra wounds caused when they’re dismissed as “manipulative,” “attention-seeking,” “dramatic,” or “too much.” These myths don’t just hurt — they keep people from getting the care and understanding
Breaking the Myths: What BPD Really Is (and Isn’t) Read More »
By: Maria Guasone, RMHCI There are seasons in life when we look in the mirror and barely recognize the soul staring back. Not because we have failed, but because somewhere along the way, we started living a life that wasn’t quite ours. Let’s pause for a moment and explore the quiet ways we can lose
When We Drift Away from Ourselves: A Gentle Reflection on Losing Our Purpose Read More »
A psychologist’s reflection on shame, stress, and the surprising strength of vulnerability. Some men don’t come to therapy because things are falling apart. They come because keeping it all together is starting to crack something inside. They’re not sure what they’ll say, but they know they can’t keep holding it alone. Beneath the surface, there’s
The Quiet Struggle: What Brings Men to Therapy—And What Happens Next Read More »
By: Debra Cohen-Melamed, LCSW Mental health is finally part of our everyday conversations—and in many ways, that’s progress. We see the terms on TikTok, in group chats, even on T-shirts. But as words like “bipolar,” “ADHD,” and “OCD” become part of pop culture shorthand, something important is getting lost: their meaning. What once were serious
When Labels Lose Their Meaning: The Quiet Harm of Misusing Mental Health Terms Read More »
A Jungian Reflection on the High-Functioning but Disconnected AdultBy Dr. Michelle Hintz, Licensed Psychologist, MT-BC On paper, they were fine. But something in them had quietly gone offline. “There is a part of us that performs the version of our life we think the world wants to see. But there is also a quieter part,
When the Persona Outpaces the Self Read More »
