THE BURNOUT SERIES 

PART 1: WHAT IS BURNOUT, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE, AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

By now you’ve probably heard of burnout. In our culture of wellness and self-care trends, we are often told that if we buy this new lotion, pay for a massage or a facial, or attend a retreat we can cure our burnout. And while that may be true, these quick fixes don’t often address the underlying causes of burnout and address the lifestyle changes that can help us reduce and prevent further burnout. 

Feeling Lonely on Valentine's Day? Tips and Tricks for Coping.

No matter what your situation is, if you’re feeling like a lonely heart this Valentine’s Day, here are some tips and tricks to enjoy your day and take care of yourself.

Black History Month 2023 has arrived! We believe in the fundamental importance of engaging in anti-racist work and acknowledging and addressing the obstacles that members of the Black Community face daily and in their search for mental health care and support. We believe that therapy and medical care should be accessible to everyone and something that all people can feel comfortable and confident using to feel and live their best. It is our responsibility as socially just and anti-racist therapists to engage in work everyday to enhance our anti-racist practice, educate ourselves, and work to provide supportive therapeutic spaces and opportunities for everyone. 

Why do New Year’s Resolutions fail for so many of us?

Resolutions fail when we do what someone else tells us we should, rather than what feels aligned to our true core selves.

Instead, let’s talk about the importance of defining your values.

Understanding How Social Media Can Impact Your Mental Health & How To Reduce Its Negative Impact

In this day and age, most of us spend many hours a day on social media. While there are many benefits to social media, including increased information sharing and maintaining connection with more friends and family, it can have a variety of detrimental impacts on our minds and bodies.

As we get close to the end of 2022, more and more clients are coming in with the same complaint: “I feel like I am running out of time.” They note a feeling of wasting time, losing time, and a desire to appreciate and make the most out of their time. There is an underlying fear that they won’t have enough time to do whatever it is they want to do or think is important to do. This sensation of quickly running out of time spans genders, age groups, and life circumstances. Where is this coming from and why is it so acute right now?

Beginning or returning to therapy can be a nerve-wracking experience. Taking this step is something to be proud of. You are engaging in conscious and intentional work to ask for help and to begin to build a stronger support system and understanding of yourself. While therapeutic experiences differ across practices and providers, we can provide you a glimpse into what you can expect when you begin online therapy here at the New York City Psychotherapy Collective.

How Do You Maintain Objectivity As a Therapist During Crises Like the Overturning of Roe v. Wade?

Summer is heating up, and if you're like many women, you're struggling with insecurity about your "beach body." You may be emotionally beating yourself up because you didn't spend the winter hitting the gym to be beach ready, or you may have started a fad diet to try to slim down fast. You may even be avoiding attending events because you don't like how you look in your summer clothes. It's time to let go of the "beach body" pressure!

It's Pride Month, and we want to use this opportunity to stand alongside the community and spread awareness around the LGBTQIA+ mental health challenges resulting from discrimination. LGBTQIA+ is an inclusive term that includes people of all genders and sexualities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, and allies. While each letter in LGBTQIA+ stands for a specific group of people, the term encompasses the entire spectrum of gender fluidity and sexual identities.

You are a determined woman. You know how to work hard to reach your goals and make stuff happen. You're experiencing a lot of success in different areas of your life, but you can't help wishing things felt better, that you felt better. The thought of letting others know what you've known all along—that you don't have it all figured out even though you look like you do—may make you feel sick to your stomach, but you're not sure how much longer you can keep faking it.

A few days ago, we celebrated Mother's Day. A day designed to honor and spoil mothers. It sounds nice, right? And it is— for some—like those with a healthy relationship with their mother and those who desired and had children in their ideal situation. But society tends to glamorize motherhood, which can place unbearable pressure on people who struggle with things like the desire to be a mom, the identity shift that occurs in motherhood, how to balance all the responsibilities of life, and the anxiety of the many unknowns that come with raising children

We are at the tail end of financial literacy month. There is a lot to unpack as women regarding finances and emotions, especially now. We haven't been able to eliminate the gender pay gap. We are underrepresented in the financial industry. And after seeing how women were disproportionately impacted in the workforce during the pandemic, you may be wondering, does any of it even matter?

Is the gender pay gap adding to your stress and anxiety? It may be even if you don't realize it yet.

Lately, emotional intelligence has gotten a lot of hype in the professional world, but it remains a vastly underrated skill. The term is thrown around in business articles and human resource managers trying to make the right hire. Still, critical pieces of the conversation are skipped over, such as what it really is, why it matters, and what steps you can take to develop the skill. If you're ready to see how improving your emotional intelligence can improve areas of your life, you’re in the right place because below we're sharing the details with you.

Do you keep waiting to be happy until you have the life of your dreams? Are you working hard to get all your ducks in a row so everything will be perfectly in place in life and you can finally enjoy yourself? Do you feel like there is a list of tasks you need to cross off before having what you want in life? Stop! You don't have to wait until you have enough, feel like enough, have accomplished enough, and have met all the other "enoughs" in your mind to find joy and fulfillment in life.

Here's a not-so-difficult trend to pick up on—women are burnt out. Pandemic fatigue has set in, and we're all tired, both mentally and physically, from carrying what feels like the weight of the world on our shoulders. We've lived through two years of jumping from one unknown situation to the next. Some days it felt like all we could do was keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's exhausting, and if you've hit that point, you may feel tempted to check out and just let life happen. However, we want to share a few strategies to help you resist that temptation and regain control of your life.

You may read the title above and think this article isn't for you because you haven't experienced trauma in your life, but we encourage you to keep reading. Some of our clients show up seeking help for trauma they've experienced, but many more show up to therapy for help with things like anxiety, depression, work-life balance, or managing relationships. Through our work together, we uncover they've experienced trauma that plays into their experiences and the perception they have of themselves and the world. As a result, they feel validated as they gain awareness and understanding of how these experiences truly impact them on a daily basis.

The past two years have been challenging for everyone, and we have all worked to deal with the impact of the constant uncertainty of the world in our own way. We worked to do our best to remain optimistic despite the rollercoaster of emotional situations placed in our path. As a result, many of us are experiencing overwhelm and burnout in 2022.

Relationships are complicated, right? We've all heard that and likely experienced it, and it's not just romantic relationships; relationships with our parents, colleagues, friends, and anyone we interact with regularly can bring up challenges. While it’s true that relationships can be hard, it reaches a whole new level when the relationship is with a narcissist. The usual rules and tactics for making communication work go out the window. If you're trying to manage life with a narcissist, you need an entirely new playbook.