Reflections
On adolescence, identity, and the quiet work of becoming. Thoughts from clinical practice.
Responsibility OCD: When Control Is Easier Than Trust
If you are the one who holds everything together, the responsibility can feel less like a burden than like who you are. But the vigilance that never rests is usually a defense against something harder to feel: helplessness, dependency, and the fear of your own anger.
Is Perfectionism a Sign of OCD? What the Need to Get It Right Can Tell You
If you have been called a perfectionist your whole life but the word has never quite captured the experience, the more useful question may be what the perfectionism is doing, and whether it has a compulsive quality the word does not account for.
What Causes Perfectionism and How to Loosen Its Grip
Perfectionism is rarely about high standards. It is a defense that formed early in life, when love felt contingent on performance. Understanding where it came from is where something begins to change.
Signs of High-Functioning Anxiety: When Getting Everything Right Still Feels Wrong
From the outside, you look like someone who has it all together. From the inside, it feels like the effort never stops. That gap has a name, and most people go years without recognizing it.
Social Anxiety in Teens: What Parents Need to Understand
You remember who they used to be. The child who ran into birthday parties without hesitating, who raised their hand in class. Somewhere in middle school, that child disappeared.
Therapy for Teenagers: What to Expect When Your Teen Won't Open Up
Parents come to me when their teenager has stopped talking to them. The teenager who used to talk about school, about friends, about what happened that day, now offers almost nothing.
Why Teenagers Get So Angry: What the Anger Is Protecting
Your teenager's anger has become the loudest thing in the house. Most explanations stop at hormones and the developing brain. Those are real, but they do not tell you what the anger is about.
Teenage Angst: What It Really Means and What Your Teen Is Trying to Tell You
Something has shifted in your teenager, and you can feel it even if you can't name it. The warmth that used to come easily has been replaced by silence, a short fuse, or feelings that seem out of proportion to whatever just happened. Here's what it actually means.
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