The Hardcore Self-Help Podcast with Duff the Psych

Hello, everyone! Great to be back recording a normal Q&A episode this week. Between the unexpected non-episode a couple weeks back and the re-run episode last week, I haven't actually sat down and addressed your questions in a while. Here are the awesome questions that I cover on today's episode: How can I break the cycle of self-sabotage and self-doubt in my relationship? How can I overcome my fear of wrists? How can I better decide what activities to engage in at home and stop getting paralyzed? As always, you can send me questions to duffthepsych@gmail.com and check out the full show-notes at http://duffthepsych.com/episode136

Hey, everyone! This is a re-release of an episode that I did last year. I am busy this week with holiday stuff, so I didn't want to record something new, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to repost episode 85, which originally aired on 11/21/17. It's all about tips that you can use to survive the holidays. The holidays are crazy for everyone, but it's stepped up a notch when you also struggle with mental health issues. Have a listen and take great care of yourselves. Much love! http://duffthepsych.com/episode85

Super excited to have the awesome Kati Morton on the show with me today. I'm sure you already know who she is, but if you need a refresher, she is most well known for her Youtube channel where she answers questions and gives mental health advice. Kati is a licensed therapist and brings a down-to-earth approach to the content that she puts out. In this interview, I learn a little more about Kati the person. We also talk about how her work as an influencer has affected her professional life. We discuss her new book, "Are You Okay?", and how you know that it's time to get some professional help. I really hope you enjoy this broad conversation. Be sure to show Kati some love on Youtube and pre-order her book, which will be released in December!

The regularly scheduled podcast interview is postponed this week. There was a tragic shooting at my alma mater's college night at the Borderline bar in Thousand Oaks, CA. In this short message, I talk about what happened, how I'm feeling, and a few tips for coping.

I did an episode last year around Halloween time about spooky social psychology experiments and what they say about humanity. I figured I'd keep the trend going and do an episode all about creepy treatments from the origin of psychological health care. Before listening any further, just know that some of these are cruel and gross. We've come a long way since the different treatments that I will talk about, but they are important in that they are the predecessors to the treatments that we have now. In some cases they were mean and cruel. In others they were well intentioned, but limited by the lack of knowledge that we have today. Either way, if you are sensitive to topics like this, feel free to skip this one. Next week should be a more standard episode, so if you have a question or topic for me, send it to duffthepsych@gmail.com and the full show notes for this episode are available at duffthepsych.com/episode133.

Fantastic episode for you today. We go deep into the different types of medication for anxiety, how to know when it's time to stop taking them, and ways to cope with anxiety that you can use with or without medication. This is the third episode taking a slightly different approach with just one question per episode, with the intention of diving deeper into topics. Now it's time to give me some feedback. If you go to the episode notes at duffthepsych.com/episode132, there will be a short survey. If you could take it, it would help me out so much! As always if you have a question or topic that you'd live covered on the show, email me at duffthepsych@gmail.com

In this episode, I take a question from someone about how they can help their romantic partner who is great most of the time but gets suicidal or violent every so often. How can she get him to go to therapy or recognize the that there are actual issues going on? I give my perspective on this question and also spend some time defining bipolar disorder. Enjoy! For full episode notes, check out http://duffthepsych.com/episode131 and if you have a question or suggestion for the podcast, send it over to duffthepsych@gmail.com

In this episode, I'm trying something slightly different. Rather than taking three questions, I'm taking one and using it as a jumping off point to go in-dept into topics related to the question. Sort of combining the deep-dive and Q&A formats. I'm going to try this for a few weeks and then ask for your opinions. Today's episode is all about C-PTSD or complex post-traumatic stress disorder. See full show notes at http://duffthepsych.com/episode130 If you have a question that you'd like me to answer on the show, send it over to duffthepsych@gmail.com

In this episode, I do a deep dive talking about a requested topic: dementia. It can be hard to find good information and advice about dementia online, so I hope that this episode can serve that function. I go in-depth and cover the following: Dementia terminology What kinds of dementia there are How to get a diagnosis Managing difficult behaviors Support available for caregivers If you have a suggestion for a future deep dive topic or have a question that you'd like me to answer, send it to duffthepsych@gmail.com

Back to the Q&A this week. Before I answer the questions, I talk about a recent psychiatric hospitalization that I had to do with the hope of helping you understand that it's not a purely black and white situation. Here are the questions I cover: How can I make friends when my depression gets in the way? Should I be avoiding stress rather than exposing myself? What advice do you have for a future therapist? As always, you can send your questions for the show in to duffthepsych@gmail.com