Dr. Stephanie Bloodworth, PsyD, LMFT-S
Individual, Relationship, and Family Therapist in Houston, Texas
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Is a Diagnosis Important?
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Should you get a diagnosis? What are the concerns you should consider? What if you don’t qualify for one? Let’s talk about it.
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Getting Unstuck When You’re Overwhelmed
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Moving forward when you feel stuck can feel overwhelming. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’ve figured out specific goals and broken them into steps, or if you just have a vague idea of what isn’t working for you. You still might not have the mental or physical energy to take…
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Why Funny Trauma Jokes and Stories Fall Flat
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Let’s talk about why the room goes quiet, or even sad, when you tell what you thought was a funny or strange story about your life.
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Reducing Mental Chatter with the 1 Brain Rule
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Let’s talk more today about brain chatter and what to do when it becomes too much. Some people notice excessive thinking the most at night when they’re trying to sleep. This can include having dreams full of constant conversations, to the point that sleep isn’t even restful. People might also…
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Staying Informed Without Overwhelm
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It feels like a pressing ethical requirement to stay informed, especially in an age where oppression and exploitation are quickly communicated to us through the internet. Many people who would not have known about the plight of less privileged groups are now aware of their struggles, as well as of…
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Real Meanings: Intrusive Thoughts
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Social media loves to popularize therapy and psychology terms, but often mixes up meanings. Depending on what you’ve read and watched, you might have the wrong impression about different important mental health concepts. Today we’ll look at the term “intrusive thoughts” and what it actually means! Social media trends incorrectly call random, socially…
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How to Sleep When Your Brain Won’t Shut Off
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Sleep is important, but it can feel impossible when your brain won’t shut off. There are guidelines for sleep hygiene to help establish your nighttime routine and make it easier, but there are still reasons you might not be able to fall asleep. If you deal with a lot of stress and…
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Relatable Stories and How to Share Them
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When supporting friends going through hard times, there are mixed opinions about whether you should share relatable stories from your own experiences. On one hand, some feel like this hijacks the conversation and makes it about the relater. On the other hand, some feel like this is a good way to show…
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Annoying But Real Mental Health Tips
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Everyone has an opinion on mental health tips, but it’s hard to know what will actually work. We hear all kinds of ideas and suggestions and some of them are downright annoying. Things like “just change how you think about that” are obnoxious when you’re struggling with stress and mental…
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How to Recognize Stress
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How do you know when you’re stressed? People talk about de-stressing all the time, but how do you know you’re stressed to begin with? I defined stress in an earlier blog post as “pressured concern,” and that’s great, but how do you actually know when you’re stressed and what you’re stressed about? Here’s an…
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You Don’t Have to be Productive in a Pandemic
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No, you don’t have to be productive in a pandemic. A lot of us have gone into self-isolation and, surely, many of us have been feeling pressure to be hyper-productive right now. There are the immediate cues around us: we’re working from home and it’s hard to shake the feeling that…
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Stay Focused Working at Home
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Working from home sounds like a dream for many, but it can be hard to put in place and keep your focus at the beginning. Many people are experiencing this for the first time now due to current health concerns. I’ve learned a lot of things from years of online…
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What Therapy is Like
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You might wonder what therapy is like if you’ve never been, or you have been in the past but aren’t sure if what you experienced is “normal.” You might even wonder who therapy is “for” and how bad an issue gets before people should look for support. Any time is…
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Prioritize Your Needs & Stop Hating Everything
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Let’s be honest: it’s really easy to hate everything and everyone when you’re tired, hungry, and haven’t been taking care of yourself. Our bodies start shutting out everything and everyone in efforts to get us to focus on whatever that need is. We don’t always interpret these signs, though: suddenly…
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Better Mindset for Better Resolutions
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It’s time to make some better resolutions. You’ve probably read so many articles already on how to make better goals and keep your resolutions. Break them down into smaller chunks! Write them down! Share them with others for accountability! And all of those are very helpful things to do. The…
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When You Can’t Think Positively
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There are times when you try as hard as you can, but you just can’t think positively. You see people making lists of things they’re grateful for. You hear that, especially when you’re going through depression or heavy self-criticism, thinking positive thoughts instead will help. Saying nice things to yourself…
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Succeed in Anything
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I found a guide on the internet on how to succeed in absolutely anything when I was a teenager. The guide prompted me through identifying, setting, and planning out goals that would fulfill me as an individual. I don’t remember what I searched for to find it or why I was looking.…
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Stress and Survival Mode
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If you’ve lived a good portion of your life in survival mode, you might not be sure what exactly stress and de-stressing look like. You might not even be sure what the words functionally mean. You tell people everything you’ve been doing for the past x amount of time and…
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The Mental Torture of OCD
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When you think of OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, what comes to mind? Maybe someone who needs to wash their hands over and over? Or that person you work with who says “I’m so OCD” because they like to organize their desks? We have a lot of ideas of what we…
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Anxiety is a Parrot
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The constant chatter of anxious thoughts and feelings is frustrating and exhausting. Sometimes it feels like the harder you fight it, the louder and messier it gets! What gives? How do you make it just be quiet already? One of the ways I understand anxiety is that it is a…