Therapy Tuesday Smashboard

Healing from trauma is a difficult journey. The awareness that it's possible to feel better and reduce the pain is crucial. Yet most people who are suddenly plunged into trauma do not know this. Some of us are acutely aware that recovery can be excruciating if we don't know what is happening to our bodies. Once we know, we still need constant reminders of what we need to do to feel better. You're Going To Be Okay is the title of our guest Madeline Popelka's book, in which she writes about all that she needed to know but didn't when she was in pain. The messages she relays on social media through her handle @Healingfromptsd have brought relief to many and have tremendous healing potential. She hopes her book will do the same.

In this episode, we look at the psychological health concerns among people who have recovered from mild, asymptomatic, or severe COVID. The virus has impacted our bodies and our immune systems have worked very hard for recovery. From emotional lulls and breathlessness to sleeplessness and memory issues—we’re still learning about the long-term biological impact of COVID. Ruchita talks about how best we can cope with what we know or don't know.

How can we redefine resilience from an empathetic lens? Is it solely the ability to bounce back and be strong in the face of adversity? Why is holding systems and power structures accountable for their violence integral to community resilience? How can we move away from looking at pain and distress as something that needs to be "fixed" and acknowledge what it needs to heal? Behavioural health researcher and trauma therapist Ruchita answers these questions in this episode of Therapy Tuesday.

What are healthy and unhealthy boundaries in a relationship? How do we recognize them? Why does every relationship need healthy boundaries? Setting boundaries can be uncomfortable and confusing, so, how do we go about establishing them? Behavioural health researcher and trauma therapist Ruchita answers these questions on this episode of Therapy Tuesday.

In this episode, we look at the relationship between social media and mental health. While social media can be valuable for networking and enhancing connections with loved ones, it can also worsen loneliness and isolation. Dependency on social media can lead to mental health issues, poor sleep quality, diminished attention spans, and increased exposure to triggers. Detaching oneself from social media can be difficult—it takes discipline, consistency, and treating ourselves with empathy and compassion. While there is no perfect way to do this, it’s important to keep working to build a healthy relationship with our screens. Ruchita tells us how that can be done.

This episode debunks some myths about bipolar disorder and looks at why it becomes difficult for people to accept and own the diagnosis. Host Ruchita Chandrashekar also talks about how bipolar disorder is often depicted within frames of violence and aggression in culture and media. The opposing kind of stereotype is the assumption that people with bipolar disorder can't be stable within relationships or they can't hold a job. While bipolar disorder is a complex and chronic condition, it is possible to cope, manage, and live well with it. It is important that we humanise people living with bipolar disorder rather than stigmatise or romanticise mental illness.