The Problem With Labeling People as ‘Toxic’
Toxic is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. As a psychiatrist, I hear it frequently during therapy sessions—to describe parents,...
Forget Work-Life Balance
Have you ever met someone who has actually achieved work-life balance? I haven’t. As Oliver Burkeman wrote in the best-selling book Four Thousand Weeks: Time...
When It Comes to Venting, Sharing Is Not Caring
It is no wonder that my patient felt drained after spending a weekend with an old friend who was known to be a relentless...
Conflict Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
The Good Fight
Call me cynical but I worry whenever I hear a couple say, “we never argue.” Tiptoeing around disagreements might feel good in...
An Antidote for Wound Collecting
“Being impacted by being what happened to you isn’t victimhood, it’s human.
Making an identity out of it is victimhood.”
— Seerut Chawla
The stories we tell...
A Case for Sweeping Negative Emotions Under the Rug
Suppressing negative thoughts might improve mental health. This isn’t a typo. Nor is it a lingering belief from my WASPY upbringing. It’s the findings of a new...