Author: Talkspace

On Being Human: Interview with Jennifer Pastiloff

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Jennifer Pastilloff has brought her unique style of teaching — and radical listening — to thousands of women while traveling the world for her On Being Human workshops. She describes these workshops as “a hybrid of yoga related movement, writing, sharing out loud, letting the snot fly, and the occasional dance party.”

Jennifer’s work is driven by her very real struggles with depression and anorexia, which exposed her to the self-help and wellness industries, as well as to the benefits of therapy. While chatting with Jennifer, we asked her more about her personal journey, how she overcame low points — including the early loss of her father and the gradual loss of her hearing — and how teaching has changed her perspective: empowering her, while she helps empower others. 

She has been featured on Good Morning America, New York Magazine, Health Magazine, and CBS News. Jennifer is also the founder of the online magazine, The Manifest Station. When Jen is not traveling, she is based in Los Angeles where she lives with her husband and son.

We discussed her work and book, On Being Human, via email.

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Introducing Talkspace’s Guaranteed Response Time

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Talkspace's Guaranteed Response Time feature

At Talkspace one of our primary missions is to continuously improve the quality of our service — to make your experience of therapy better. These improvements have included things like letting you visually see the progress you’re making in therapy, easily switch therapists so you can find the best possible match, and the ability to quickly schedule video sessions according to your therapist’s availability.

One thing we’ve heard from our clients is that you want to know when you’ll get a response from your therapist. Continue reading Introducing Talkspace’s Guaranteed Response Time

The State of Mental Health

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The state of mental health

Talking about mental health isn’t easy — but that’s starting to change.

More employers are investing in mental health programs, increasing access to care, and helping to decrease stigma in the process. Governments are beginning to approach mental health as a public health issue. Celebrities like Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Pete Davidson, and Lady Gaga (among many others) are coming forward about their mental health journeys to raise awareness. The tides are turning.

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: An Interview with Author Lori Gottlieb

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May is Mental Health Month — a time to come together to raise awareness about mental health issues, work to expand access to care, and support those who are struggling. This month we’re speaking to experts in the field about their therapeutic work, as well as their own experience and challenges with mental health.

When Lori Gottlieb was a new therapist beginning her practice in Los Angeles, seeing clients dealing with a host of issues, she hadn’t expected this to be the time she experienced a crisis of her own. She began seeing a therapist, a seasoned veteran of the field named Wendell.

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This Mental Health Awareness Month, Share Your Story

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Mental health awareness month

Mental health is highly individualized — your depression may not look exactly like your neighbor’s or coworker’s. You may experience anxiety as a tightness in your chest whereas your ex boyfriend lashes out at the closest target. The same goes for treatment. Whether it be types of psychotherapy or medications, what works for one person isn’t necessarily what will be effective for another. While you may do best in individual therapy, your cousin might prefer group therapy, and your parents may need couple’s counseling.

And, although we’re slowly breaking the stigma around sharing our mental health journeys with one another, most of us still find it difficult to open up about our struggles. Just think about all of those weekly recurring “doctor’s appointments” you see on others’ work calendars. Most of us would go to great lengths to not disclose to our employer that we’re dealing with a mental health issue — sometimes for good reason. We worry that our supervisors will lose faith in our abilities, question our toughness, or otherwise penalize us. Consider also how long it takes most of us to let a new partner know about our mental health challenges — no one wants to be thought of as “abnormal.” Continue reading This Mental Health Awareness Month, Share Your Story

Are There Good Reasons for Your Bad Feelings: Interview with Randolph M. Nesse

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Randolph M. Nesse

Our relationship with mental health is typically based on challenges we’re currently experiencing — but what if our current issues are rooted in the distant past? Often overlooked is the fact that our predispositions for conditions like depression and anxiety have existed for millenia. From an evolutionary standpoint, why haven’t these detrimental traits and behaviors been filtered out and how might they affect us now?

Randolph M. Nesse, MD, a founder of the field of evolutionary medicine and author of recently-published Good Reasons for Bad Feelings, helped us understand the gap between human physiology and modern environment, and how we can apply this field for better therapy outcomes. Continue reading Are There Good Reasons for Your Bad Feelings: Interview with Randolph M. Nesse

4 Therapists Open Up About Caring for Their Mental Health

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Therapists provide an incredibly valuable service: helping others work through issues and roadblocks, leading them toward more positive mental health and life experiences.

It’s almost superhuman how therapists work with their clients on such a deep level, while maintaining their energy at home, in their own personal lives, and confronting their own challenges.

We recently asked Talkspace therapists a few questions about how they support their own mental health and wellness. Did you know that therapists also seek therapy and counseling? Their answers, and more insight into the lives of therapists, are below.

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Our Relationship Expert Gets Real With Your Questions About Love

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Relationships are complex, and require a great amount of effort between two people, one or both of which may be working through mental health challenges. We recently asked Talkspace Instagram followers to share their burning questions about relationships, specifically in a mental health context.

Talkspace’s relationship expert, clinical psychologist Iris Reitzes, PhD, kindly lent her expertise to help answer your important questions.

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How We View Mental Health Differently Than Our Fathers

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Father’s Day is great time to celebrate the similarities that make us family, and differences that make us individuals. As kids, we looked to dad for strength and guidance in the face of life’s adversities. But who looked out for them?

For some fathers, stigma and toxic masculinity may have held them back from healing they desperately needed. In the United States, 6 million men suffer from depression. Men die by suicide over 3.5 times more than women. Yet only one in four seek help from a mental health professional.

The conversation is shifting, however, as mental health has been a highly discussed topic in 2018. The hope is that by addressing generational stigma around mental health, we can encourage men to seek the help they need. We asked our male therapists and coworkers how they view mental health differently than their fathers. Here’s what they had to say.

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