The Mental Load of Therapists

The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

An interview with Shira Myrow, LMFT about how therapists carry a mental load for their clients, in addition to the load they carry as entrepreneurs and people. Curt and Katie talk with Shira about how to identify (and intervene) when therapists uncover this dangerous burden.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. We are human beings who can now present ourselves as whole people, with authenticity, purpose, and connection. Especially now, when therapists must develop a personal brand to market their practices.

To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Shira Myrow, LMFT

Shira Myrow is a licensed marriage and family therapist, mindfulness educator and founder of the mindfulness based Yale St. Therapy Group based in Santa Monica where she works in private practice. Shira specializes in relationship intelligence—treating couples and marriages with a focus on rebuilding attunement, improving attachment, and creating emotional literacy. Shira also works with individuals in transition looking for love, in break up recovery or going through divorce. Shira has a special focus on treating adult children of severely mentally ill parents with attachment injuries, including parents with borderline personality disorder, bi-polar and schizophrenia. Shira is also a writer and a regular contributor for Goop online magazine.

You can learn more about Shira and contact her here:

Website www.shiramyrowtherapy.com/

Email: [e-mail]

Instagram: @shiramyrowlmft, @yalesstreettherapy

In this episode we talk about:

• The definition of Mental Load, with some of the history of the concept
• Curt’s admission that Katie is carrying the mental load of this business relationship
• Invisible emotional labor of managing daily lives and relationships
• The invisible emotional load that therapists carry for clients and how that might be leading to less respect from other medical professionals
• How the mental load from work can negatively impact personal life
• The importance of intentional disconnection from the work when going home.
• How the mental load can stay in your body, even when you mentally or emotionally disconnect from the work
• How mindfulness can help address this challenge
• The danger of privileging productivity above all else
• The idea of how to incorporate this knowledge into therapist training
• The complexity of business ownership, modern life, the connectedness afforded by technology
• The onslaught of information that we get as individuals in the world AND as therapists
• Attunement and presence in session, with self-regulation, so you can do the work without feeling cold and disconnected
• Allowing versus suppressing emotions – so you can observe and have emotions pass
• Tips for identifying when the mental load is having an impact, how to prevent or respond
• The negative impact of stress on our bodies
• How society has acclimated to unhealthy levels of stress and technology
• The unreasonable expectations that come from being plugged in
• Losing empathy and connection
• The human struggle to incorporate mindfulness
• Economy of effort
• “Life shouldn’t be reduced to a to do list” - Shira Myrow