In the simplest terms: burnout occurs when the stress we experience exceeds our capacity to cope with that stress. While some individuals may be able to thrive- at least in the short term- under high stress, eventually chronic stress without relief begins to take a toll on even the most resilient individuals. Everyone has a…
Instead of questioning (“how could you?”) or punishing (“how dare you!”) look for the entry point for empathy (“oh, of course you…”) When someone – especially kids but inclusive of us Adults- has a HUGE reaction to a minor thing- the reaction probably is not actually about the thing. More often, it’s fear, trauma, or…
In the past, most of my artwork was translating research studies and book chapters into visual sketchnotes. Even though I’ve mostly moved away from that in my art, when I see the results of a particularly important study published, I like lending my illustration to it. By highlighting a few key points and reposting on…
This article is in two parts, #1, Group Therapy Sketchnotes, and #2 An Open Letter I’ve written to educators who are using Yalom’s text “Love’s Executioner” as a Textbook. [click here to jump to Part 2] Group Therapy Sketchnotes In graduate school, I had the privilege of learning under instructors who were mostly…
Below is a sketchnote created from the text of an article titled Nothing to add: A Challenge to White Silence in Racial Discussions by Robin Diangelo. This doodle is a partial summary of a few points that stuck out during my read and I highly recommend reading the full article. The full text of…
JUMP TO DOWNLOADS When I was first introduced to family therapy in graduate school, I immediately fell in love with the visual language of genograms. Since making this genogram chart at that time, this graphic has become one of my most shared sketchnotes across multiple platforms. Scroll to the bottom of this post to purchase…
Kids who grow up in families where emotional needs are not validated and met often develop a deep sense of internal shame for having needs at all. Over time, in order to cope, many of these kids become adults with little or no capacity to experience their emotions (a symptom associated with alexithymia). Hilary Jacobs…
A sketchnote highlighting some interesting research on the psychology behind the behavior colloquially referred to as “dick pics.” Somewhat surprisingly, this research on a group of about 1,000 men, found that most senders of this type of unwanted-imagery believe that the behavior is “flirting,” and that 82% of senders indicated that the hoped the images…
The voice of burnout is not YOUR voice. Burnout will say you aren’t cut out for it, that you don’t enjoy it, that you aren’t good at it. Don’t make career decisions while you are burned out. Switch employers, cut down hours, get a side gig selling slotted spoons on eBay, do what you need…
On Jung’s “The Shadow” Lots of us work hard to avoid having to stop and look too closely at what one of the fathers of modern psychology, Carl Jung, called our “shadow side.” Even in modern psychology, if people use the term “shadow side” it’s usually negative- but Jung’s work actually teaches that when we…
We know that using different parts of our brain to study (like writing, listening/reciting, and using play to create mnemonics) helps boost retention, but new research shows that visualizing and doodling a word or concept works even better than classic forms of studying! -and it doesn’t matter if you are “an artist”-…
