On the Blog
What Type of Perfectionist Are You? A Quiz to Unravel Your Perfectionism vs OCD Traits
Perfectionism, a trait that pushes one to strive for flawlessness and set high-performance standards, often coupled with critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others' evaluations, can be both a boon and a bane. While it can drive success, it can also lead...
Can EMDR Therapy Be Done Virtually?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has gained recognition as an effective treatment for trauma and various mental health issues. With the rise of telehealth, many individuals are wondering if they can access online EMDR therapy. This blog...
Imposterism, Perfectionism, and Burnout: A Toxic Triad in ADHD
Imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and burnout are three interrelated psychological phenomena that can significantly impact individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This toxic triad can lead to a cycle of self-doubt, overwork, and exhaustion...
The Benefits of an Online Trauma-Informed Couple’s Therapist
Every human being desires to be loved well and while ‘well’ is often subjective, mutual conscious collaboration for safety and security is imperative. In order to reach a stage of maturation, every relationship must travel consciously through the terrain of...
Perfectionism vs OCD: Personal Traits or Mental Health Condition
The terms "perfectionism" and "obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)" are often used interchangeably or misunderstood as synonymous concepts. However, they represent distinct aspects of behavior and mental health. In this article, we'll delve into the nuances of...
A Closer Look at ADHD While Unraveling the Root Cause of Perfectionism
Perfectionism, a trait that compels individuals to strive for flawlessness, sets high-performance standards and is often accompanied by critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others' evaluations. While it may seem like a desirable quality, perfectionism can...
How Perfectionism Stalls Postpartum Recovery in High-Achieving Career Women
The true developmental task for every postpartum recovering mama is learning how to navigate each and everyday at their own pace and in accordance to their own unique experiences. This task among what can seem like many other important tasks, beckons and calls for us...
Is Virtual Trauma Therapy Effective?
In the digital age, the world of mental health therapy has evolved significantly. The advent of teletherapy or online therapy has made it possible for individuals to access mental health services from the comfort of their homes. This development has been particularly...
The Impact of Perfectionism on Black Career Women
In the pursuit of excellence and success, many women find themselves grappling with the effects of perfectionism. While it's a defense strategy often associated with high achievers, its effects can be particularly pronounced for black career women as we navigate...
How to Overcome Perfectionism vs OCD
Perfectionism and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are two psychological conditions that often intertwine, causing individuals to strive for flawlessness and precision in all aspects of their lives. While a certain level of perfectionism can drive success, when...
Black Women Are Overfunctionally Grieving Part I
Dear Black Women, Our Black Girl Magic is real, but so is the exhaustive resiliency felt in having to continuously navigate various spheres of our lives and existence, strategically. I long to see many of us journey out of self-sacrificial endurance into the abode of...
High Achievers: Navigating Success as a Black Career Woman
Success is often a journey that requires dedication, resilience, and a commitment to continuous improvement. For many high achievers, the path to success can be unique and challenging, especially for black career women who may find themselves navigating complex...
Find Your New Year Intentions 2024 | Online Therapist in California
Meeting things freshly can be exciting, motivating, and simultaneously, it can bring out hesitation. It’s like the crispness of a brand-new journal waiting for us to fill its pages. Yet, we often don’t want to ‘mess’ up the experience of freshness so we hesitate to...
Are You Ready to Tell the Truth?
The practice of telling the truth is one that deepens throughout our lifespan. And yet, along the relational trauma recovery road, it’s very common for recovering people-pleasers and perfectionists to wonder, “How do I tell the truth?” Sometimes, there’s visible...
How to Cope with the Social Anxiety of Having to Return to In-Person Routines
As more people are getting vaccinated, many states and businesses are looking to return to in-person routines by summer. For most, this signifies two complex realities – (1) there’s finally the sight of a light at the end of the tunnel...
The Transition We’ve All Been Waiting For
It’s the last day of 2020, and perhaps you haven’t allowed yourself to fully recognize how much good your body has done this year. You survival this year has truly been enough. You showed up for yourself the best you knew how, even when access to usual sources of...
Self-Care and Restorative Practices for Election Day
Today is a day unlike any other for 2020. This remaining week will likely feel like a year unto itself. Yet, today is Election Day, and the uncertainties, anxieties, and stress of an unknown outcome that will greatly effect and shape how we move forward can generate a...
Unmasking Impostor Syndrome Costumes
There are countless of studies that have shown that many high-achieving women of color not only face systemic challenges, but also internal challenges from ongoing efforts to prove worth of acceptance, respect, and acknowledge. Underneath impostor syndrome, there is...
America, Why Are You So Entitled?
It would be hard to have witnessed the presidential debate last night and not need recovery time. Even, if how ludicrous it seemed gave us a bit of entertainment. It would be hard to endure what we experienced last week and countless times before it (an unjust...
The Highs and Lows of a Wellness Check-In
This week has been full of highs and lows for many. We’ve witnessed ongoing racial injustices that go against our humanity’s highest good [potential]. Simultaneously, we’ve witnessed how courage creates ways for advocacy of social justice and racial equality to be...
What if Perfectionism is Anti-social Toward Our Humanity?
There are many messages that we receive in this world about performance, productivity, and perfectionism. Yet, most of all- perfectionism. From an early age, most individuals are conditioned to function “so well” as to outrun discomfort; discomfort of potential...
Supportive Tips for Black Couples Surviving A Global Pandemic and Racial Injustice
In the midst of a global pandemic that has highlighted the disparities of healthcare access and resources for the Black Community, BlPOC are continuing to bear the ongoing realities of racial injustice in this world. While anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms...
Healing through Grief, Racial Trauma, and Systemic Misattunement
The month of May, coincidentally mental health awareness month, has given the world a glimpse inside the continuous reality of the existence of Black women and men in this country. It has allowed other groups to fathom racism’s impact on the minds and...
Here’s to Catch, Challenge, and Change
During this pandemic, it’s safe to say that most of us have experienced grief and suffering to some extent. In holding our human grief and suffering, it’s common to wonder how much of it is natural given the emotional impact of current times, and how much...
COVID19: What I Learned From a Trip to the Grocery Store
Earlier today, I went to a local grocery store as I have on many Saturday mornings. Only, this was my first run to the store following increasing cases for the Coronavirus pandemic, now prompting social distancing. To be expected, there was a long entrance line as...
An Invitation Into Core Worth
Years ago while in grad school, a dear friend on Valentine’s Day walked into one of our classes with many bags of goodies that she proceeded to pass out. The sweet gesture was nostalgic for many of us in class that day, as we remembered childhood experiences of...
Who Tells Your Story?
Stories have a way of uniting us, uplifting us, and even breathing life into us. This is especially true as we take time today in observance of MLK Jr. Day, remembering that his dream for our nation has echoed throughout the stories told by those who either knew...
Part Two: Distress Tolerance for the Holidays
In Part One of “Distress Tolerance for the Holidays” blog, details were shared on how each individual can map out their own autonomic nervous system, and the value of doing so. In assuming that you’ve read part one and have done the exercise, you’re likely wondering...
Part One: Distress Tolerance for the Holidays
As we know it, the holidays can bring about complex emotions and sensations for any and every human being out there. This season, one of the ways in which I’ve supported clients has been in aiding them to map out their autonomic nervous system through exploration of...
Let’s Find a New Place to Live: Productivity Isn’t Home
If you’ve ever experienced the satisfaction of solving a difficult problem or finding an answer that felt like it was buried under so many rocks that you were close to giving up when you found it, you’ve likely encountered how gratifying productivity can be....
Carmelle Ellison, LCSW
I help high-achieving adults, especially in the BIPOC community live authentically wholesome lives via telehealth therapy throughout California.
CATEGORIES
What Type of Perfectionist Are You? A Quiz to Unravel Your Perfectionism vs OCD Traits
Perfectionism, a trait that pushes one to strive for flawlessness and set high-performance standards, often coupled with critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others' evaluations, can be both a boon and a bane. While it can drive success, it can also lead...
Can EMDR Therapy Be Done Virtually?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has gained recognition as an effective treatment for trauma and various mental health issues. With the rise of telehealth, many individuals are wondering if they can access online EMDR therapy. This blog...
Imposterism, Perfectionism, and Burnout: A Toxic Triad in ADHD
Imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and burnout are three interrelated psychological phenomena that can significantly impact individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This toxic triad can lead to a cycle of self-doubt, overwork, and exhaustion...