Spilove Psychotherapy Blog

Explore Insights, Healing, and Growth

Your journey to self-discovery, mental wellness, and emotional resilience starts here. Our blog is a space where our therapists share thoughts on trauma recovery, relationships, mindfulness, and holistic healing.

Whether you're looking for practical tools, personal reflections, or a deeper understanding of mental health, you'll find compassionate and thoughtful perspectives to support your path.

Browse our latest posts and discover new ways to grow, evolve, and find balance

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How to De-escalate Arguments in Your Relationship—A Step-by-Step Guide

Arguments happen, but they don’t have to damage your connection. Learning how to recognize emotional triggers, pause before reacting, and communicate with understanding can turn conflicts into opportunities for growth. This step-by-step guide will help you navigate disagreements with empathy, active listening, and resolution-focused strategies—so you and your partner can build a healthier, stronger relationship.

Read more to learn how to de-escalate conflicts effectively!

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How Virtual EMDR Therapy Can Address Trauma Attachments

Are past relationships or traumatic experiences holding you back? Trauma attachments can deeply impact your mental health, leading to patterns of fear, anxiety, and unhealthy relationships. In this blog, we explore how EMDR therapy, now accessible virtually, can help you process these deep emotional bonds and move toward healing. Discover how you can break free from the grip of past trauma and start building healthier, more fulfilling relationships. Click to learn more!

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Understanding Trauma—Its Impact and the Healing Power of Trauma Therapy

If you've always been curious about trauma and trauma therapy but want to delve deeper into understanding, click here to embark on a journey of discovery. Our blog explores the intricacies of what trauma actually is, ranging from its various forms to how it profoundly impacts us as human beings. We delve into the intricate ways trauma can shape our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, shedding light on the complexities of its effects on our lives.

 

Moreover, we explore the transformative power of trauma therapy in our blog. From traditional approaches to innovative modalities, we uncover how trauma therapy can be a catalyst for healing and growth. Whether you're seeking insights into trauma's impact or considering trauma therapy for yourself or a loved one, our blog offers valuable perspectives and information to empower your journey towards healing and resilience.

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Navigating the Abstinence Violation Effect in Eating Disorder Recovery

In our latest blog, we delve into a common yet often misunderstood phenomenon known as the abstinence violation effect (AVE) and its impact on individuals in eating disorder recovery. Explore how a perceived lapse or violation of self-imposed rules can trigger intense negative emotions and potentially derail progress. Discover strategies for recognizing and managing the AVE to promote resilience and sustainable recovery.

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Embracing Radical Acceptance: A Path to Inner Peace

In our latest blog, we dive deep into the transformative power of radical acceptance. Explore how this mindfulness-based practice, rooted in DBT principles, can help you break free from cycles of pain and suffering. Discover the art of embracing reality without judgment or resistance, paving the way for greater resilience and inner peace in your daily life!

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Discovering Hope and Healing: 8 Benefits of Joining a Infertility Support Group

Feeling isolated in your infertility journey? Many in Philadelphia share your struggle and understand your emotions deeply. In this blog, we'll delve into the powerful benefits of joining an infertility support group. Whether you're starting treatments or have been on this path for a while, embracing a supportive community can bring hope, healing, and understanding to your journey.

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Spirituality and Therapy

Explore the intersection of spirituality and therapy as we embark on a transformative journey towards holistic well-being. Dive deep into the realm of self-discovery, healing, and personal growth, blending the wisdom of spiritual practices with the insights of therapeutic modalities. Discover how integrating spirituality into therapy can nurture profound healing, cultivate resilience, and foster inner peace.

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Healing from Sacral Chakra Trauma: Nurturing Emotional Well-being

Healing sacral chakra trauma involves self-exploration, self-compassion, creative expression, and embracing sensuality for chakra realignment. Visit our blog for more insights.

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Women's Mental Health—A Guide to Finding Therapy in Philadelphia

If you're a woman in Philadelphia seeking therapy and are curious about how therapy can help you, look no further. Click on this blog to learn more about the powerful and transformative effects of therapy specifically tailored to support and empower women in their unique journeys towards healing and growth.

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Fall & Body Image

Fall is a beautiful season full of vibrant colors and a sense of change in the air. However, many individuals find themselves facing a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their fall and body image. The shift in weather, wardrobe transitions, and cultural emphasis on holiday festivities can all impact how we perceive ourselves and our bodies. However, It is important to remember that we have the power to navigate these challenges and foster a positive relationship with our bodies during this time.

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9 Tips for Avoiding Disordered Eating as a Freshman College Student

Starting college can be an exciting and challenging time for many students. Adjusting to a new environment, managing academic responsibilities, and building new relationships can all contribute to increased stress levels. Unfortunately, this transition can also trigger or exacerbate disordered eating behaviors. To support college freshmen in maintaining a healthy relationship with food and their bodies, here are some valuable tips to consider. Click here to learn more!

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What To Expect From A Life Coach

You’ve talked about your feelings, got to understand your emotions, learned about the deepest parts of yourself and faced difficult traumas . You truly understand yourself, but you still feel stuck in your stress, irritability and anxiety. Sometimes, it even feels like they get in the way of your ability to be successful. Maybe you don’t feel as fulfilled as you did with your career. You want to make a change, but feel overwhelmed by the possibility of choosing a different career path, so you force yourself to stay. 

Does this sound like you? If so, working with a life coach may be for you!

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Anxiety in Teens—Here's How To Help Teenagers with Anxiety!

Now, while anxiety and stress are a normal part of growing up and a normal reaction to the stress that teens can experience, the feelings of anxiety for many teens can go well beyond the typical symptoms. When teen’s become overwhelmed and anxious it can begin to negatively affect their friendships, family relationships, participation in school, extracurricular activities, their school work and ultimately interfere with normal daily living. So, what can you actually do for your anxious teen? How can you help a teenager with anxiety in 2023?

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Mindfulness Exercises for Anxiety, Depression and Trauma

Studies show that mindful activities scattered throughout one’s day can have an even deeper impact on healing and self-growth than a regular sitting meditation practice. This is because, once a mindful approach is embedded into our regular activities, it is more likely to become our go-to approach to life. We can take meditation off the cushion, so to speak, and into our daily lives. We can start to incorporate mindfulness into our days by learning ways to reach stillness other than traditional meditation. Here are some other ways to achieve a mindful state in your day to day life…

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Loving Your Body, Even When It’s Hard

It’s hard to love your body when you have so much dislike, even hatred for it. Our thoughts, feelings, and emotions about our body image heavily influences our personal experiences and plays such a big role in how we experience life. Oftentimes, (from my own personal experience too), our negative body image holds us back from truly experiencing present moments because we are too preoccupied with our appearance. 

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3 DBT Skills We Can All Benefit From

While DBT has been proven to be highly effective in treating a range of mental health conditions, you don’t have to have a mental illness to benefit from these skills. In fact, learning these skills and incorporating them into your life can help all of us! Here are 3 DBT skills to help you get started. 

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How To Overcome Negative Body Image

We have been taught for so long to place judgments on ourselves, especially when it comes to our bodies. But it doesn’t have to have to be this way. We have the internal wisdom to manage the negative thoughts that we are having about our bodies…we just have to tap into them and be mindful of actually putting them into motion.  

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Are You Ready to Explore Therapy This Year? 

Are you thinking about starting therapy but feel hesitant in moving forward? Maybe you are worried about the timing or aren’t sure how to find a therapist. Maybe you’re worried about what other people would think or say. Perhaps you just aren’t sure if therapy is right for you or if therapy will be beneficial. All you know is that you are tired of convincing yourself that you ‘don’t really need’ therapy or that you don’t ‘have it bad enough’.  You feel that you have finally reached a space of curiosity with therapy and what the therapeutic experience has to offer.

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Inner Critic vs. Inner Coach

We all have inner voices—one that judges  and belittles and one that is nurturing and up-lifting. However, for many the second inner voice often sounds like a fantasy. In fact, it feels impossible to even comprehend talking to yourself in a kind way because for most of us…the critic often always wins. Our inner voice can be a destructive force that can impact our overall mental wellbeing. This damaging voice magnifies negativity and often isn't satisfied until we are left feeling defeated and sometimes even paralyzed. So, how can we regain balance within our own system? How can we reset the inner critic and strengthen our inner coach?

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New Year, No New Resolutions

We go into the New Year with the best of intentions, to make these goals actually happen. We feel excited, hopefully and even enthusiastic about the idea of working toward something new. But, for many of us, we often give up on our New Year’s resolutions or simply forget about them all together by the end of the month and revert back to our old habits. This can often make us feel shameful and guilty for not reaching the expectation that we had set out of ourselves.  So, this New Year, instead of putting pressure on ourselves to make an excessive list of all of the New Year’s resolutions you feel that you have to complete, what if you threw that all out the window? What if you didn’t set resolutions?

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Post-Holiday Blues

Getting back into the swing of things can come as a relief for many after the holidays. Jumping back into their comfortable routine and leaving the holiday stress behind is what actually brings much cheer to many. For others, the financially, emotionally and mentally stressful come down from the most wonderful time of the year can bring on post-holiday blues. 

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Taking Your Inner Critic Off the Holiday Guest List

You get caught up in the idea that you need to create the perfect holiday experience for yourself and for those around you. Each holiday season you set extremely high hopes that this year will *finally* be different. Yet, you often fall short of these expectations that you put on yourself. You often become overly stressed and anxious because of the added pressures of the December month. And while you had good intentions at the start of the month, you have set the stage for your inner critic to take the spotlight because you feel that you have fallen short. 

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Addiction Recovery Series 2: Holding Space for Recovery During the Upcoming Holiday Season

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the holiday season, especially when you are in recovery and trying to remain sober. However, there are many things that you can do to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the challenge of staying sober! Just remember to give yourself grace, use your sober safety tools, have a sober safety plan in place and remember to have fun.

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7 Tips to Navigate Your Eating Disorder During the Holiday Season

The holiday season for many with an ED or in ED recovery can feel like the superbowl of negative thoughts and body image, anxiety, decreased self-esteem and even sadness. Which is why it feels impossible to try to keep your eating disorder from controlling your holiday season. It can feel easier to let the eating disorder voice win because it is so exhausting to keep your ED in check. And as exhausting as it is, you can still support yourself through the holiday season with the list of tips below. 

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Managing Holiday Anxiety

What if ‘the most wonderful time of year’ brings nothing but holiday anxiety? What if you feel overwhelmed and stressed during this season, rather than joyous like society tells us? And what if you don’t feel or want to be that cheerful this year? Well, I am here to tell you that this is completely natural.

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Honoring Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Domestic Violence is an epidemic that spreads violence throughout communities and family units across the nation. Any individual can be subject to an abusive relationship, regardless of nationality, race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, age, or religion. The violence that an individual experiences within a relationship typically coexists with controlling behaviors and emotionally abusive patterns which exposes a pattern of dominance and control.

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Celebrating World Mental Health Day

While we may be more equipped to manage our mental health at different times in our life, mental health problems can become overwhelming and all-encompassing. Individuals who struggle with mental health often feel alone or like a burden to individuals in their life. Which is why many will keep their mental health in the shadows. However, mental health is something that is becoming more normalized to discuss. Which is a big part in how and why we have and should celebrate World Mental Health Day!

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Checking In, Turning the Page into 2022 by Heather Nicholson, MS, LPC

There can be a subtle pressure to experience joy through the holidays which unfolds straight into hope and action for the new year, without much room to acknowledge other important feelings which may have been stirred in the previous weeks, months, and year. Feelings like confusion, anger, frustration, pain, dread, fatigue, and fear are also part of our emotional tapestry. And, turning the page into 2022 has brought with it the added stress and uncertainties of a third year in a global pandemic.

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