Instagram story viewer> @drkatekaplan> Posts

Dr. Kate Kaplan, PsyD

@drkatekaplan

1.6K

followers

213

following

Licensed psychologist, Mom
🧘‍♀️ Helping YOU live w/ self compassion, mindfulness& insight
💬 Anxiety, transitions, family systems, feelings, HSP Mamas

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Inspired by talking to my friends, talking to you, talking to myself and talking to my therapist haha... introducing a virtual support group for Moms.

Where we can feel seen and heard and hugged as we navigate life, but in particular this upcoming holiday season where we might be feeling more overwhelm and anxiety.

This will be a 3-4 week support group that will also incorporate mindfulness and grounding tools and give you a second to breathe!

DM or email me if interested and I can provide more details! Excited to have you join me.🤎 taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

21

4

2 years ago

Is this you?

Do you live in California and are looking for extra support?

Or if you are a therapist in California do you have clients that could benefit?!

If interested please e-mail me at drkatekaplan@gmail.com for more info.

Looking forward to connecting!

This will be a virtual group meeting twice a month. Date TBD. ❤️

*Also, if you’re not sure if you’re highly sensitive, when we chat, I will walk you through a self assessment prior to entering the group. *
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#therapyformoms #therapyforhighlysensitivepeople #supportgroup #supportgroupsformoms #supportgroupslosangeles #postpartumsupport #postpartumgroup #maternalmentalhealth #maternalmentalhealthawareness #highlysensitivemom #hsp #hsptherapist #hsplife by @drkatekaplan

70

10

4 years ago

Hi all! Been awhile:) I wrote a substack about my decision to take a break of sharing mental health content online, if curious! (Link in bio).

Just wanted to pop on to share about a new group offering if you or someone you know would be interested ! Feel free to reach out :)

#highlysensitiveperson #peoplepleasing #grouptherapy #perfectionismrecovery #perfectionism taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

7

0

a month ago

What are things you’re leaning into in your current season of life?! 🍂🍁🍃
.
.
.
.
.
.
#existentialcrisis #existentialtherapy #therapyforyoungadults #therapyforyoungadults #therapyforwomen #therapyreels #highlysensitiveparent #highlysensitivehuman #therapyformoms #momsover40 #therapistmom taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

17

6

a year ago

OK I’m not perfect, so this is work in progress.

But the reality is with changing any habit or over caretaking tendency being aware of it is like 90% of the battle .

So if you’re like me and you’re highly sensitive or you are a caretaker type you tend to want to manage other people’s feelings . Whether naturally due to temperament , or a learned behavior based on family dynamics , you simply might be someone that absorbs more of other’s feelings!

So let’s walk through some of the steps to help you manage that….

💕First step! Being aware that you have that tendency. Seems obvious but self awareness and reflection while it may seem easy, can feel hard, we often have blinders on for ourselves.

💕Second step! Do not beat yourself up! We all have different temperaments, different history and different family structures that make us the way that we are.

Some, but not all, get a lot of their good feelings from taking care of other people. Which can be amazing & shouldn’t always be pathologized. For others, that’s how they were shown love growing up & can be a bigger suitcase to unpack. But either way , over caretaking leads to burnout.

💕Third! Start to notice the triggers! Do you notice that you feel more anxious when you’re in certain environments or with certain people? Or is your anxiety when you’re by yourself mostly?

Once you get a sense of where your anxiety is coming from, then you can start to use some tools to soothe yourself.

❤️Some helpful phrases/mantras like, “This is so and so’s anxiety. It is not my job to manage that.” “I am worthy or lovable outside of just taking care of others.”

❤️Visualize ! Imagine yourself surrounded by a protective bubble that lets other people’s anxiety bounce off of you .

❤️Breathe and layer on self compassion! It’s hard being so self aware and you do not always achieve the desired outcome. You dust yourself and try again!

Is this something you struggle with too?!
.
.
.
.
.
.
,
.
.

#therapyforyoungadults #therapistsofinstagram #therapyforwomen #empathsupport #therapyforhighlysensitivepeople #therapyformoms #existentialcrisis #anxiety #anxiousmillennial #anxiousthoughts #anxiousmoms #anxiousyoungadults # taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

24

7

a year ago

Anxiety spreads like wildfire. It might be why even when you are not anxious you sometimes feel more anxious around certain people that are anxious.

It also means that sometimes you put one anxiety fire out, and seemingly another unrelated thing pops up that you’re now anxious about it.

And you’re not imagining it, if you’re someone that struggles with anxiety it is often cyclical, and the brain will naturally find something else to attach the anxious process to.

Believe it or not it all traces back to caveman days and our primordial brain. Our brains were developed to pay attention to our environment , to scan for danger and keep us safe.

And for some this is a more developed part of their brain because they pick up on more cues in their environment , highly sensitive people I am looking at you!

So those of us that struggle with anxiety, let me reframe it for you. You have a very strong survival instinct! That’s not the problem! It’s that this response is triggered by things that are not putting you in actual imminent or immediate danger. But the primordial brain does not know the difference.

So maybe you’re now thinking what’s the solution if I’m always going to find something to be anxious about .

So here goes!
👉🏻Start from a place of understanding who you are how your brain works. There’s a level of grief here in a way, realizing that your brain and body just work differently than what you perceive as normal. But coming to a place of appreciation and acceptance is usually the first and hardest step .

👉🏻 Now you layer in some mindfulness and realistic self thoughts. Reframing your internal self talk…looks like, “oh this is my overactive anxious thought process again. I know I feel like I am in danger but I am not imminently in harm’s way. I can tolerate and get through this uncomfortable feeling.”

👉🏻 And then breathe. 2-3 deep diaphragmatic breaths. Ground yourself. Grounding through the senses when breath is not working, get back in your body and out of your thoughts. Focusing on:
5 things you can see
4 things you can hear
3 things you can touch
2 things you can taste
1 thing you can smell

You got this! ❤️
.
.
.
.
. taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

20

9

a year ago

If my 20s were about
👉🏻feeling bad about who I am
👉🏻over extending myself
👉🏻 over questioning
👉🏻self doubt

My 40s are about …
✅understanding who I am and how I can support that
✅ setting appropriate boundaries that respect and honor myself and my unique being
✅ viewing the questioning as healthy rather than unhealthy behavior
✅embracing self doubt as a place to practice self compassion and as a learning tool to tell me where I need to grow

I call the 20’s the pruning decade. It’s about learning who you are and in the process beginning to shed what does not work for you. That might be friendships and bad relationships or patterns of behavior that don’t serve your higher being and purpose.

Curious if you are in your 20’s what is it you are learning about yourself or ready to let go of?!

Or if you are in your 30’s or 40’s what have you let go of from your 20’s?!

Would love to hear from you, share below! ❤️
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.#therapyforyoungadults #20somethings #quarterlifecrisis #mentalhealth #therapysupport #40something #40somethingmom #therapists taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

31

6

a year ago

“If you’re like me, you’ve been noticing for the last several years, a movement to romanticize your life.

I get it. It’s a direct response to the shit storm that we live in.

And if it makes you happy and doesn’t hurt others , go for it ! Truly my philosophy.

But I am somehow incapable of doing that.

Incapable of putting on rose colored glasses.

Incapable of shutting off that part of my brain and psyche and spiritual being that is connected to the dark and the hard and the underbelly of our existence.

Dramatic? Yes.

But I’m sharing this because you too might feel the same way.“

More in my substack! Join me.

https://drkaplan.substack.com/p/whats-the-antidote-to-romanticizing

Link in Bio too!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#therapyforwomen #therapyforyoungadults #therapistsofinstagram #therapyformoms #highlysensitivehuman #highlysensitiveparent #therapyreels #therapyforhighlysensitivepeople #romantacizeyourlife #substacknewsletter #substackwriter #therapythoughts #existentialist #existentialcrisis taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

15

2

a year ago

The answer is ALMOST here , because I do like to keep it real with you guys haha.

Yes, being in nature can quiet some of the noise, especially for highly sensitive individuals.

But let's not confuse quieting the noise with quieting the feelings.

The reality is that humans feel a wide range of feelings.

Highly sensitive deeply feeling humans feel them more intensely .

Maybe you grew up learning to embrace certain feelings, and learning to push down others that made either you or those around you uncomfortable .

Anger, sadness disappointment .

While feelings of joy and happiness were celebrated .

I get it, even more so now as a parent! Who wants to feel uncomfortable and messy feelings. They feel burdensome and heavy.

We carry too much.

But the reality is that no one walks through life without feeling them . You are not alone but maybe as a sensitive person you talk about them more or show them more.

If I have learned one thing over the last many years of my own self discovery and parenting young children with big feelings, it is that you can't escape your feelings.

Nor should you.

Sure sometimes they are ephemeral and have no meaning.

But other times they carry a story and depth that we need to move through to get to wherever we are going.

We don't have to like them. We don't have to love ourselves all the time when we are in the throes of our feels .

But we do need to learn to accept them.

To accept ourselves as deeply feeling humans .

And tolerate the discomfort that comes from that.

What do you think?!
.
:
.
.
.
.
#therapyforwomen #therapyforwomen #highlysensitivehuman #highlysensitiveparent #highlysensitivechild #therapyforhighlysensitivepeople #deeplyfeelingkids #deeplyfeeling by @drkatekaplan

19

6

a year ago

✨As therapists we are always encouraged to rule out underlying health conditions contributing to mental health symptoms.

✨But for some reason, we often overlook or maybe even forget the powerful impact that women's hormones have on their mental health.

✨So when a client tells me about an abrupt change in their mental health, increasing anxiety or an increase in depression, I'm always asking them if they track their menstrual cycle and are aware of what phase they're currently in .

✨ It can be helpful to track so it's not a mystery every month as to why you are feeling particularly down or emotional at a certain time.

✨So you can remind yourself that you're not going crazy. Your body is just adjusting and shifting and it affects all of you.

✨So you can have more compassion and understanding ( which helps so much with navigating those changes).

✨So you can also make some mental health plans of how to best support yourself during the luteal phase which tends to be harder emotionally for many!

✨This is not an ad, but I personally use Aavia @aavia.io and love it! So this is your reminder if you are a menstruating individual ❤️to track it, as it can help you feel more in control of your mental health.

Do you track your cycle? Or deal with PMDD?!
.
.
.
.
.
.
:
.
.
#therapyforwomen #therapyformoms #mentalhealth #womensmentalhealth
#cycletracking #lutealphase #hormonalimbalance #hormonalhealth taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

21

8

a year ago

Moms, how's the summer treating you so far ?! Stressed ? Burnt out? Hanging on by a thread? No, just me!?!

After a particularly challenging evening, where everyone was off of their routines and melting down and I too was melting down and didn't like how I dealt with anything...I woke up the next morning, realizing that it's not so much about sitting in my feelings and analyzing the why as just allowing those feelings to exist.

To flow through me; without assigning so much meaning to them.

Memories of fleeting human moments that yes are often out of my control or at-least feel that way.

It does not mean those feelings are not valid or even always justified but I also don't have to let them consume me.

Often, the antidote to that feeling of being overwhelmed, particularly by your feelings, is to ground yourself in the present moment... in the tangible. In your body, in your senses.

To be mindful despite the chatter.

To take a bird's eye objective view of your mind and existence , like watching a movie.

So I invite you to join me today with the dropping anchor exercise.

Would love to know how it goes if you try it! Share below.
.
.
.
.
.
:
.
.
.
.
#summermood #motherhood #momlife #motherhoodsupport #momstruggles #survivingsummer #therapyreels #therapyformoms #therapyforwomen #highlysensitivehuman #highlysensitiveparent #highlysensitivechild #therapyforhighlysensitivepeople #acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy #droppinganchor taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

26

15

a year ago

"In my utopian society, we all treat each other with kindness and empathy and thoughtfulness, and all the qualities that highly sensitive people naturally bring to the table.

But alas that is not the reality. So what's the solution? How do we nurture kindness and empathy, but with boundaries and a mental toughness to protect ourselves?"

Read more on my new sub stack, link in the bio ! ❤️
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#therapyforyoungadults #therapistsofinstagram #therapyreels #therapyformoms #therapyforwomen #highlysensitivehuman #highlysensitiveparent #highlysensitivechild #therapyforhighlysensitivepeople #substackwriters #substack #substacknewsletter taken in Los Angeles, California by @drkatekaplan

10

5

a year ago