BB

Based on the (mostly) true story of big hair aspirations, tired feet complications & miles to go. Former school counselor, current clinical psych doc student. ✨

[BB @blymys]

And if you are reading this and didn’t match in Phase I… I am truly so sorry. I know what participating in this process takes out of you.

If no one has told you yet, let me be the first: this brutal process is an algorithm. A lottery. A numbers game (and boy, have we paid to play). It feels like luck and THAT feels unfair to the many, many hardworking people just trying to find their place in the profession.

What it is certainly not is an indicator of you as a human or a professional. Your calling isn’t diminished and your competence is not in question here. Hang in there. 🤍

[BB @blymys]

Fun professional news: I matched with my top choice! So grateful. So happy. 💖

And yet, still feeling overwhelmed by the many hoops and loops left to close as I wrap up what has been a very stressful, kind of blurry fourth year. Archiving this in hopes that one day I’ll look back with softer eyes and a better understanding of the plot.

If nothing else, this has been an interesting study in delayed meaning-making. #APPIC

[Jonathan Shedler @JonathanShedler]

Do not go to psychotherapy thinking it will affirm your understanding of yourself and others. If your perceptions and understandings served you, you’d have no need for psychotherapy.

Real psychotherapy will shake your soul to its foundation.

And if it’s not real psychotherapy—why bother?

[BB @blymys]

Re: Spicy therapy take🌶️ 100% yes. these patients are so often psychologically neglected/avoided.. and human to human I get it… but genuinely— working w/ terminal patients in a hospital has been one of the most meaningful, clinically rich, and sacred training experiences I've had.

Also wild how I heard a clinician once say they “don't work with death”… like I didn't even know that was an option? I hope all their patients oblige 😅

[Edward A. Perin - Psychologist @DoctorPerin]

Spicy therapy take 🌶️ but I think working with people who are dying should be a part of therapy training. Textbooks can’t really prepare you for what it’s like to lose a patient, especially one with whom you’ve built a relationship (and sometimes with their families)

[BB @blymys]

@BrandonStraka “But it is not easy navigating the often harsh terrain of broken people…” beautifully said. I am so sorry for your loss.

[BB @blymys]

@Shaostoul @elonmusk Same! Tried Grok yesterday. Was shocked by how well it outperforms GPT5.

[BB @blymys]

@DavidPuder I have a professor who had us read all McWilliams this year. Thanks for normalizing the reread lol—I knew it was profound, but I was definitely not getting it the first time.

[BB @blymys]

@QuantPsychiatry The best feeling! Congratulations!!

[BB @blymys]

Fascinating. Recently listened to a Psych Rounds episode on depression and inflammation from an evolutionary lens that really opened this thinking for me. Considering behavior/personality to be more deeply rooted in a physiological stress response is a total perspective shift for me.. from a clinical and human standpoint. Thank god for podcasts tho, because this definitely hasn’t come up in my grad education so far.

[BB @blymys]

@xtinamagwaza1 @MarkLRuffalo The reaction here actually illustrates his point. How we respond to ideas we don’t like can tell us something about ourselves. Your response to the original tweet says something about you—just like my response to you says something about me. And that’s okay. That’s the point.

[BB @blymys]

@TweetATherapist When your scope is vibes but your branding is DSM-5🃏

[BB @blymys]

I read this study a few years ago (I think there have been more) but I think of it often and the implications of 83.7% of TikTok advice being misleading and only 9% of creators qualified. This information is shaping how people understand/interact with mental health and the larger system. At best, interaction will connect someone with a competent provider. At worst, people will make serious decisions based on bad info.

[BB @blymys]

I think I get what you’re saying— mental health is largely self-reported, so lived experience is especially relevant, for the individual. Bc it contributes to deep understanding of their experience/presentation of “anxiety”, but not on “anxiety” broadly.

For me, the analogy still holds generally. Lived experience deepens empathy, but professional training equips someone to diagnose, treat, and navigate the system. Both matter and are weighted differently in different contexts, but they’re not interchangeable.

[BB @blymys]

Genuinely confused why this was such a hot take for so many? I read it as lived experience brings personal insight and training brings professional expertise. Nothing dismissive here—just a reminder not to confuse the two. And maybe a caution to filter advice from MH influencers who are more often than not, speaking from their experience?

[BB @blymys]

I completely agree, Chris. I’m a NY state transplant and have struggled to understand this process. I already pay taxes for infrastructure, yet I still have to pay road tolls just to use certain roads and take exits? And all the charges would be more digestible IF the roads weren’t in terrible condition. Driving is like playing frogger with potholes. Wild.

[BB @blymys]

@McFranchisee @JCOviedo6 @McDonalds Consider my gratitude supersized.

[BB @blymys]

@McFranchisee @JCOviedo6 @McDonalds Oh my gosh! So pumped it’s coming back!

[BB @blymys]

Learning about this connection in a cognitive/affective course was so interesting. Smell is the only sense that bypasses the thalamus (all sensory info. goes there first for prioritizing) and then moves to the limbic/emotional system. Smell is prioritized above the rest of the senses due to the implications for survival (i.e., smell a fire, pheromones, chemicals). The theory is that because of this direct pathway, smells evoke strong emotional and memory related responses almost instantaneously.

You didn’t ask, but thanks for indulging and letting me share😜. Memory and smell are so fascinating to me.

[BB @blymys]

@CheeseForEvery1 This is a helpful perspective that I haven’t considered. I’m going to be thinking on this for a while. Thank you for sharing your and Melissa’s story. She sounds like she was a really neat lady.

[BB @blymys]

IMO, graduate students are esp. vulnerable to this tech. Recently was looking up info. on how to write better / more efficient notes when an ad for this company popped up. Tempting because I’m not happy with my notes & can’t find a clear path on how to make them better.

Decided to struggle through w/ the hypothesis that AI notes would create more problems in the long run… esp. w/ case conceptualization. A hard choice when many of my peers are utilizing AI undetected to fill in their gaps and receiving praise from supervisors.