Dr. Gloria K Vanderhorst - Psychologist & Writer

05/16/2026

In my practice, I have often reflected on how narrowly many men are taught to live emotionally.

Sensitivity, need, and vulnerability are part of being human, yet many boys grow up learning these are not acceptable to express. When feelings are not given language or permission, they do not disappear. They often emerge in other, less healthy ways.

This is not about blame. It is about early emotional education, and what might change if boys were supported in naming and expressing what they feel before it becomes something harder to carry.

05/14/2026

What happens when boys are taught that tears are weakness?

In this powerful episode of Healthy Mind, Healthy Life, I explore how boys learn to suppress emotion, and how those early lessons shape the men they become.

From emotional shutdown to misunderstood anger and withdrawal, this conversation offers insight, compassion, and hope for parents, educators, and anyone reflecting on their own emotional journey.

At Healthy Mind By Avik™, we create spaces for meaningful conversations—spaces where healing, growth, and wisdom can unfold. The thoughts, insights, and stories shared across our platforms—including our website and podcast shows—are deeply personal and come from the lived experiences of our ...

05/13/2026

In my years of work with families, I have often seen how deeply fathers shape a child’s emotional development.

When fathers are consistently present in early life, children are exposed to a wider emotional world. Over time, that presence becomes permission, permission to feel more fully, across joy, frustration, sadness, and curiosity.

This is not about replacing mothers or elevating one role over another. It is about what expands in a child when a father is engaged, steady, and emotionally available in the earliest years.

05/11/2026

How much pressure do we place on children in the pursuit of excellence?

In this latest reflection, I explore the growing culture of competition surrounding youth sports, the dreams parents quietly carry, and the emotional weight children sometimes bear in silence. Beneath the trophies, travel teams, and endless practices is a deeper question: what happens when a child believes love depends on performance?

At the heart of this story is a simple but powerful truth every child deserves to hear:
You are already “just right.”

Not because of medals, rankings, or achievements, but because of who you are.

Are you striving for excellence?

05/09/2026

Do men have feelings?

It sounds like a simple question, yet the answer reveals something much deeper about the way boys and men are taught to move through the world.

I recently joined Jed on the podcast Winning with Jed for a thoughtful conversation about men’s emotional lives, why so many men struggle to express vulnerability, and how early messages about strength and masculinity can shape relationships for decades.

We explored what happens when emotions are silenced, how that silence affects the body and the heart, and why moments of genuine emotional openness are often missed by the people who long to see them.

This conversation is not about blame. It is about understanding. It is about learning how connection is built through patience, awareness, and the courage to be emotionally present.

If you have ever wanted to better understand the men in your life, or yourself, I hope this conversation offers insight and compassion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ZDUxJm2o8

05/09/2026

What touches your heart?

Sometimes it is not the grand moments in life, but the quiet realizations. The steady beating of a heart. The blood moving faithfully through our bodies every second of every day. The histories carried inside us. The people we come from, and the people we discover along the way.

This piece became a reflection on blood, family, ancestry, belonging, and the human desire to understand where we fit in the story of life. It is about the invisible things that sustain us, physically and emotionally, often without our noticing.

Perhaps knowing our history does not just tell us where we came from. Perhaps it helps us understand who we are.

The heart is our fuel pump for the body. The life force of blood pumping throughout my body nurtures every cell.

04/29/2026

What if futility isn’t failure, but part of the cycle we all live through?

From childhood to adulthood, we swing between control and chaos, certainty and doubt. What keeps us grounded isn’t power, it’s people.

One real relationship can anchor everything.

Now that was a shocker!

04/20/2026

Children are deeply attuned to the relationship between their parents.

They feel the tone of the home, even when nothing is being said.
When parents are connected, present, and emotionally available to each other, it creates a sense of safety that children carry within themselves.

Calm is not taught. It is experienced.

04/20/2026

A friend casually mentioned she uses her microwave as a storage cabinet.

It got me thinking.

There was a time when I refused to even have one in the house. I questioned it, resisted it, and held my ground for far longer than necessary. Years later, that same debate became the highlight of my daughter’s senior speech, told to a full auditorium, much to my surprise.

Sometimes the things we resist say more about us than the things we embrace.

This story is about change, stubbornness, humor, and the small moments that stay with us far longer than we expect.

My favorite restaurant had a problem in the kitchen, so going there for lunch was out.

04/16/2026

We try so hard to keep children engaged, entertained, and constantly stimulated.

But something important happens in the quiet moments.
Boredom creates space for reflection. It allows children to turn inward, to think, to imagine, and to process their experiences.

Without that space, they may learn how to stay busy, but not how to understand themselves.

04/13/2026

We often think of connection as emotional, but it is deeply physical.

The body regulates through relationship. Heart rate, stress levels, even immune function are influenced by whether we feel connected or alone.

We are not designed to exist in isolation.

Connection is not just comforting. It is essential to our health.