Trysa Shulman & Associates

01/14/2026

Books I’m ordering from the library to prepare for the New Orleans Book Festival 📖🥳🤓📖
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly
We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For by Eddie Glaude Jr.
To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedediah Jenkins
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Are You Mad at Me? by Meg Josephson
Chain of Ideas: The Origins of our Authoritarian Age by Ibram Ibram X. Kendi
Audition by Katie Kitamura
The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb
The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
What Are You Going Through by Sigred Nunez
How The Word is Passed by Clint Smith

EEEK! It’s in March, I can probably only read ONE of these by then!

01/14/2026

When a teen presents to a health care professional with symptoms that meet clinical criteria for depression, the provider usually recommends that they “take medication and start psychotherapy.” But a critical step gets skipped: to do an evaluation to try to determine what factors are causing the disorder. If the underlying causes are identified first, that can and should inform the treatment plan. Depression is not single-cause determined, and there is no one treatment that is necessary and useful for every type of depression. Treating depression effectively to the point of returning the teen to the tasks of healthy development requires understanding what has gone off track and the reasons. Why do we so often rush to treatment without first determining causes?

read more in my response to Daniel Bergner’s NY Times article on SSRIs and sexual development in teens

How do we decide if SSRIs are worth their risks to teens' sexual selves?

12/21/2025

Pain Modulation and Sensory Reweighting

Why the Most Adaptable Brains Train in More Than One Way

12/04/2025

Djapo is such a precious resource in our community! Get dancing!

✨ FREE TAP DANCE CLASS! ✨
Kick off December with rhythm, history, and community!

Join Djapo Cultural Arts Institute and RhythmiCLE Sound Tap Project and Kandee Hogan of The Cleveland Tap Dance Conservatory for a dynamic family-friendly tap workshop.

📅 Dec 6, 2025
⏰ 12–1:30 PM
📍 Djapo Cultural Arts Institute
2937 W 25th St, Cleveland, OH 44113

🔥 Open to all ages & all experience levels
You’ll explore:
✔️ Basic tap steps
✔️ Tap dance history
✔️ African diasporic roots of tap
✔️ Tap as an American cultural art form

📧 Register now: rstc216@gmail.com

Let’s make some music together! 🥁👞

12/04/2025

Here's a new resource for teens!

Adolescent Anxiety & Depression Coping Skills Group Begins THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, from 5-6:30 PM!
Upcoming session:
Walking the Middle Path (Dec 18–Jan 20)

WHO: Adolescents (ages 13–17) Open to the Community
WHEN: Thursdays, 5–6:30 PM, Starting December 18, 2025
WHERE: Senders Pediatrics, 2054 S. Green Rd., South Euclid, OH 44121
LED BY: Cecilia McKenzie, LPC (supervised by Kristen Horvath-Broda, LPCC-S & Dr. Sharon Bursky, IMFT-S)

TO REGISTER: Call 216-230-2154 or bh@senderspediatrics.com

What Teens Will Learn:
• How the nervous system affects emotions & behavior
• Mindfulness & awareness of feelings
• Advanced CBT & DBT strategies to manage stress & emotions

There are four 6-Week Modules (Participants are encouraged to attend all four modules, but that is not required.) Orientation & mindfulness skills included in every module.
These sessions offer a safe, supportive space to build coping skills and resilience.

To register or for questions: 216-230-2154 or bh@senderspediatrics.com
For more information: https://sendersbehavioralhealth.com/Programs-and-Groups/Adolescent-Anxiety-Depression-Coping-Skills-Gr-(1)

12/04/2025

an incredible opportunity for free support:


If you know of someone with depression or anxiety who isn’t doing well and could use more support around diet & lifestyle treatments but can’t afford personalized care, you may want to let them know about this unique pilot study opportunity.

Meru Health, an innovative U.S.-based virtual mental health care service that operates in all 50 states, is seeking to expand its offerings to include a nutritional and metabolic pathway. They are offering participation in their new pilot treatment program free of charge for a small number of volunteers.

"We are seeking volunteers to participate in a free of charge research pilot study. This is for people who are struggling with depression, anxiety or other persistent mental health challenges, and are not getting better with more traditional means (medication & therapy)."

We are seeking volunteers to participate in a free of charge research pilot study. This is for people who are struggling with depression, anxiety or other persistent mental health challenges, and are not getting better with more traditional means (medication & therapy).

"By participating, you’ll get deep insight into biological drivers of mood and wellbeing, and we’ll ask for feedback and outcome data (confidentially). We are aiming to publish the research pilot study results with a university research partner in a peer-review journal."

If you’re interested in, please reach out to Meru's Care Navigation: 833-940-1385 / support@meruhealth.com

11/30/2025

Treating depression effectively to the point of returning to healthy development requires understanding what has gone off track and the reasons. Why do we so often rush to treatment without first determining causes?
https://open.substack.com/pub/trysashulman/p/response-to-daniel-bergners-article?r=3npuwx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

11/12/2025

for all psych professionals! join us!
https://clevelandpsychology.starchapter.com/meetinginfo.php?id=69&ts=1762967889

11/07/2025

read this over and over. it has many secrets in it.

Trust and abundance are what keep this space alive. I trust the kids to follow the non-negotiable rules while exploring, testing boundaries, and choosing what to work on. I trust them to feel their feelings fully and make their own creative choices, knowing that sometimes they’ll push edges—and ...

11/05/2025

How many times have I met with a therapist only to have that familiar disappointment hit within the first three sessions: this person cannot really help me. Or to realize: they are seeing this through the lens of their own life, which doesn’t really apply to my situation the way they think it does.

Some good reasons for being wary of starting therapy.

11/05/2025

thoughtful post - "The most radical change is moving from a situation that is completely stuck or spiraling downwards, to the slightest movement towards stabilization."
"It’s a paradox of care: if help feels imposed, it gets rejected, even when it’s desperately needed."

In my clinic, I often meet parents sitting in that painful space between love and helplessness. Watching a teenager who has gone quiet, distant, or locked away behind a screen. We talk about how to try getting back in sync and together we explore how to rebuild that lost connection. In this first re...

10/28/2025

I'm rewatching the Morning Show with hubby so that he can be caught up to watch the newest season. Tomorrow I'll share my reaction to a season 3 episode that flashes back to Bradley and Laura in Montana. Laura once again suggests that Bradley go to therapy. I think it makes too much sense why Bradley is wary of therapy.