Anna's Alcove

05/05/2026

People recovering from trauma, especially those living with conditions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex PTSD, or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), often experience a mismatch between what the conscious mind knows and what the body feels or understands. You may know, for example, that no one in the room with you is actively trying to hurt you right now, yet feel as if you’re in imminent danger. “Bottom-up” therapy approaches, like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), are designed to bring together what the conscious mind already knows with whatever discomfort is being experienced more deeply. I use a lot of these “bottom-up” approaches in my work with people, but I use “top-down” approaches too.

Click below to read this month’s Snippet on Cognitive Therapy for Trauma Recovery: “Possible versus Likely”

People recovering from trauma, especially those living with conditions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex PTSD, or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), often experience a mismatch between what the conscious mind knows and what the body feels or understands. “Bottom-up” therapy approac...

04/01/2026

I first began to understand moral injury as a therapist working in a residential trauma treatment program for military veterans. I had quite a bit of experience working with active service members in outpatient settings prior to taking this position, and that may be why moral injury didn’t present so distinctly to me before. Like PTSD, moral injury may not set in clearly until a person has gotten out of the environment associated with the disturbance. Veterans in this residential program were responding positively to the trauma treatments provided, but it quickly became apparent to me that we were missing something important. That’s when my research led me to the concept of moral injury. It wasn't an entirely new concept, as my work with addictions often included helping people work through harm they had caused. The difference in working with veterans is that they were being thanked for their service even as they carried the pain of that harm.

PTSD or Moral Injury? Click below to read this month’s Snippet on what trauma focused therapy misses:
https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/ptsd-or-moral-injury-what-trauma-focused-therapy-misses

I first began to understand moral injury as a therapist working in a residential trauma treatment program for military veterans. I had quite a bit of experience working with active service members in outpatient settings prior to taking this position, and that may be why moral injury didn’t present...

03/02/2026

In Ivan Krylov’s 1814 tale “The Inquisitive Man,” we read about a man quite struck by the wide array of tiny creatures he encountered on a museum visit, even as he failed to notice the enormous elephant displayed amongst them. The phrase “the elephant in the room” has become a common metaphor for something that is noticed but not named or discussed. We can allow ourselves to wonder, when it feels like there’s an elephant in the room, is something being ignored intentionally? Has it actually gone unnoticed? Or has it been hidden altogether? Even while an elephant may be glaringly obvious to you, it may not be so apparent to everyone around you.

So when do we talk about the elephant in the room? In my opinion, if you experience something as an elephant in the room, that something is important and deserves your attention, whether or not anyone else is interested in attending to it. Click below to read this month’s Snippet:

In Ivan Krylov’s 1814 tale “The Inquisitive Man,” we read about a man quite struck by the wide array of tiny creatures he encountered on a museum visit, even as he failed to notice the enormous elephant displayed amongst them. The phrase “the elephant in the room” has become a common metap...

02/27/2026

02/02/2026

Bandaids are harmful when an underlying wound needs attention and I'm simply using the bandaid to avoid dealing with it, but that specific scenario doesn't indicate that bandaids are never helpful. When it comes to psychological well-being, the most safe and manageable approach may include applying a bandaid for a period of time...

Click below for a few of my thoughts on "bandaid therapy."
https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/bandaid-therapy-i-ll-pay-you-to-care-about-me

Bandaids are harmful when an underlying wound needs attention and I'm simply using the bandaid to avoid dealing with it, but that specific scenario doesn't indicate that bandaids are never helpful. When it comes to psychological well-being, the most safe and manageable approach may include applying....

01/05/2026

There’s a certain amount of self-discipline that can be really helpful in making life as a good as it can be, but life changes. We change. What’s good for us today may not necessarily make sense for us tomorrow...

Visit Anna’s Alcove Therapy to read this month’s blog post, with suggestions for becoming more in tune with yourself so as to naturally and intuitively shift into more helpful behaviors. https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/finding-your-rhythm

There’s a certain amount of self-discipline that can be really helpful in making life as a good as it can be, but life changes. We change. What’s good for us today may not necessarily make sense for us tomorrow...

12/02/2025

https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/what-i-want-for-you

What I want for you may be entirely different from what you want for yourself. You can disregard anything that's not helpful here, especially given that I can’t actually give you these things. When we’re hurting or struggling, it can be reassuring to know that someone else truly, deeply wants go...

11/04/2025

I put “A Pathway to Trauma Recovery” together during a period of time when I had more clients than I could fit in my schedule, and I worked for an employer that required we say yes to any eligible person looking for therapy services. The link below takes you to a story about a pathway to recovery. I invite you to settle into whatever state of comfort comes most easily to you right now. As you read this story, absorb only what feels helpful, and notice how easy it is to change or disregard anything that doesn’t fit for you. It’s just a story, and you get to decide what story fits for you. The story starts like this...

You’ve struggled through the forest and see an opening ahead. It’s been a long journey, yet somehow when you come upon the clearing, you don’t feel tired at all… just peaceful, solid, at ease.

The following is a story about a pathway to recovery. I invite you to settle into whatever state of comfort comes most easily to you right now. As you read this story, absorb only what feels helpful, and notice how easy it is to change or disregard anything that doesn’t fit for you. It’s just a ...

10/01/2025

Click below to read this month's blog post exploring the role of 12-Step programs then versus now: https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/have-12-step-programs-outlived-their-usefulness

09/02/2025

Click below to read this month's blog post on differences between mental health screening versus assessment, and some of the benefits and problems with measurement-based care.

https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/measurement-based-care-screening-is-not-assessment

Measurement-based care can easily become too rigid, lack nuance, and ultimately create a barrier to accessing helpful care simply because our growth doesn’t fit some prescribed notion of when and how we’re supposed to change. Psychotherapy is about improving quality of life, and that’s not an ...

08/05/2025

Everyone dissociates sometimes. It’s a perfectly ordinary and often helpful part of human experience. Many people also experience troubling dissociation that makes life harder rather than easier. Dissociation, essentially, creates an illusion of separation. We can use the word Dis-Association to describe an experience of actual separation, so that two things that once were or seemed connected are in actual fact connected no more. Read more about this at https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/disassociation-in-trauma-recovery

07/02/2025

The Commodification of Mental Health and Wellness, and the Lost Art of Relationship: I’ve been a practicing therapist for 20 years now, and I promise you I’ve never been in it for the money. To be honest, if I’d known then what I know now, I’m not sure I would have gotten into this field at all. Being a healthcare provider is expensive, and it’s only getting worse. I have and continue to benefit from being a therapist in countless ways, but financial gain isn’t one of them...

https://www.annasalcovetherapy.com/post/the-commodification-of-mental-health-and-wellness-and-the-lost-art-of-relationship