Amy DiNoble, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist

06/27/2025

Yes, "The Ick" is a real thing...
"The term even prompted psychology researchers from Azusa Pacific University to do a study, published in May, which found that over a quarter of surveyed singles who had experienced “the ick” found it worrisome enough that they reported ending the relationship immediately.

“The Ick” may have a catchy name, but it captures something significant about the uncertainty of dating: the sneaking realization that a person might not be right for you.

It can be tricky to figure out how much weight to give an “ick,” said Brian Collisson, a professor of psychology at Azusa Pacific University who coauthored the study. “You could reject a really great person over a superficial trait, or you could be tapping into something that could be a problem later on,” he said...

Noisy eating, clapping when a plane lands — experts explain how to handle sudden feelings of disgust.

06/23/2025

The DSM is highly flawed and I continue to encourage the field to move away from it adopting a system that is more based in neuroscience, less stigmatizing and one that acknowledges the significant role of various forms of trauma in mental health and suffering, however, this provides a necessary framework to understand the increase in Autism rates over the past decades. Spoiler-it's not due to vaccines!
"The rapid rise in autism cases is not because of vaccines or environmental toxins, but rather is the result of changes in the way that autism is defined and assessed — changes that I helped put into place...
Many large studies have come to the same conclusion: Vaccines don’t cause autism. The role, if any, of environmental toxins is still to be determined, but there is no known environmental factor that can explain the sudden jump in diagnoses. The changes we made to the diagnosis in the D.S.M.-IV can.
Why did autism-related diagnoses explode so far beyond what our task force had predicted? Two reasons. First, many school systems provide much more intensive services to children with the diagnosis of autism. While these services are extremely important for many children, whenever having a diagnosis carries a benefit, it will be overused. Second, overdiagnosis can happen whenever there’s a blurry line between normal behavior and disorder, or when symptoms overlap with other conditions. Classic severe autism had so tight a definition it was hard to confuse it with anything else; Asperger’s was easily confused with other mental disorders or with normal social avoidance and eccentricity. (We also, regrettably, named the condition after Hans Asperger, one of the first people to describe it, not realizing until later that he had collaborated with the N***s.)
In 2013, the next edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual, the D.S.M.-V, eliminated Asperger’s disorder as a stand-alone diagnosis and folded it into the newly introduced concept of autism spectrum disorder. This change further increased the rate of autism by obscuring the already fuzzy boundary between autism and social awkwardness.

It is difficult to accurately diagnose autism spectrum disorder. There is no biological test; symptoms vary greatly in nature and severity; clinicians don’t always agree; different diagnostic tests may come up with different conclusions; and the diagnosis is not always stable over time, meaning that many people diagnosed as children no longer meet criteria for diagnosis if evaluated later as adolescents or adults. Diagnostic inaccuracy contributes to falsely elevated rates, which can lead to misconceptions that an “epidemic” is occurring..."

The addition of Asperger’s disorder to the D.S.M. had enormous unintended consequences.

06/20/2025

We are all connected; oppression and devaluation of one or many groups effects all of us in ways seen and unseen. What happens in our world has a direct effect on our mental health. Therapist cannot be neutral in cases of mental health and the erasure of self-efficacy...
"Because in 2025, politics is personal. It’s in the couple fighting over whether their kid deserves access to gender-affirming care. It’s in the immigrant family wondering if it’s safe to drive to work. It’s in the exhausted single mother who lost her Medicaid, who now chooses between medication and groceries. And it’s in every client who walks into therapy wondering if their grief, anxiety, or rage is “too much,” when in fact it’s a rational response to being gaslit by a society that treats their pain as an inconvenience..."
https://www.madinamerica.com/2025/06/therapists-neutrality-is-no-longer-an-option-politics-is-tearing-us-apart/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLBzgxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETExeUFzNXJodFR4cTNDU1lPAR5XBCG4cE9POzaXrOdXIDn7j2k13GT8o1iM_pYlHJ3o9VTMelH3mV3_ftfAcA_aem_ggSt_auOh2Hxcj-k18Poug

To my fellow therapists: stop playing neutral. Stop minimizing systemic trauma to keep your comfort intact.

05/20/2025

04/19/2025

Absolutely!

Let them doodle! Have a listen to the latest episode of for a deeper discussion about your brain on art!

04/19/2025

👏👏👏

04/04/2025

New research indicates that a deep structure in the brain called the thalamus is driving consciousness. The thalamus is often referred to as a sensory conductor transmitting sensory information to higher cortical structures. The latest research now indicates that the thalamus plays a role in filtering out what information does and does not reach our conscious perception.

"Neuroscientists have observed for the first time how structures deep in the brain are activated when the brain becomes aware of its own thoughts, known as conscious perception1.

The brain is constantly bombarded with sights, sounds and other stimuli, but people are only ever aware of a sliver of the world around them — the taste of a piece of chocolate or the sound of someone’s voice, for example. Researchers have long known that the outer layer of the brain, called the cerebral cortex, plays a part in this experience of being aware of specific thoughts...
The activity in the participants’ thalamus and prefrontal cortex when they were aware of the icon’s appearance was markedly different from the activity when they were not. The activity when they were aware of the icon appeared earlier and was stronger in sections of the thalamus than in sections of the cortex, and seemed to be coordinated across the two areas. This suggests that the thalamus acts as a filter and controls which thoughts get through to awareness and which don’t, says Mac Shine, a systems neuroscientist at the University of Sydney."

In a world of constant stimulation, the thalamus filters which thoughts we become aware of and which we don’t.

03/20/2025

Important to know that while there can be helpful content on social media, much of the information shared is anecdotal and/or promotional -and particularly pertaining to mental health is not accurate as illustrated in this recent study on ADHD content on TikTok..
"The study, published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, found that fewer than 50 percent of the claims made in some of the most popular A.D.H.D. videos on TikTok offered information that matched diagnostic criteria or professional treatment recommendations for the disorder. And, the researchers found, even study participants who had already been diagnosed with A.D.H.D. had trouble discerning which information was most reliable.

About half of the TikTok creators included in the study were using the platform to sell products, such as fidget spinners, or services like coaching. None of them were licensed mental health professionals.

The lack of nuance is concerning, said Vasileia Karasavva, a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and the lead author of the study. If TikTok creators talk about difficulty concentrating, she added, they don’t typically mention that the symptom is not specific to A.D.H.D. or that it could also be a manifestation of a different mental disorder, like depression or anxiety.
'The last thing we want to do is discourage people from expressing how they’re feeling, what they’re experiencing and finding community online,' Ms. Karasavva said. 'At the same time, it might be that you self-diagnose with something that doesn’t apply to you, and then you don’t get the help that you actually need.'

Ms. Karasavva’s results echo those of a 2022 study that also analyzed 100 popular TikTok videos about A.D.H.D. and found that half of them were misleading."

Even people who have been diagnosed don’t always spot inaccuracies or generalizations about the condition in the social media posts, research suggests.

01/14/2025

Free support group for those effected by the fires offered through Trauma and Beyond

01/11/2025

Sharing resources from The Center for Connection for talking to children about wildfires and loss. We will continue to update this as we gather resources.

01/11/2025

Sharing this resource for those affected by the devastating fires. Jennifer Levin is an experienced and deeply caring therapist who specializes in grief.

11/27/2024

Thrilled to hear Allan Schore on Huberman Lab podcast. Allan's work is vital to understanding the importance and influence of interpersonal relationships. His work has shaped my understanding of the regulatory processes that emerge from sensitive and attuned parental/caregiver and therapeutic relationships and how essential they are to our feelings of safety and well-being throughout our life. Treat yourself to this inspiring and meaningful episode!

Dr. Allan Schore explains how early life experiences shape emotional brain circuitry, impacting relationships, self-regulation, and creativity for deeper connections.