Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell

I’m Emma McAdam, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and my mission is to make mental health resources more easy to access. I take therapy skills and psychological research and condense them down into bite-sized nuggets of help. I’m here to spread the message that while mental illness is real, it’s common, it’s debilitating, it’s also treatable. There are dozens of research-backed approaches to treating depression, anxiety, and other mental illness. Change, growth, and healing are possible. Please keep courage! Try one little thing every day to improve your life and health and things can get so much better! Therapy in a Nutshell, and the information provided by Emma McAdam, is solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. Therapy in a Nutshell and it’s logo are Registered Trademarks of Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Episodes

December 4, 2025 20 mins

Your nervous system has a built-in Freeze and Appease response to manage the threat of sexual assault, aka the Fawn response.

Learn to forgive yourself and train to respond differently. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

When someone experiences sexual harassment or sexual assault, their body often doesn’t react the way they expect. Instead of fighting ...

Mark as Played

Book summary of No Bad Parts written by Richard Schwartz, it's an introduction to Internal Family Systems model aka IFS Therapy.

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://b...

Mark as Played

Have you ever felt more anxious when you've tried to calm down? Learn how to lean in to feelings with acceptance and meditation expert Thomas McConkie.

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Check out Thomas' School: https://lowerlightswisdom.org/

Learn how to lean in to your feelings, how to sit with them and accept emotions with this exercise and debrief...

Mark as Played

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Childhood trauma doesn’t just live in your memories—it rewires how you show up in relationships. If you’ve ever panicked when someone leaves your text on read, overshared on a first date, or pulled away when closeness feels scary, you’re not alone. These patterns are often rooted in attachment wounds from early experie...

Mark as Played

Emotional numbing and dissociation is often a response to trauma, grief or loss. You might feel empty, dead inside, or like you can't cry. Numbness is a common symptom of PTSD.

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

check out our free course Grounding Skills for Stress, Anxiety and PTSD: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-st...

Mark as Played

Learn how to stop nightmares and night terrors in adults, understand PTSD-related sleep issues, and get practical treatment tips for better rest and recovery. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

What’s the difference between nightmares and night terrors—and how do you stop them, especially in adults? In this video, we break down nightmares vs night terro...

Mark as Played

Let's talk about body image and how to stop comparing yourself to other in this interview with author Deb Schachter.

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Rethinking Body Image from a Somatic Perspective with Deb Schachter Most of us try to fix body image by changing how we look — dieting, working out harder, or comparing ourselves to others. But what if r...

Mark as Played

Childhood trauma can turn into CPTSD which has pervasive symptoms throughout your life, but you can learn to heal from childhood trauma.

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Emotional Flashbacks video: https://youtu.be/oVLHysMGi8o?si=oJZy76o957LNranw

Relationships after Childhood Trauma: Coming soon

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker ...

Mark as Played

Boost self-esteem with 6 practices to transform self-talk, build self-worth, and align your life with purpose, integrity, and authentic confidence. 👉 Download my free Values Clarification exercise here: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/opt-in-2123fb37-7322-4208-a65a-2b135a653d47

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Low self-esteem can feel like bei...

Mark as Played
October 14, 2025 50 mins

How to have healthy relationships after CPTSD or Childhood Trauma. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

You can learn how to build healthy relationships after childhood trauma or CPTSD. Today we talk with Anna Runkle, creator of Crappy Childhood Fairy about how to work through relationships when you desperately need people but you're tired of being hurt.

...

Mark as Played

Let's dive into how to feel safe again after Childhood Trauma, aka CPTSD, Complex PTSD, using a somatic and polyvagal lens. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Check out Dr. Schwartz' online course here- Strengthen Vagal Tone & Transform Trauma Through Somatic Practices & Spiritual Integration | Upcoming 6 month Immersion Course | Begins 11/11/25...

Mark as Played

When we understand how trauma shows up in the body, armoring is an important aspect. It includes muscle tension, chronic pain, and constant hypervigilance.

Learn the skills to regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership FREE Grounding Skills course: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-stress-and-ptsd

Resolving Armor with Gabriel Posner: https://www.y...

Mark as Played

Sacha Mardou wrote/drew an amazing book about healing from childhood trauma and her work in therapy, specifically IFS or Internal Family Systems Therapy. Sacha's website: https://ifscomics.com/

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Sacha Mardou has a history of a dysfunctional family, childhood trauma and some painful experiences. And she wrote an incred...

Mark as Played
September 23, 2025 29 mins

Let’s talk about the link between Anxiety and ADHD—how executive function challenges fuel both conditions and how you can improve anxiety with an ADHD approach.

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership Download the ADHD Anxiety symptom overlap chart: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/pl/2148705851

What is Executive Function: https://www.youtube.com/watch...

Mark as Played

Together we're going to do a Meditation for Emotions with Mindfulness Instructor Thomas McConkie. We're going to talk about how to work with the embodiment of emotions and how to create space for all our feelings, even the ones that are painful or frightening. You can learn more about Thomas' classes and workshops here: https://lowerlightswisdom.org/

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses....

Mark as Played

Learn daily habits for trauma and anxiety self-regulation, focusing on nervous system regulation and dysregulation to manage stress and PTSD. Free Grounding Skills for Anxiety or PTSD course: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-stress-and-ptsd

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Safe Place visualization: https://www.youtub...

Mark as Played

Toxic stress isn’t just having too much to do—it’s getting stuck in the Freeze Response, and this can fuel depression. When overwhelmed by stress, trauma, or global problems, our brain may default to the freeze response—shutting down, avoiding, or numbing out. While this can feel comforting short-term, over time it dysregulates the nervous system, increases cortisol, and fuels anxiety and depression. Stress is meant to mobilize us ...

Mark as Played

Learn to manage emotional flashbacks, a key symptom of PTSD and Complex PTSD CPTSD, or Childhood Trauma with these tools from Pete Walker. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Check out the FREE Grounding Skills course here: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-stress-and-ptsd

https://www.pete-walker.com/pdf/13strategies_fl...

Mark as Played

Anger can be a hidden root cause of Anxiety. sometimes suppressed anger comes out as anxiety especially when you've been conditioned to believe that anger is unacceptable. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Anger and anxiety are often interconnected, with unprocessed anger manifesting as anxiety. In this conversation, Emma McAdam and Dr. Sarah Michaud e...

Mark as Played

It’s normal that intrusive thoughts are about things that you consider “Bad” but just having a thought won’t hurt you and it doesn’t mean you’re dangerous. Harm OCD is common. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Course on Managing Intrusive thoughts: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/managing-intrusive-thoughts

FREE Clarify Your Values Workbook: h...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

    My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.