From Both Sides of the Couch
A therapist reflects on her journey of mental illness and healing, and what lies ahead.
Andrea Rosenhaft, LCSW-R
Andrea Rosenhaft, LCSW-R is a licensed clinical social worker who previously posted on Psychology Today’s website for eight years under the pseudonym Gerri Luce.* She has recovered from the diagnoses of anorexia, major depression, and borderline personality disorder and is moving toward advocacy, becoming a spokesperson for those with mental illness and working to raise awareness and fight stigma.
I started posting this blog on the website of Psychology Today at the end of 2011, when I was working in Queens, NY at an outpatient mental health clinic. I titled the blog From Both Sides of the Couch to reflect the dual perspective of being both a clinician and a psychiatric patient.
*I initially made the decision to use a pseudonym because at the time I was working one-to-one with patients in psychotherapy. Using my own name would have been ethically irresponsible, as my patients would have had the opportunity to use the Internet and learn the details of my psychiatric history.
My editor chose to place my blog in Psychology Today’s Personal Perspective’s section. According to the website, the goal of a personal perspectives essay is to “bring the writer’s thoughts, opinions, and emotions to readers while perhaps making readers sympathetic to the author’s point of view.”
To-date I’ve written 290 posts with over 1,079,820 hits, reflecting on a variety of issues having transpired in my life. I write not only on psychiatric illness but on relationships, medical illness, gratitude, family, my career and my own therapy. Nothing is off limits.
My all-time top three posts, in terms of views, are a reflection of current times, regardless of the dates they were written:
1. Contemplating Suicide: No Way to Understand Unless You’ve Been There
Posted: August, 26 2012 | Views: 109,481
2. Untangling the Bonds of Enmeshment
Posted: January 31, 2012 | Views: 95,991
3. I Still Miss My Mother
Posted on Mother’s Day – May, 10, 2015 | Views: 75,563
Emails
E-mails I receive from readers move me and continue to reinforce the reasons I started the blog. I wanted to connect with people who had been diagnosed with mental illness and as a clinician I wanted to be a role model. My desire was to illustrate that recovery is achievable while through my writing, steering readers through the trenches. I also needed to ensure that my readers understood that therapy was hard work and recovery is anything but linear, with what I like to call the dance – two steps forward, one step back.
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You are HOPE for all. The strength you had to propel “heathy ” and trust in yourself is inspiring. I felt your story. It is near mine. Thank you for your
exquisite ability of written expression.
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Hello, my name is Lxxx, I’m 23 years old and I have just been diagnosed with BPD. Searching the internet frantically for anything that would make me feel hope and I was lucky enough to find it reading your article. Thank you.
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Thank you for such a beautiful post. It’s been almost 3 years since I lost my mom and I am so very lost without her. I’ve always struggled with depression and was hit with an episode in December… Another sleepless night after sleeping all day and I turned to google and typed in “I miss my mom” and your article was the first that came up. It gave me great comfort and some hope that maybe one day I will finally be able to get my life together in her absence and despite my illness.
"From Both Sides of the Couch" is #12 on Feedspot's list of:
Best 100 Mental Health Blogs To Read In 2022
“A therapist reflects on her journey of mental illness & healing, and what lies ahead. Andrea Rosenhaft, LCSW-R is a licensed clinical social worker and a spokesperson for those with mental illness & working to raise awareness and fight stigma.”
"From Both Sides of The Couch" is # 18 on Blunt Therapy's list of
48 Mental Health Blogs You’ve Never Heard Of But Totally Nail It
“Andrea Rosenhaft is a therapist who has recovered from borderline personality disorder, anorexia and major depressive disorder. In her blog, “From Both Sides of the Couch,” posted on the Psychology Today website, she reflects on her journey of mental illness and healing and what lies ahead.”
A note from Carolyn Thomas
August 12, 2018
“Thanks so much Andrea for sharing your unique perspectives here. I love reading your blog posts (although I rarely think of those writing regular posts for a prestigious site like Psychology Today as “bloggers”, but more like journalists and columnists!) Your writing captures that exquisitely rare viewpoint gleaned from both your time with patients, and your time as a patient. In my opinion, healthcare professionals who have personal lived experience of a serious and relevant diagnosis are the best. The rest have to rely on academic or theoretical models of learning. BTW, you have officially surpassed your recommended lifetime quotient of distressing diagnoses – you can quit any time now…
Seriously, a note to my readers: if you’d like to read some really good stuff ranging from mental illness to pain or grief or friendships or SO many other important themes, please check out Andrea’s blog posts.”
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Carolyn Thomas is the author of “My Heart Sisters,” a blog for women living with heart disease. Carolyn writes from her unique perspective — as a Mayo Clinic-trained women’s health advocate, heart attack survivor, blogger, author and speaker.