Dr. My Linh Vo

Work with Dr. Vo, psychologist, to improve your emotional wellbeing. Access mental health resources in English and Vietnamese.

10/28/2025

Validation and reassurance are both forms of support. Validation works best when someone is sorting through their feelings. Reassurance works best when someone already knows how they feel, but needs a “boost” to move forward.

10/23/2025

When you love someone who wasn’t ready to stay, you eventually learn that love isn’t enough — it takes mutual readiness, consistent effort, and the ability to stay emotionally present when things get real.

10/17/2025

Validation isn’t about taking sides or being right — it’s about helping someone feel seen. It’s the quiet way of saying, “I get why this matters to you.”

10/16/2025

It’s hard when someone gives advice and part of you want to be polite, but another part knows it doesn’t feel right. You might notice your body tense before you even find words. You’re caught between wanting to be kind and wanting to be honest. It sucks.

But that pause— the small moment of noticing— is the start of a boundary. It’s not always a clear “no” right away. Sometimes it just begins with realizing: this doesn’t feel good to me.

Gentle non-confrontational responses:
1) Thanx for sharing that — it’s helpful to get different views
2) I’ll think about it.

Kind ways to decline
1) appreciate you sharing that — I think I’m going to try a different approach for now.
2) Thanx for offering that. I think I’ve got it handled for now.

10/15/2025

Shame says belonging means being kept— being chosen by others. But love says belonging is something you carry with you. You can belong to a moment, to a connection, to love itself— even if it doesn’t last.

10/13/2025

Trauma dumping is when someone shares really heavy stuff— like past trauma or deep struggles— too soon, without checking if the other person’s ready for it.

In a date, that can feel overwhelming. The vibe shifts from getting to know each other to managing someone’s emotions. Not because their story doesn’t matter— it’s just early, and the trust to hold it together isn’t there yet.

What we’ve lived through deserves care and understanding— it just also deserves pacing.

Trust and closeness grow in chapters, not data dumps.

10/09/2025

If you intellectually get this, but still feel like you have to prove yourself, overcompensate, or feel like you’re too much or not enough — that’s not weakness. That’s your nervous system protecting you the way it learned to. It takes time for your body to catch up to what your mind knows.

Unlearning happens non-linearly. Some days you’ll believe it. Some days you won’t. You don’t have to rush yourself into feeling something you’re not ready for. It’s okay. You’ve spent a long time surviving this way.

And you don’t have to turn this into progress. Sometimes it’s enough just to notice the ache.

10/08/2025

Many of us were loved through protection, not presence— taught to hide what might draw judgment, to smooth what might cause trouble.

Celine’s words echo what so many parents never had language for: “I was afraid. I didn’t know another way to keep you safe.”

It doesn’t excuse the hurt.
But sometimes healing begins when we see that, behind the silence, wasn’t just fear— it was survival, trauma, and love trying its best to coexist.

10/07/2025

Your love map is the blueprint your brain built from your early relationships— and if those early bonds were unpredictable, chaotic, or conditional, your nervous system did exactly what it was designed to do.

It adapted. It learned. It coded that as “normal” to keep you connected— to help you survive what love felt like then.

So now, when red flags shows up, it doesn’t always feel like a warning— it feels like a connection. It feels like home.

And it’s not your fault. You’re just recognizing what used to mean “love.”

But your system can learn something new. Updating it just means teaching your body that love doesn’t have to burn to feel real.

*For informational/entertainment purposes only. Not a substitute for therapy or medical advices.*

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Sacramento, CA

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https://www.drmyvo.com/

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