D. Brook Houchen, LSCSW, MBA - Outpatient Psychotherapist

02/23/2026

She has figured it out… wise woman. What a great example and an inspiration for all of us! You are WORTH it 💛

02/22/2026

This is the #1 breathing technique that I have come across in my 30+ years of being a psychotherapist that really helps us manage whatever is happening in that moment. Keep this in your “toolkit” for life! 😂

Reel via .oshea

02/21/2026

You wouldn’t believe the enormous amount of info I have in my brain on the thousands of people I have seen. They can call me 20 years later, and I can still remember details they shared from back then. The brain’s “filing cabinet” is pretty amazing. You are WORTH it 💛

02/21/2026

I tell my patients in the initial intake that they need to know what, if any diagnosis, I may think is accurate. We discuss it, and I ask for feedback. I also encourage them to speak up and advocate for themselves (or their children/ aging parents/ spouse) if they question whether the diagnosis is accurate. Many in our field know that you can have 5 different diagnostic perceptions from 5 different clinicians. We need to make sure we work with our patients in a collaborative treatment process! You are WORTH it 💛

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In 1973, eight perfectly healthy people walked into psychiatric hospitals across the United States.
None of them were ill.
No one inside realized it. 🧠
This was not an accident.
It was an experiment designed by psychologist David Rosenhan to answer a disturbing question.
Can professionals reliably tell the difference between mental health and mental illness?
To find out, Rosenhan recruited eight ordinary people. A painter. A housewife. A pediatrician. A graduate student.
They lied about only one thing. They said they heard voices. Just three words. “Empty.” “Hollow.” “Thud.”
That was enough.
All eight were admitted.
The moment they entered the hospitals, they stopped pretending. They behaved normally. They cooperated. They asked to be discharged. 🚪
It never worked.
Every normal action was reinterpreted as a symptom.
Writing notes became obsessive behavior.
Waiting quietly became pathological attention seeking.
Politeness became controlled behavior consistent with illness.
Seven were diagnosed with schizophrenia.
One with manic depression.
Not a single staff member identified them as healthy.
But the patients did.
Real patients approached them and whispered, “You’re not like the others. You don’t belong here.”
Those considered ill saw what trained professionals could not.
The average stay was 19 days.
One person remained hospitalized for 52 days. ⏳
Each day reinforced the same truth. Once labeled, reality stopped mattering.
When Rosenhan published On Being Sane in Insane Places, the psychiatric world erupted. One hospital challenged him to send new pseudopatients, confident they would catch them.
Rosenhan agreed.
Over the next months, that hospital identified 41 supposed impostors.
Rosenhan had sent no one. Not a single person.
The conclusion was unavoidable.
Diagnosis was not always based on facts. It was shaped by context and expectation.
This experiment shattered blind trust in clinical labels and forced major changes in how mental illness is diagnosed and treated. But its deeper lesson still unsettles today.
Perception can distort reality more than madness itself.
And sometimes, the most dangerous illusion belongs to those who believe they cannot be wrong.

02/21/2026

We have a distorted concept in our society that healthy relationships mean you and your loved ones (whether it is your partner, your parent, your friend, etc.) won’t have “fights”. Fighting and having healthy conflict is a part of growth and change. Loving and understanding is a part of growth and change. Both are a part of not going cold, absent, self-focused, and complacent. You are WORTH it 💛

02/20/2026

It can be tricky, and sometimes we just do the best we can 😂

02/20/2026

Ditto. I have a few I’d tack on to this list from my 30 years of experience. Each individual and their story is unique, and the foundation of what needs care is amazingly similar.

Reel via

02/19/2026

I popped by the office to check mail and handle some business real quick, since I had to leave briskly and sooner than expected with the wonderful early arrival of my second grandchild! When I came in, one of my beautiful and wonderful patients that just ended with me because she no longer needs me, had left me this stunning Japanese fan and a heartfelt card about our time together. Brought me to tears up and smile and celebrate our work together! Thankful for the best patients and this work that I get the privilege to do 🙏 You are WORTH it 💛

❤️

02/14/2026

Life is a spectrum of grays with a few moments of black and white. Once we figure out that many many feelings coexist in the same moments within us, it can help quiet the confusion it can initially create. Understanding and accepting how this is normal and we don’t have to DO anything with the awareness of those two (or three or four…) feelings is freeing. Just let them wash over and keep breathing. You are breathing. 🙏 you are WORTH it 💛

02/12/2026

This representation is so perfectly… perfect. This. This is what HEALING looks like. This is what it looks like when you are: doing the work in therapy, getting up every day and facing life, learning to form healthy grieving patterns and how to get your needs and wants met, and taking care of your body the best you can that day, learning from mistakes and adapting/changing/growing, recognize that it takes time. You are WORTH it 💛