Sanz Plans | Building Hope

What Do You Want To Change Today?

Daily Emotional Dialysis

Filtering Difficult Experiences I’m a big fan of the emotional equivalent of “emptying the trash.” By writing in a journal people get in touch with their feelings and express them without censorship. It’s a research-tested treatment for those suffering from...

How To Help Your Doctor Help You

You and I both know you are not a human Bento box. Trying to “unpack” your health experience by neat packages of symptom categories is not what the average person has been trained to do. Your physician, on the other hand, has been trained to conceptualize...

Graduation Dance

Graduating from a school, college, or program is supposed to be one of those “happy” events we celebrate, falling in the same category of major life transitions as weddings and births. You are moving from one place to another, from one status to another, from one...

Do You Smell Smoke?

You probably know what it’s like when the smoke alarm goes off. The sound is so annoying, irritating, and ear-piercingly unbearable. Alarms are this way for a very good reason. Every thinking person understands that it is to motivate you to either wake up or...

Coping With The Loss Of A Pet

Pets for Mental Health Pets add immeasurably to the quality of life…. so much so that I have often advised clients to get one in order to improve their mental health. Pets can give you a reason to get up in the morning if you suffer from depression or grief. Pets can...

Healing Your Toxic Shame

Many people feel shame and want to know what they can do about that awful black feeling inside, with good reason. Feeling shame is toxic. It affects how a person thinks and feels about themselves, their self-worth, what and who they deserve in their life, and...

Why Should I Use a Life Planner?

If you already know how to successfully use a life planner, then I don’t need to tell you how it’s changed your life. How it keeps all the little details from slipping through the cracks. How it has allowed you to get all the things done and make sure you have time to...

Why People Don’t Change Until They Have To

I became a therapist thinking that people just naturally wanted to change, grow, get better, become healthier… and how cool was that going to be to assist in that process?! Boy, was I naive. After 20 years as a therapist, what I discovered is that it is extremely rare...

Mothers are People, Too…

Happy Mother’s Day! “If it’s not one thing, it’s your Mother!” There’s a saying in psychotherapy that goes “If it’s not one thing, it’s your Mother.” Shall I say the field of psychology has often been less than kind when it comes to Moms, blaming them for causing...

Your Best Life Habits

As a psychologist, I’ve given this a lot of thought, because no matter what someone coming into therapy says they want to work on, eventually, the subject of habits comes up. Usually, we will work to get a particularly healthy habit established or eliminate an...

Ready to Begin Your Journey?

You have found the place for people who know they need to or want to make changes to be healthier, happier, and more fulfilled. It’s for people who want to lose weight, gain weight, or stop eating disordered behavior. It’s for people who want to stop walking around day after day criticizing themselves and not feeling “good enough.” I’m glad you’re here and I hope you’ll come and read often! ~Anita.

Begin Your Journey To New Hope

Dr. Anita Sanz

PHD - Clinical Psychologist

My primary aspiration in life (beyond survival!) has been to try to foster hope, create safe spaces for good work to occur, and improve well-being through co-creating unique and helpful life strategies with others. To that end, I became a licensed psychologist and coach, and have written extensively about mental and emotional wellness. Becoming the new co-host of the Giving Voice to Depression podcast fits perfectly with my intention of wanting others to know that they are not alone in their experience of struggling in the world. I believe there is so much that we can do to help each other get through… and then get to where we can thrive and enjoy life. I have worked successfully for over 25 years with clients with a broad range of mental, emotional, and physical health issues and also taught psychology classes at the University level. My own lived experience as a late-diagnosed autistic person with ME/CFS gave me a unique set of challenges that have helped me to appreciate the struggles of others with increased humility, empathy, and compassion. Because of both my training and my life experience, I am very good at breaking down the overwhelming into manageable pieces and helping my clients learn how to trust their own experience to craft life strategies that work. It brings me the greatest joy to connect with others and be able to help in whatever way I am able.

An Affirmation for Overwhelm and Procrastination

A Meditation for Peace

A Short Meditation for Sleep

Need Help Now? You may call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 anytime 24/7. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. You can find other mental health resources here: https://givingvoicetodepression.com/resources.htmPlease get help if you need it. Thank you.