2026.07.19
Why AI CANNOT be a therapist for you (3)
Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in California. In my previous two articles, I explained why AI cannot perform therapy (1) (2). This time, I will present actual incidents to illustrate just how dangerous it is to use AI for therapy. Recently, I have frequently…
2026.06.18
Why AI CANNOT do therapy (2)
Hello, I am Tatsuya Arakawa, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in California. In my previous article, I discussed why AI cannot provide therapy. In this article, I will continue to explore why AI therapy is fundamentally unsustainable. 4. AI Cannot Be Regulated and Held Accountable Like Humans First and foremost, practicing therapy in…
2026.05.28
Why AI CANNOT do therapy
Hello, I am Tatsuya Arakawa, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in California. With the rapid advancement of AI, more people are starting to view tools like ChatGPT as a substitute for therapy, and so-called “AI therapy” services have begun to emerge. However, these are not the same as receiving therapy from an actual…
2026.04.18
How to Cope with Excessive Anxiety and Worry
Hello, I am Tatsuya Arakawa, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#82425) in California. In my previous blog post, I discussed the mechanisms of anxiety and worry and why they occur. In this article, I would like to delve a bit deeper into these feelings, explaining the concepts you should understand and how to cope…
2026.03.13
Anxiety and Worry: Understanding the Brain’s “False Alarms”
Hello, I am Tatsuya Arakawa, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in California. In this blog post, I would like to discuss the nature of anxiety and worry. What are Anxiety and Worry? “What if…” or “What will I do if…”—everyone has had these thoughts. Thinking this way is a natural human process; in…
2026.02.05
The Executive Mind: Psychology and Mental Health for Business Owners 1
The Loneliness of the Executive: Why Mental Health Care is a Business Necessity Hello, I am Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist. Being a business owner or executive is a role that grants great freedom, but it also carries immeasurable responsibility. Constantly being forced to make decisions—ranging from the trivial to the monumental—is more…
2026.01.15
Healing the Child Starts with the Parent: Three Key Actions for Families
As a mental health therapist specializing in children—particularly middle and high school students—and having worked with countless families over the years, there is one thing I feel compelled to emphasize: Children will not change unless their parents change. In other words, a child’s mental health condition will not improve unless the parents transform themselves. When…
2025.12.24
The Relationship Between “Lack of Respect for Children” and Mental Health
Hello, I am Tatsuya Arakawa, a Licensed Marrieage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in California. Specializing in adolescent mental health, I have conducted countless counseling sessions for middle and high school students and psychoeducation for parents. Through this experience, I have identified a damaging link between a lack of parental respect and the development of childhood…
2025.11.12
Depression in Children–Treatment
Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. In my previous blog post, I explained what childhood depression is. This time, I would like to talk about how therapy can help. Building Trust with the Child Whether the client is a child or an adult, therapy cannot succeed without a foundation of…
2025.10.16
Depression in Children
Child Depression Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. In this blog, I would like to talk about depression in children. Common Image of What Depression Looks Like. When most people think of depression, they imagine symptoms such as staying in one’s room or lacking energy. Of course, these are common…
2025.09.17
Characteristics and Coping Strategies of Neurodivergent Individuals 3
Hello, this is Tatsuya Arakawa, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. In a previous article on the characteristics of neurodivergent individuals and strategies for them, I discussed one particular trait: “difficulty adapting to changes in the environment,” and in that piece I also talked about possible ways to cope with it. In this blog,…
2025.08.16
Characteristics and Coping Strategies of Neurodivergent Individuals 2
Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, Licensed Mental Health Therapist in the State of California. In a previous article on the traits and strategies for neurodivergent individuals, I discussed one of the key characteristics—difficulty adapting to changes in the environment. In this article, I will talk about what can be done specifically to address this…
2025.07.12
Characteristics and Coping Strategies of Neurodivergent Individuals
Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed therapist in California. In a previous blog post, I wrote about what neurodiversity is, the struggles faced by neurodivergent individuals, and ways to help make life a little easier for them. In this article, I’d like to take a deeper look into the characteristics of neurodivergent individuals…
2025.06.18
Making Life a Little Easier for Neurodivergent Individuals
Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist in California. Previously, I talked about what neurodiversity is and the struggles faced by neurodivergent individuals. In this article, I would like to share some tips that may help neurodivergent people live a little more comfortably. As a fundamental premise, ideally, one should undergo…
2025.05.22
The Unique Struggles of Being Neurodivergent
In the previous blog post, I discussed the concepts of neurotypical and neurodiversity. In this post, I’d like to talk about the unique struggles experienced by those who are neurodivergent. Masking One of the most notable struggles faced by neurodivergent individuals is known as masking. You can think of masking as the act of “wearing…
2025.04.19
Not a Disorder, but Neurodiversity
Hello, my name is Tatsuya Arakawa, a California-licensed therapist. In this article, I would like to talk more about neurodevelopmental disorders. Neurodiversity and Related Terms So, what exactly is neurodiversity? Conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ADHD are typically labeled as neurodevelopmental disorders. However, these fall under the broader concept of neurodiversity. People…
2025.03.14
Why Therapy Doesn’t Work – Due to a Client
Hello, I’m Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist (LMFT) specializing in depression, anxiety disorders for adults, and Adult Children of Toxic Parents, and adolescents. In a previous blog, I discussed reasons why therapy may not be working for you because of the therapist. This time, I’d like to talk more about cases where the…
2025.02.21
How Therapy Can Help You Reduce Anxiety Suffering
One of the most common questions I receive is about anxiety and how to manage it. In this blog, I’d like to discuss how therapy can help reduce anxiety suffering. 1. Understanding the Causes of Anxiety As human beings, we have a natural desire to understand why things happen the way they do. If we…
2025.01.17
How Mindfulness Can Help You Live with Anxiety
I am sure you have heard MINDFULNESS at some point in your life, but it might be a bit difficult for you to explain what exactly that is and how it can help your anxiety. My aim is to help you have a better understanding about mindfulness and how you can live with anxiety by…
2024.12.27
what does NOT help your anxiety issue
Hello, this is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist (LMFT). As a therapist specializing in anxiety issues, I have seen so many people engaging in what does not help anxiety issues. In this blog, I would like to list what does not help your anxiety and explain why. Trying to think positively This is…
2024.11.14
What It Means to Suffer from Mental Health Issues
Hello, this is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist (LMFT). As AI therapy and so many other platforms to see a therapist have become more prevalent, it seems clear to me that so many people are misunderstanding what it means to suffer from mental health and what it means to receive treatment for mental…
2024.10.25
Why Therapy is NOT working–because of a therapist
Hello, this is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist (LMFT). On this blog, I would like to discuss why therapy is NOT working because of a therapist. Perhaps, you have been seeing a therapist with satisfying outcome or maybe you are not really happy with your current therapist. Either way, knowing how therapy should…
2024.09.13
What You Can Do to Pursue Balanced Cultural Identity
Hello, this is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist (LMFT). On the previous blog, I discussed cultural identity and how it can affect your mental health wellbeing. This time, I would like to continue to discuss cultural identity especially how you could maintain/strengthen your cultural identity. By doing so, it can not only help…
2024.08.21
Cultural Identity and Mental Health
Hello, this is Tatsuya Arakawa, a licensed mental health therapist (LMFT). Thank you so much for reading my blog. I would love to provide accurate information about mental health here. In this blog, I would like to talk about cultural identity and how it can affect mental health issues. First, what is cultural identity? I…
2024.06.12
The difference between therapist listening and friends/significant others listening
Hello, thank you so much for reading this blog. Here, I would love to present correct information as there is so much misinformation out there especially on the internet. In this blog, I would like to clarify the difference between therapist listening to clients and friends/significant others listening as people get confused often. As discussed…
2024.05.10
What is therapy?
Hello, Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Here, my intention and hope are that you will educate yourself with the right information as there is so much information online that you should not trust, quite frankly. As the first blog, I would like to talk about what exactly is therapy. Often times when…