Lorwen C Nagle, PhD Profile picture
Jul 29 22 tweets 6 min read Read on X
HOT TAKE:

Traditional therapy is a SCAM for 99% of high-achievers.

I've spent over 20 years as a Harvard-trained psychologist helping CEOs & founders worth $100M+.

They were all suffering from the same ONE problem.

Here's the protocol I created that actually works: 🧵 Image
Image
Most of my clients are accomplished professionals — dentists, doctors, and company founders with impressive careers.

Despite their success, they struggle with overthinking and procrastination, they can't seem to shake it.

But why?
When we dig deeper, we often discover these high-performers aren't just dealing with work stress...

They're battling unresolved childhood trauma that conventional therapeutic approaches struggle to address, Gabor Mate said it best below...

And that's when the problem arises: Image
Traditional therapy often relies on CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), which focuses on identifying thought distortions:

"I'm no good"
"I'm crummy"
"I shouldn't be alive"

The theory? Recognize these as distortions and reframe them logically...
But years of working with trauma has taught me:

The limbic system - our brain's emotional center - doesn't respond to logic alone.

When someone is triggered, their trauma creates repetition loops that can't simply be thought away.

So here's why CBT fails:
I don’t just offer therapy.

I guide high-performers through a 3-month process that rewires their nervous system, breaks old trauma loops, and unlocks their mind for good.

I want a system that delivers transformation in weeks—not years.

How you asked?
I turn to art therapy instead.

When my clients draw, something fascinating happens.

They engage completely different neural pathways - visual, tactile, kinesthetic systems activate, creating new connections that bypass trauma loops.
There's something powerful about the imperfection of art.

As I tell my clients: "Nobody - not even Michelangelo - can draw exactly what they intend."

I explain here:
This teaches trauma survivors something profound: "good enough" is acceptable.

For perfectionists haunted by trauma, this revelation can be transformative.
Traditional therapy creates silos - you see a therapist weekly with no connection between sessions.

But trauma healing requires what I call the "holding" - consistent emotional support throughout the process.

That's why I give my clients unlimited email access...
The therapeutic alliance becomes a secure container where fragmented experiences can heal.

Trauma traps people in the "default mode network" of rumination - obsessing over problems without solutions. Image
I help shift them to "constructive mind wandering" through art and device-free walks in nature.

The mind begins to heal itself when given space to breathe.

I avoid focusing on diagnoses.

When someone says "I'm bipolar," it becomes their identity - a jacket they wear. ↓
Instead, I help clients reconnect with their authentic selves.

We hide our true selves because vulnerability feels dangerous - we're afraid of being hurt.

But that authentic self isn't dark - it's hidden, waiting for a little oxygen to thrive.
Through art therapy, professionals discover they don't need to think their way out of trauma.

Sometimes the path to healing brilliant minds requires putting down the spreadsheets and picking up crayons.

Here are 2 recent drawings from 2 clients.

This is healing process at work.Image
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Recap!

Here're 4 reasons why traditional therapy fails high-achievers:

1. It moves too slowly. Weekly sessions over years don't match the pace at which you operate in every other area of life.

2. It focuses on managing symptoms, not creating transformation.
3. It rarely integrates the cognitive, emotional, and physical dimensions of anxiety.

4. It doesn't provide practical tools you can implement in your daily high-pressure environments.

Instead...
I've created a 3-month program for high-achievers from:

• Harvard-level psychology
• Six years of training with the Dalai Lama
• Neuroscience-based creative techniques

Executives gain insights through art that traditional therapy hasn't matched...
As a PhD psychology grad from @UTAustin with a Postdoc from @Harvard, I help high-achievers identify their emotional blocks and move beyond the trauma patterns.

My calendar is booked out for months, so here's how I can help...
We are launching the Anxiety Relief Transformation™ on August 4th.

12 modules of guided practices combining neuroscience, art therapy & somatic healing.

Join the waitlist for the 25% off early bird discount:

offers.lorwenharrisnagle.com/anxiety-relief…
Hi, I'm Lorwen Nagle.

I've spent 40 years as a Harvard-trained psychologist, studying consciousness with the Dalai Lama, and helping thousands untangle their minds.

Follow @Lorwen108 for threads on anxiety, mindfulness, and the science of inner peace. Image
If this thread resonated with you, I explore psychology, philosophy, and personal transformation in my work.

Follow @Lorwen108 for more insights on the journey to authenticity.

Repost if this helped you. 🙏
Finally, if you want to learn more about my story, please read this next:

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More from @LORWEN108

Jul 28
Your anxiety didn’t start in adulthood.
It started when you became "The Good One."

People-pleasing is harmful.
It rewires your brain and fractures your sense of self.

Here's what most therapists won't tell you.
This is important. Please open 🧵 Image
Being a people pleaser is an adaptation that hides your true self.

Over time, people-pleasing:

1. Reshapes your brain for survival.
2. Destroys your sense of identity.
3. Sets you up for chronic anxiety.

Here’s what you were never told:
1. Most anxiety is learned in childhood.

A form of self-abandonment developed to preserve your safety in emotionally unpredictable environments.

You weren’t born anxious—you were trained to be nervous. Image
Read 23 tweets
Jul 26
Emotional intelligence is a superpower.

After 30+ years as a Harvard psychologist, I can spot people with high emotional intelligence (EQ) in 30 seconds.

It's not about being nice or controlling emotions.

They share these 12 traits... 🧵 Image
1/ They feel emotions without becoming them.

When anger arises, they notice: "I'm experiencing anger."
Not: "I AM angry."

This tiny linguistic shift represents massive neural rewiring.

They have emotions. Emotions don't have them. Image
2/ They're comfortable with uncomfortable silence.

No nervous laughter.
No rushing to fill gaps.
No compulsive phone checking.

They can sit with awkwardness because they've learned: Discomfort is just another sensation passing through awareness.
Read 18 tweets
Jul 22
I'm 63.

At 10, I began my 53-year study of ancient Eastern texts—Kashmir Shaivism, Vedanta, and Buddhist sutras...

What I discovered? Most Western "gurus" are reselling kindergarten versions of Eastern philosophies.

Here are my 7 best insights from a lifetime of spiritual work:🧵Image
Image
1. Consciousness Creates vs. Consciousness Observes

Modern day: "Consciousness means being aware of the present moment."

vs

Ancient texts: "Consciousness is the creative force that manifests all reality."

This changes everything about how you practice. Image
2. Map The Universe vs. Empty Your Mind

Modern day: "Empty your mind of thoughts."

vs

Abhinavagupta: "Here are 36 precise levels from pure consciousness to matter."

They wanted you to understand reality's architecture, not just get calm. Image
Read 16 tweets
Jul 21
I'm 63.

I've spent over 20 years as a Harvard-trained psychologist helping high performers inlcuding CEOs & founders worth $100M+.

They all face one similar issue.

If you're burnt out, stressed, and your immune system is always in chaos, read this: 🧵
In my PhD program at University of Texas Austin, I discovered the mind isn't just thoughts...

It's a whole system that includes your body, emotions, and nervous system...

This insight has helped my highest-performing clients recover from burnout when nothing else worked.
The first psychology lab opened in Berlin in the 1870s, what I call "the beginning stages of psychology."

While Americans know Freud and Jung, most don't know this German beginning.

Psychology was born measuring the mind, not healing it.
Read 20 tweets
Jul 19
Modern medicine is built on a 2,000-year-old mistranslation.

103-year-old Dr. McGarey discovered this after Gandhi changed her life with a single glance.

She spent 70+ years proving why 90% of healing happens without drugs.

Here's the secret doctors won't tell you: 🧵 Image
This is 1930s India.

A train departing for Bombay.

A 10-year-old American girl presses her face against the window, grieving her departure from the only home she's known.

Then she sees him, Gandhi, leading a crowd, carrying only a staff. Image
As Gandhi walks past, a small girl offers him a flower.

He bends to accept it. In that precise moment, he looks up—directly into young Gladys's eyes through the train window.

What happened next defied her rational explanation... Image
Image
Read 20 tweets
Jul 17
I am exposing Big Pharma's $60 billion secret...

They've been hiding the real cause of anxiety, depression, and fatigue for decades.

As a psychologist, you don't need more pills.

You need to fix what they'll never tell you about: 🧵 Image
Here's what they don't want you to know:

Your anxiety, depression, and fatigue aren't separate "disorders."

They're connected symptoms in a network that feed off each other.

Fatigue → Social withdrawal → Worthlessness → Depression → More fatigue.
A 2017 Harvard meta-analysis found that mindfulness meditation works as well as antidepressants for anxiety and depression.

But here's the kicker, it rewires your brain instead of just masking symptoms... Image
Read 16 tweets

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