Monique ThompsonLicensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor & Infidelity Recovery Specialist

Stop People Pleasing NOW. People pleasing is destroying your brain.

29 Jun 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:29

In this short video, Dr. Monique Thompson explains how the brain reacts to approval‑seeking and perceived rejection. She describes how rejection activates the amygdala and the HPA stress axis, raising cortisol, disrupting sleep, and impairing immunity, and notes that the same neural circuits light up as when we experience physical pain. She then outlines the benefit of disengaging from approval‑seeking: the prefrontal cortex (the brain’s “CEO”) re‑engages, leading to clearer thinking, calmness, and restored dopamine‑driven motivation. The video ends with a promotional call‑to‑action, inviting viewers to schedule a mini‑consult, visit her website, call her practice, or explore two new clinical tools—EMDR and walk‑and‑talk therapy.

Chapters

Hi, I'm Dr. Monique Thompson, therapist, life coach, and your favorite brain science hype woman. Faith, therapy, science— yes, all 3. Let's talk about your brain on approval seeking. Rejection, or even the thought of it, triggers your amygdala. That's your fear center yelling danger like it's life or death. Your stress system, the HPA axis, fires up and stays on. That means cortisol goes up, sleep gets wrecked, and your immune system is running on fumes. Your brain literally processes rejection like physical pain. Same regions light up as when you stub your toe. It's kind of wild, right? But here's the good news. When you stop chasing approval, your prefrontal cortex— this is your brain CEO— comes back online. You feel clearer. calmer, and more in control. You stop living for likes, you start validating yourself, and dopamine just naturally goes back up. If you want help getting there, start with the mini consult with me. Go to drmoniquethompson.com or call 972-820-9965. If you're already a client, it's probably time to book a follow-up and ask about my 2 new clinical tools. EMDR and walk and talk therapy. Let's get started. Upgrade your brain.