Hi and welcome to the debut episode of the savvy psychologist podcast.

I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson. On the show I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based

research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment. We'll use the best of psychology to

help you be happy, less stressed, and most importantly, yourself.

For our first episode, we'll tackle how to ask for help.

Asking for help may seem simple enough, but if you've ever needed a hand, you know how hard it can be.

Because asking for help can turn the most self-assured, square-shouldered among us into a nail-biting mess.

We may cast about vague wishes to no one in particular, blame others for our woes, or procrastinate

until our problem has become an emergency. And you'd think that just asking for help would be

preferable to all this misery, but taking action is tough for almost everyone.

So we'll cover five common reasons why we stay silent and strategies for how to get the help you need without swallowing your pride.

Reason number one is fear of being a burden.

We often worry that asking for help take something

away from our helper or we assume that our helper will view the task as an

unwanted load. You can suspect this fear if you hear yourself saying she has better things to do or he has so much on his plate already

So in this case remind yourself of this

People love helping not only does helping strengthen social ties, it makes helpers feel good about themselves.

In fact, the most primitive part of the brain, the same reward pathway activated by food and sex lights up in response to altruistic giving.

So graciously allow your helper to give you a gift of help and she'll likely be delighted

for the chance.

And if your helper is truly too busy or overburdened,

trust her just as graciously to tell you so.

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