Andrea Lystrup's guest appearances

Andrea Lystrup

Leading Saints Podcast

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

The Mom Room

Richard Ostler

Jared Halverson

Tyler Lefevor

Rosie Card

Anthony Sweat

Sharla Goettl

Scott Braithwaite

Tom Christofferson

Ganel-Lyn Condie

Jana Spangler

Darren Bush

David Ostler

Terryl Givens

Jana Riess

Jane Clayson Johnson

OwlTail

My friend Andrea Lystrup is a licensed marriage and family therapist joining us to share insights on several important topics including 1) creating Zion within our Church; 2) tools to better love each other; 3) how to balance the tension between law and love; 4) working through pain when something said at Church is hurtful; 5) how to get through trauma/pain which is interfering with your relationship with God and ability to access your spirituality; and 6) advice for LDS couples in mixed-faith marriage. Thank you Andrea for being on the podcast.   I was deeply moved by your insights and expertise to help bring us together and help/heal ourselves and others.   You are doing great and needed work. Your can connect with Andrea at https://www.andrealystrup.com/ and Instagram @askandreamft

My friend Andrea Lystrup is a licensed marriage and family therapist joining us to share insights on several important topics including 1) creating Zion within our Church; 2) tools to better love each other; 3) how to balance the tension between law and love; 4) working through pain when something said at Church is hurtful; 5) how to get through trauma/pain which is interfering with your relationship with God and ability to access your spirituality; and 6) advice for LDS couples in mixed-faith marriage. Thank you Andrea for being on the podcast. I was deeply moved by your insights and expertise to help bring us together and help/heal ourselves and others. You are doing great and needed work. Your can connect with Andrea at <a href="https://www.andrealystrup.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.andrealystrup.com/</a> and Instagram @askandreamft

Episode 452: Andrea Lystrup, LMFT, Active LDS,  Love, Trauma, Unity

Andrea Lystrup is a licensed marriage and family therapist and owns a private practice—Andrea Lystrup Therapy—in Tucson, Arizona. She received her master’s degree from the University of Maryland in Couple and Family Therapy. She specializes in couples' therapy, particularly working with sexual issues, betrayal trauma, and mixed faith marriages. She serves as the stake sister support specialist for the Tucson stake, providing training to stake leaders on issues like abuse prevention and recognition of mental health struggles, as well as to advocate for sisters who need support addressing abuse in their own life. She also serves as the Young Women second counselor in her ward. She is mom to three boys under age five and supports her husband in his career as a doctor in the Air Force.Highlights2:30 In Andrea's practice she meets many people who report they are feeling “spiritually worn-out”. This may happen because of mental health challenges, life struggles, a faith crisis or something else. Often they feel like they aren’t getting the same answers to prayer as others, and they wonder if there’s something wrong with themselves or everyone else. 5:25 Andrea has watched people who have left the church and those who are struggling with returning after Covid and describe how challenging it is to want to go back. Church can be like a wrestling match when managing young children. It is easier to watch from home when we don’t need to worry about how our children may be affecting those around them. 8:55 Depression or anxiety may affect your ability to feel the spirit or share a testimony. Something you hear another share at church as a great spiritual experience or healing you have not received can be triggering and difficult to process, which can make it difficult to engage with church or members. This is one way you might feel spiritually worn out. 13:45 Sharing vulnerabilities may be one way to help members who are struggling with this type of spiritual exhaustion feel like they have a place to share and belong. We often share these vulnerabilities after they are resolved, but we don’t share struggles in real time while they are happening. This real time sharing can take more courage and ultimately may be more helpful to yourself and others as you are able to connect with others who are struggling. 17:05 Covid has exacerbated these feelings in some members, because depression and anxiety are fueled by loneliness and isolation. We should look out for the likely in our congregations to make them more welcoming places. Do less offering off a talk that will solve a problem and more inviting someone to lunch or to hang out. Remember they are “person(s) to be loved”.19:10 People who are spiritually worn out often express feelings of being unlike others or punished by God. Others in a faith crisis may decide if the gospel equation is working for everyone else and not them, the problem is either with them or the system, and many reject the system all together and leave. Instruction like don’t rehearse your doubts with other doubters can discourage these individuals who are already feeling like they don’t believe our think the same as others from reaching out when they struggle. 24:20 One way to think of how spiritually worn our members engage is with a trauma model: fight, flight, or freeze. A freeze mentality might look like someone who attends church for years and years but not fully participating, reading scriptures, magnifying a calling, etc. There may be afraid of making things worse and so they just don’t engage. Some who “fly” leave, often suddenly. There are some fighters who may post on social media and leave in a blaze of angry posts and others may still engage and try to fix things from the inside by making edgy out challenging comments in meetings. 29:00 It is important to understand how people are raised. Some have a “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” mentality and others are more...

Andrea Lystrup is a licensed marriage and family therapist and owns a private practice—Andrea Lystrup Therapy—in Tucson, Arizona. She received her master’s degree from the University of Maryland in Couple and Family Therapy. She specializes in couples' therapy, particularly working with sexual issues, betrayal trauma, and mixed faith marriages. She serves as the stake sister support specialist for the Tucson stake, providing training to stake leaders on issues like abuse prevention and recognition of mental health struggles, as well as to advocate for sisters who need support addressing abuse in their own life. She also serves as the Young Women second counselor in her ward. She is mom to three boys under age five and supports her husband in his career as a doctor in the Air Force. Highlights 2:30 In Andrea's practice she meets many people who report they are feeling “spiritually worn-out”. This may happen because of mental health challenges, life struggles, a faith crisis or something else. Often they feel like they aren’t getting the same answers to prayer as others, and they wonder if there’s something wrong with themselves or everyone else. 5:25 Andrea has watched people who have left the church and those who are struggling with returning after Covid and describe how challenging it is to want to go back. Church can be like a wrestling match when managing young children. It is easier to watch from home when we don’t need to worry about how our children may be affecting those around them. 8:55 Depression or anxiety may affect your ability to feel the spirit or share a testimony. Something you hear another share at church as a great spiritual experience or healing you have not received can be triggering and difficult to process, which can make it difficult to engage with church or members. This is one way you might feel spiritually worn out. 13:45 Sharing vulnerabilities may be one way to help members who are struggling with this type of spiritual exhaustion feel like they have a place to share and belong. We often share these vulnerabilities after they are resolved, but we don’t share struggles in real time while they are happening. This real time sharing can take more courage and ultimately may be more helpful to yourself and others as you are able to connect with others who are struggling. 17:05 Covid has exacerbated these feelings in some members, because depression and anxiety are fueled by loneliness and isolation. We should look out for the likely in our congregations to make them more welcoming places. Do less offering off a talk that will solve a problem and more inviting someone to lunch or to hang out. Remember they are “person(s) to be loved”. 19:10 People who are spiritually worn out often express feelings of being unlike others or punished by God. Others in a faith crisis may decide if the gospel equation is working for everyone else and not them, the problem is either with them or the system, and many reject the system all together and leave. Instruction like don’t rehearse your doubts with other doubters can discourage these individuals who are already feeling like they don’t believe our think the same as others from reaching out when they struggle. 24:20 One way to think of how spiritually worn our members engage is with a trauma model: fight, flight, or freeze. A freeze mentality might look like someone who attends church for years and years but not fully participating, reading scriptures, magnifying a calling, etc. There may be afraid of making things worse and so they just don’t engage. Some who “fly” leave, often suddenly. There are some fighters who may post on social media and leave in a blaze of angry posts and others may still engage and try to fix things from the inside by making edgy out challenging comments in meetings. 29:00 It is important to understand how people are raised. Some have a “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” mentality and others are more...

When Church is a Burden | An Interview with Andrea Lystrup