Dr. Wei is a leading anxiety and stress management expert who specializes in working with high-achieving professionals in high-stress industries like finance, tech, startups, innovation, business, and law.
Dr. Wei’s Psychology Today articles on holistic health, mindfulness, and psychotherapy have garnered over 3.5 million views and are available online.
Dr. Wei is a leading expert at the forefront of the developing field of the psychology of AI and has been interviewed widely about the impact of AI on human psychology.
Her newsletter The Psychology of AI is available on Substack and LinkedIn.
Indecision, Anxiety, and Terminal Ambivalence: Is Your Past Running The Show?
As a psychiatrist and psychodynamic therapist, I see this often in high-performing individuals who are dealing with perfectionism or when their past finally catches up to them. People describe feeling “stuck," at a crossroads in life, professionally or personally, with no clear solution. Beneath their struggle lies a deep, often unresolved tensions, typically from earlier in life.
This pattern—known in psychodynamic terms as terminal ambivalence—can silently erode confidence, productivity, and mood. Terminal ambivalence is a chronic internal stalemate and discontent, a sense that of feeling lost, dissatisfied, or directionless. This can lead to inaction, paralysis, and procrastination.