Dr. Dhruti Anklesaria: Healing Begins When You Feel Seen [Doctor, Founder - Yourway Life, 134k Followers, India]

Dr. Dhruti Anklesaria Interview

“Healing isn't the absence of a reaction, it's the presence of choice.”

Blending psychology with deep human connection, Dr. Dhruti Anklesaria helps people heal emotional patterns, build healthier relationships, and rediscover their sense of self through practical, compassionate guidance.

Q. Could you introduce yourself to our audience?

Words serve two primary purposes: they nourish our minds and illuminate our understanding, comprehension, and consciousness. So here I am, a "Wordful," and a drugless practitioner.

Hi, I'm Dr. Dhruti Anklesaria ,PhD Psychology — Masters in Clinical Psychology (Gold medalist), Clinical hypnotherapist, and TEDx speaker.

I believe life is about connection, and connection is the energy that exists between two people — when they feel seen, heard, and valued. When we feel connected without judgment, we derive resilience, sustenance, and strength from this connected space. I call this "Soul Space.", special space where you feel assured about your being, and that makes you feel "at home."

I'm also the founder of Yourway Life – Centre for Mental and Emotional Well-being, where I work with individuals on everything from overthinking and low self-esteem to anxiety, trauma, grief, and relationship issues.

Q. Your work centers on healing relationships and emotional well-being. What inspired you to pursue psychology, and how did your journey lead you to this specialization?

I've always been drawn to the "why" behind human behavior — why we love the way we love, why we repeat patterns we swore we'd break, why healing isn't linear. Psychology gave me the language for something I was already doing instinctively: sitting with people's pain and helping them make sense of it. Over time, I noticed that so much of what clients brought into the room traced back to relationships — with parents, partners, and often, with themselves. That's what pulled me toward relationship psychology ,inner child work and energy psychology specifically. You can't talk about healthy relationships without talking about the child who first learned what love, safety, and worth looked like.

Q. Mental health awareness has grown significantly in recent years, yet many misconceptions remain. What is one myth you wish people would stop believing, and why?

That healing means never feeling triggered again. People think therapy or self-work should make them "immune" to pain — that if they still react strongly to something, they've failed at healing. In reality, healing isn't the absence of a reaction; it's the presence of choice. You'll still feel the old wound sometimes. The difference is you're no longer led by it blindly — you can pause, understand it, and respond instead of react. That distinction changes everything about how people relate to their own progress.

Q. As a psychologist and digital creator, how do you ensure your content remains both scientifically accurate and relatable for everyday audiences?

I treat every piece of content like a mini clinical session — I ask myself, "Would I say this to a client sitting in front of me?" That keeps me honest about accuracy. At the same time, I'm very intentional about language. Psychology can sound clinical and distant if you're not careful, so I translate concepts into everyday experiences — a fight with a partner, a pattern with a parent, a feeling of being "too much" — because that's where people actually recognize themselves. The goal is always: is this true, and is this useful to someone scrolling at 11 pm feeling unseen?

Q. In an age of constant digital connection, what are some simple yet effective habits people can adopt to build healthier relationships with themselves and others?

A few I come back to often:

Name the feeling before you react to it. Even silently saying "I'm feeling dismissed right now" creates a pause between emotion and action.
Practice one honest conversation a week — with yourself or someone else — instead of a hundred surface-level ones.
Notice your default in conflict. Do you shut down, over-explain, or people-please? Awareness of your pattern is the first step to changing it.
Protect solitude, not just connection. Constant digital presence can crowd out the quiet you need to actually hear yourself.
None of these require an hour of journaling or a retreat. They just require consistency.

Q. If you could leave our readers with one piece of advice to improve their emotional well-being and lead a more fulfilling life, what would it be?

Stop outsourcing your sense of worth to how well you're managing everyone else. So many people I work with especially women measure their value by how much they've given, fixed, or held together for others. Real emotional well-being starts when you can ask, "What do I need?" with the same seriousness you ask, "What does everyone else need from me?"

Q. What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show, and why?

Book: The Bhagavad Gita — I genuinely believe it's one of the finest psychology texts ever written. Long before modern psychology had language for detachment, purpose, or emotional regulation, the Gita was already teaching it.

Movies, I have a few, each for a different reason. The Pursuit of Happyness — for how honestly it captures self-worth and self-esteem being built, not given. Eat Pray Love — for every woman trying to break free of family guilt and reclaim her own life. And The Joy Luck Club — because it captures ancestral and generational trauma so beautifully, long before "generational patterns" became a buzzword.

TV show: Gullak. It's not dramatic, and that's exactly the point — it holds up a mirror to the small, ordinary lessons of life that we tend to overlook.

Bio:

Dr. Dhruti Anklesaria is a psychologist, clinical hypnotherapist, and TEDx speaker with a PhD in psychology and a Gold Medalist in the field. She is the founder of Yourway Life – Centre for Mental and Emotional Well-being, and the Indian Institute of Clinical Hypnosis and Psychotherapy, where she trains aspiring life coaches and mental health advocates. She specializes in relationship psychology , energy psychology and inner child healing helping individuals understand the emotional patterns that shape their relationships, choices, and sense of self — translating complex psychological concepts into practical, relatable insights for a wide audience.


Instagram


Interview by: Abhisek Rath