Hi Daniel I'm really glad that ı found your chanel ıt made me look deeper to myself and made me understand my anger. I'm only 19 now and ı heard how you get out of your sitation which gave me hope. I hope you have amazing day thank you.

Hello Daniel. I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on “sitting quietly in the company of another”. Many thanks

Working in the social work and therapy fields have caused me to experience a lot of burnout and vicarious trauma that has impacted my competency and ability to carry out the work effectively and ethically. The worst part of this impact is feeling so alienated, particularly the inability to discuss these struggles openly and honestly in professional spaces. Your videos offer such clarity and insight on these issues which has brought me great comfort and understanding. Along with this, your helpful wisdom on so many prevalent topics are brave in their honesty and express a deep knowing and care. These things are rare to come across in this life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Daniel, If you ever visit Washington, DC please meet me at the Old Ebbitt Grill (near the White House) for a drink. I feel the need to explain to you just how much I agree with your general philosophy on life, and how much your YouTube channel has benefitted me. - Kathleen (an artist currently living too frugal a life to afford visiting YOU in Manhattan)

Your most recent video on sex positivity spoke to me. I agree with you, I was taught to protect myself, to acquire consent and all that good stuff and I had agreed… and especially recently I was very honest and communicative about what I struggle with to my partners… yet I just allowed other traumatized adults to re-traumatize me… and perhaps I also hurt others as well. I had no idea I was readily handing other people, effectively strangers, they key to my undoing. I hadn’t realized I was ‘acting out’ my trauma in a sexual manner at all… I was in pursuit of love and affection—what my childhood lacked. My first instinct is to say I didn’t understand so much, about my own trauma and the world… I want to know what true healing is now, and for certain I won’t find my healing in another person. I’ve lost all desire towards sexual relationships and people in general—that may change with therapy… However again this video is very timely… I will looking at sexuality and the sex positive space VERY differently, as now I understand the severity of my own trauma and the trauma of others… Thank you for your work. Cheers!

Hi, Daniel. I just want to say, that you are inspiring to me. Your thoughts about being OK with not having children completely changed my world. Well, at the same time I feel a lot of anger towards my parents… It is me who should take care of myself. I found your videos a year ago, but then stopped watching (don’t know why). Now I enjoy watching your videos, even though sometimes I can’t accept some scary facts about life… Thank you for your videos. I appreciate your openness and truthfulness. Sometimes I think that it would be great to have such a friend as you are! Best regards, Ana

Hello mister Mackler, I want to deeply thank you. One of your YouTube videos has been the reason I have finally been able to move over childhood trauma. Two things you have said in particular has helped me greatly. 1) Acknowledgement of trauma. I've been bullied every day by my eldest brother in a pretty relentless way for the first 10 years of my life. I wanted to kill myself when I was 8 years old. Everyone was always telling me that this is normal. That I should stop acting like a victim. Older brothers bully their younger brothers. I told my mother I probably need to see a psychologist but she told me, nah, you're fine. The first time I felt someone acknowledged my trauma, in my entire life, was when I heard you say in a video that most people are traumatised and don't even know it, because trauma is normalised. When I heard this I cried everyday for a week straight, at the ripe age of 33 years old. Something finally clicked. I'm not crazy, everyone else is. I've become increasingly happier ever since. I've FINALLY been able to move past old trauma thanks to your video. So thank you. 2) The second thing you've said that really helped me during this period, was that dealing with childhood trauma is like a grieving process. This is the first time I've ever heard this and I was amazed at how accurate this statement felt. It did felt like grieving. I was grieving all the years of pain I went through. I was grieving that I lost part of my childhood. And in this process of grieving I've finally been able to reach a point of mental stability I didn't think could be possible for me. So thanks again! Keep up the good work.

Hi Daniel. Your talks are greatly appreciated. I discovered your channel about three years ago and began watching you again recently. I think your perspective is refreshing, and you come across as quite authentic. When you talk about your travels it’s really quite inspiring - as someone who struggles with low confidence and a lot of discontent, I too want to take up an adventure. I suppose I want to ask: what instigated your want to travel? Was it difficult to muster the willpower to escape for the first time? Was there a specific moment in which you felt free? I also want to say that I really admire the fact that despite having been through hardships you retain a positive attitude. I find it’s so easy to become bitter and arrogant, so much so that we can lose parts of ourselves. And to who’s benefit? It costs nothing to be kind yet it costs us everything to be hateful. (That’s my spur of the moment sentiment, lol). I will say also that you’ve helped me reconnect with the parts of myself I have lost or had forgotten about. I have been journaling a decent amount - just making accounts of my dreams, my thoughts and feelings towards the people I meet, reflections on my childhood and so on. I doing so I am beginning to see my true self again - hardly without obstacles along the way! Anyhow, thanks for doing what you do - a lot of us really appreciate your videos and I wanted to share that with you. Yours sincerely -a random 22 year old from England

I have a DEEP hate for myself. It stems from childhood and behaviors in my adult life. As a young boy of 5-6 years old I was molested by an older boy. I could not tell my parents of the actual sexual abuse for my father was very Macho and my more was a alcoholic. I went to school in the 60's. I now know I am dyslexic and have traits of being on the spectrum. Elementary school was very difficult to say the least. While in the 2nd Third grade I was given a large cardboard box and my desk and I were placed in the box in the back of the room. To say it was traumatizing was far beyond that. Having no friends and parents that I could not turn to left me lost in a dark world in my head. I was passed on to grade to grade without help for my development problems. I did not know why I was disliked and hated. I was teased continually. I think that when I was in my mid teens my brain decided to give the world a reason to hate me. I did two things, I abused a distant family member and was exposed and the hatred continued. Then I started abusing animals, part of me was this is payback to the world. The other was giving my brain a reason why I was disliked. This became a pathway in my brain, and I continued this for decades. I have have stopped with the help of a counselor and a 12-step program. My problem is how do I stop hating myself? I cant get past the actions I have done.

Good day, Daniel. Just over a few years ago, I escaped a 7 month long kidnapping experience. Your videos on eating disorders and pretty privilege are my favorite videos so far. But, your video on evidence-based psychotherapy caught my mind. More and more, when I see things that are evidence-based treatments, I see Faustian contracts. Currently, my case is being investigated. I so wish you were local to me, not for therapy, but to buy you a coffee, at least, and listen to what you have to say. Keep making videos on lesser discussed mental health topics! Some topics I hope to see therapists speaking on is the trans-to-sex-work pipeline and the targeted kidnappings and exploitation of American upper class children and adults by immigrants and second gen citizens. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, think about OnlyFans models. What they don’t tell you is that they often have pimps and are forced to do sex work as escorts. On every college campus is some student or older friend of a student or even rich father of a student is talking to every pretty girl he can find to convince her to do OnlyFans for his profit. Well, that was my speech. Daniel, if you’re curious, you have my email.

I have just viewed your video on Critique of Borderline Personality Disorder. A really excellent video, and thank you for your work. There is one aspect of this diagnosis that you do not talk about, and that is sexism and the disproportionate use of this diagnosis for women. I think that this comes down to 3 possible reasons, maybe more: 1. Sexist expectations of women that do not allow women to be angry and to not be nurturing. So if they are angry and not nurturing they must be severely pathological = BPD and not some less pejorative diagnosis. (This is true whether they have a trauma background or just are not nurturing by temperament. If the therapist is sexist, this will be regarded as pathological.) 2. If the patient is a good-looking young woman with a male therapist, and the male therapist feels sexually attracted to her, he can shift the blame for his inappropriate feelings to the patient by labelling her BPD, "communicating" her sexual attraction to him through her countertransference--really his projection of his sexual desire onto her--etc. etc. (Notice that whether the female patient actually feels sexually attracted to the therapist or not is not part of the equation. There has been an actual study that shows that the more attractive a man finds a woman, the more likely he thinks that she is sexually attracted to him. "I want sex with her therefore she must want sex with me.") 3. Unstable relationships. You described one way that relationships can be unstable due to the trauma background of the patient. But women grow up in a highly sexist world, and if they react to the sexist expectations placed on them, that can also create "unstable" relationships. (Like being angry when hit by a sexist trope. The sexist person doing this doesn't see themselves as doing anything to provoke that anger.) If they have an abusive boyfriend, that can look like an "unstable" relationship to a therapist looking to make this diagnosis. There are so many ways to create "unstable" relationships in our sexist world without it being a problem residing somehow in the woman. Yes, I was given this diagnosis by a sexist therapist and all three of the above things were present. But the diagnosis was really due to #2, and the rest were just icing on the cake, so to speak. Therapy with him was a constant diminishment of my intelligence, which did not send up red flags because I was getting the same from all sides. For example, my failure to panic over a comprehensive exam (because he'd panicked over his) was a sign of pathology in me, per him. I passed the exam. My failure to panic was really as sign that I was smarter than him, but of course he could never admit that. (This was only one of many indicators, which he never seems to quite grasp. I see it now, looking back.) So my intelligence and accurate assessment of my preparation had to be pathologized. In "therapy" where the patient is constantly being put down by the therapist (who is not aware of what he is doing due to sexism) is not going to produce a good result long term, so that is another impetus for the therapist to label the patient with BPD, which as you say, blames the patient for the therapist's inability to help her. That can be a fourth reason.

Bro….tight

Hello Daniel! I've been watching your videos for a long time and i can say that you have helped me so much discovering myself and doing my self therapy. Its a very painful process, Im discovering feelings that i didnt know they existed! Sometimes i cry a lot, and I feel a lot of pain. But through this, i have started feeling stronger and hopeful. I just wanted to say hello and thanks for all the help and the hope you have given me.

Thank you for being here for everyone Daniel. I just watched your YT video for the first time, and you have made a positive uplift in my well-being that I desperately need. You are appreciated.

I stumbled upon your videos on Youtube and I loved watching them! Then I saw you made a song, "The Seeker's Ballad" and liked it so much I thought I'd try and re-master it. So If you ever want a copy just let me know. I think it sounds pretty good. Honestly it's not much just added a smidge of effects.