Kiki Fehling was 29 and finishing her doctorate in clinical psychology when she had a heart attack. Doctor's discovered a hole in her heart that had been there since birth. The blockage that caused her heart attack likely stemmed from a blood clot in her calf breaking off, then traveling up to her heart and going through the hole. Doctors closed the hole and prescribed her a blood thinner to help prevent future clots. She went home after a week. Her emotional recovery was more difficult. In the months after her heart attack, Kiki was scared of exerting herself. Merely rolling out of bed each morning made her heart race. She couldn't walk to the grocery store without feeling it would cause another heart attack. Then there was the depression caused by the grief over losing the sense of being a young, healthy person. At times she felt an overwhelming sense of loss of self, safety and control. It led to loneliness, too. "That's the part that lasted the longest for me," she said. Kiki's friend Agusta Patton underestimated just how traumatizing her friend's heart attack was. "Kiki is so strong and capable, and she didn't have any external injuries or limitations. That's my biggest learning, a reminder that people all have these things happening inside of them and even if they are not always talking about them, they matter so much." As a clinical psychologist, Kiki specializes in dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, a treatment that combines mindfulness and behavioral strategies to help individuals manage intense emotions, improve relationships and reduce harmful behaviors. She is grateful she knew about DBT at the time of her heart attack. Her familiarity with dozens of coping skills, such as paced breathing, helped her get through it all. "Even if you're dealing with emotional stuff, there's concrete tools that can help you, and you can get back to normal life," she said. Visual descriptions: 1 - Kiki is pictured on a sailboat out in the ocean. She smiles at the camera and the sunset can be seen behind her. Text on the image reads, "She's a psychologist – and a heart attack survivor." 2 - Kiki poses for a professional headshot.