What’s going on with me?

You may be considering therapy because you are currently feeling some strongly uncomfortable “symptoms”; painful feelings like anxiety, depression, anger or addictions that don’t seem to make sense and even worse, won’t go away! Examples of common areas that trigger symptoms include relationship struggles with family, intimate partners or friends, divorce, career frustrations, transitions to or struggles within a life stage, or grief and loss. (Very few folks seek a counselor when they are only feeling slightly uncomfortable. In fact, most wait until the symptoms are almost unbearable before they make an initial call).

Therapy is a process of exploring these symptoms with an element of curiosity. In the process, we identify more clearly the origin of the symptoms and how to gain wisdom from them, thereby helping them to subside. As this happens, you begin to come out of old patterns that are no longer working in your life. Once symptoms are explored and brought into greater conscious awareness, they have then done their work and do not need to be a persistent and uncomfortable presence in our lives. Usually once this awareness is attained, therapy gradually ceases, but the door is always open to return if needed.

Oftentimes, dysfunction in our upbringing can set us up for even more powerful symptoms as an adult. If this true for you, exploring your background in greater detail is an important first step in therapy. Sometimes we may administer personality/temperament tests that provide information about your individual make-up and can help you further understand your unique response to your current life situation and stressors.

Depression

Depression is a state of feeling little hope about life’s circumstances, often coupled with poor sleep; often wanting too much sleep, little energy and reduced enjoyment of usually pleasurable activities. Sometimes depression stems from life’s disappointments and other times it may be a medical issue that needs to be more deeply explored on a physiological level. Whatever the case, depression is almost always correlated with negative thinking and this further exacerbates the problem. Counseling is an effective way to explore depression and start the journey back to feeling better.

Anxiety

These days many of us juggle multiple demands with little time to recharge and complaints of anxiety-related emotions is the top issue for which patients seek help. Yet there is hope that you can find relief from these draining and pervasive feelings. Whether you are dealing with stressful life circumstances or have always felt more “highly strung” than the average person, research has proven that there are many effective techniques and skills which can bring an anxious brain into the optimal level of tolerance.

Relationship Issues

When couples hit a rough patch, there are many factors at play including the unique personality or temperament of each partner, what were the behaviors like at young age, our relationships with our parents/guardians/caretakers, our respective life experiences and our style for handling stress. Having difficulties or differences is actually “normal”, it’s having additional insight into your partner’s viewpoint and knowing how to work within these differences that we can help you improve.