Psychotherapy for Adults
Elusive phantoms
You’re at work – about to head out for lunch with coworkers.
Ding – incoming message.
It’s your partner: “Meeting moved. Can’t get kids from school today.”
By the time you glance back at the screen, you see an email from your boss, asking you about the progress of a lagging project that you have little control over. You struggle to reply, to placate without excuses. Apprehensively, you hit “Send.” “What now?” You wonder.
You begin to think that maybe you should beg off lunch – work straight through – try to make some headway – but before you can say a word, a news alert lights up your phone.
Another school shooting. When will it end? Though this one is half-way across the country in another state, you can’t help yourself. Immediately, you begin to panic with worry for the safety of your children.
You need to get out of here. Right. Lunch with friends. But your head is pounding now, and you’ve lost your appetite, anyway. Your gut is churning.
You head for the restroom.
You can feel it. That lump welling up in your throat. Sweat beading on your forehead and palms. Your heart racing – banging against the walls of your chest.
No. No. No. No. Not another anxiety attack… and at work. What will people say???
You can’t remember the last time you really felt calm, peaceful.
You’re in trouble, and you know it. Something’s gotta give.
Fill in the blanks.
Fill in the details of your own life, and you can probably relate to this scenario. If you’re dealing with the effects of trauma or mental illness, your stress level is further compounded.
We live in stressful times. No matter what’s making you anxious, you can benefit from tools to help you stay calm, centered, and feeling strong in the face of life challenges.
Sometimes, it feels like nobody will ever really understand.
You can’t talk to anyone – your family has its own problems. Friends and coworkers? They mean well, but they don’t get it. The things they say only make you feel worse.
But there IS a listening ear – a calming voice – a warm, reassuring, confident guide.
One who won’t desert you the minute things start to pile up on you.
One who knows what to say – and do – to summon that tranquility, that balm, that composure you really need.
I foster a safe, caring and confidential environment in which you feel unconditional acceptance and regard.
A place where you feel empowered and uninhibited to examine your feelings, beliefs, and behaviors honestly, identify aspects of your life that you would like to change and work through challenging or influential issues that have prevented you from moving forward with your life.
Ultimately, a place where you can heal, grow, and move toward a productive and more psychologically genuine life.
A healing collaboration
Together, we’ll work side by side to achieve your goals and gain greater insight into your issues.
Homework is often an important component of treatment. Research suggests that the addition of homework to psychotherapy enhances its effectiveness and that clients who consistently complete homework tend to have better outcomes.
Individual therapy sessions typically last 50 minutes. The frequency and duration of therapy will depend largely on your needs, treatment goals, and progress.
In our first session, we’ll fill out some forms, get to know one another, and begin to develop an understanding of what’s going on. We’ll also examine your history. We’ll use these steps to help us formulate a plan of action that will help you reach your goals.
Generally, in the second session, we’ll develop a treatment plan that will guide us going forward.
There is no single path to recovery; stages of therapy will vary depending on your personal history and character; however, there are general areas that I usually address during treatment with my therapy patients.
Exploring the past allows me to understand how we got here and what we need to change to move you forward. Having developed an understanding of the problem, we can fine-tune the road map for healing.
During the next phase, we’ll tap into sources of inner strength and develop coping skills to enable you to regulate emotions and behaviors in a healthy manner when triggers and problems arise.
Once you’ve developed a set of coping skills and feel safe and secure in your surroundings, you’ll find it possible to address painful memories. Through this process, we’ll be able to better understand and restructure the role the painful events have played in your life and mourn the losses related to these negative experiences.
The final stage of recovery focuses largely on reconnecting with people, personally meaningful activities, and all other aspects of a fulfilling and healthy life. At this point, you’ll be mentally and emotionally exonerated from the painful and limiting chains of the past.
Break free. Change the way you meet the world. Rediscover your serenity.
Cultivating more joy, peace, and meaning out of your daily life is a worthy pursuit – and you deserve it.
Don’t wait a minute longer. Reach out to me now so that we can get started.
Please call me at (214) 927-8456 to schedule a free 20-minute phone consultation.