My Specialties.
In the age of the DSM, we often focus more on “what we have” instead of “who we are”. No one is as simple as any one description or diagnosis, and in our work, we collaboratively work to paint apicture of your life that feels accurate and valid.
While I do specialize in treating certain issues, I also value treating a wide array of presentations and individuals across the range of the human experience.
Depression and Anxiety
Depression often relates to the past, while anxiety often relates to a fear in the future. For some, depression shows up as feeling cut off from emotions, disconnected from yourself, and avoiding others. For others it manifests as a deep sadness and bouts of tears. Symptoms include over or under sleeping and eating, and for others it cycles between all of the above.
Unfortunately, depression is often paired with anxiety. Whether this shows up as social anxiety, specific phobias, panic attacks, or just a general sense that something is not right, anxiety can be debilitating and silently take over your life.
In therapy together, we will work to understand the meaning of the depression and anxiety and remove the barriers keeping you from your authentic self. Our unconscious often hides our authentic feelings, due to these complex emotions seeming unsafe to feel. Therapy can be a difficult but worthwhile step in the direction of removing the shackles of depression and anxiety.
Communication and Relationships
Humans are relational creatures and embedded in this truth is that we often grow or stagnate based on how we navigate relationships. Learning how to be in relationship means facing vulnerabilities, being honest with yourself, with others, and checking in with how you feel and learning how to verbalize this. While in some relationships you excel at this, other relationships make you feel like a different person. Whether you are struggling in relationship with your spouse, partner, parents, or any loved (or not loved) ones, the basic building blocks of healthy communication remain the same. Many of us have learned poor communication strategies, it is never too late to work on this skill.
In therapy together, we will work to identify what trends tend to play out, what is happening in yourself, and moving towards who you want to be in relationships. I believe that relationships tend to repeat themselves, and as these dynamics replay in the therapy between you and I, we will have the opportunity to face them in the moment, working through the past for a more promising future.
Family of Origin and Attachment Style
Whether we like it or not, humans tend to repeat dynamics in important relationships with new relationships. We learn a lot of how to relate from our family of origins — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Research has demonstrated the impact of our early relationships with our caregivers on the rest of our lives. While many would like a redo at those early years, the good news is that we are not stuck with our family of origin’s stories for the rest of our lives.
In therapy together we will plunge into the past to uncover old feelings (often called inner child work), and learn how to remove yourself from the hold this may have on you and learn to integrate other versions of how you can be.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
— Jiddu Krishnamurti
Contact Me.
Ready to take the next step? Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or to request a consultation.
