Therapy can be very helpful for the problems people struggle with most. In my general practice, I work with adults of all ages who are wrestling with common stress and boundary issues, including:
significant life transitions, such as leaving home, marriage, empty nest, significant birthdays
anxiety and panic from known and unknown causes
depression
childhood abuse and neglect
compulsive and avoidant behaviors, e.g., emotional eating, procrastination
codependency/Adult Children of Alcoholics/Al-Anon
maintaining sobriety
shame, low self-esteem, perfectionism, people-pleasing
relationship issues
Additionally, I specialize in working with people who have experienced relational and complex trauma. Most of us think of trauma as the result of a deeply disturbing event, but it can also develop over time due to chronic stress experienced in childhood or in a long-term neglectful or abusive relationship with a partner, friend, parent, boss, etc.
Oftentimes people have a sense that something is “off” or “wrong,” but they can’t quite put their finger on what it is. Other times they’re so used to moving from day to day with emotional numbness or pain that they don’t realize there’s a healthier, happier way to live. Symptoms can feel logical but are often confusing and may look and feel like:
anger and irritability
chronically “amped up” or sluggish and low-energy
many different kinds of specific or vague pain and sensations
loneliness and wanting to isolate or avoid feelings and healthy behaviors
sadness & anxiety
feeling numb
perfectionism and a need for control
hyper-responsibility
fear of abandonment
difficulty setting and maintaining healthy boundaries
shame and feeling unworthy and/or unloveable
If you’d like to explore whether therapy might be right for you, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be happy to answer your questions and share more information.