Specialties.
Depression.
“I have a good family, love my kids, go to work everyday so I must not have depression, right?” The answer is that you could still have depression. Depression can come in various forms and is not choosy. Highly successful people can still have depression. There’s the severe depression that most people think of as the only depression (suicidal thoughts, not showering/eating, crying all the time.) However, depression can also look much different to someone who has a persistent, low-grade depression. It can feel like difficulty finding joy in life, irritability, low self-esteem, or not wanting to socialize or get out of bed. The good news is that therapy and/or medications can help treat the depression so you do not have to keep struggling through life.
Anxiety.
Anxiety is one of the most common reasons people seek mental health treatment. Anxiety may feel like a mind that never stops running with your thoughts, panic attacks, or a constant worry about many areas of your life. You might feel like you immediately think of the worst case scenario, cannot relax, or have a constant pit in your stomach. All of these describe someone who could have an anxiety disorder. Psychotherapy and medications have been shown to be effective in helping reduce symptoms of anxiety, implement coping skills to manage the anxiety, and build resilience to future worry.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
OCD is colloquially used as someone who can be orderly, clean, perfectionistic, or pays attention to detail. However, true OCD can be very debilitating and distressing for individuals. OCD causes individuals to be fraught with obsessive, unwanted thoughts that require compulsive rituals to give those individuals temporary relief from the unwanted thoughts. The gold standard treatment for OCD is Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP). ERP is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy that helps people builds tolerance for their anxiety while eliminating the need to perform compulsions, all while doing it in a safe and supportive environment. Through decades of research, ERP has been found to significantly reduce symptoms by around 60%, which to anyone with OCD could feel life changing.
Relationships.
Do you feel like you and your partner struggle with communication? Do you feel disconnected? Are you dealing with a major life transition? Recent break-up? Did someone in the relationship cheat? Are you single and wish you had someone, or wish you could be happy alone? Therapy is a safe place to talk about issues surrounding relationships, and not just intimate relationships but the ones we create with friends, coworkers, etc. We tend to repeat relationship patterns, whether they are healthy for us or not. Therapy could be a place to explore those patterns and help you understand your role in the continuation of the relationship dynamic.
Grief.
You may feel like a shell of yourself after losing someone close and feel overwhelmed by various and confusing emotions. Will I ever be happy again? Am I grieving correctly? How can I be mad at someone who's passed? All of these questions will be explored in therapy. Therapy can help you have a healthy grieving process while understanding aspects of your personality that may make different aspects of the grieving process more or less difficult than others.
Stress.
Stress afflicts everyone, but if it's getting in the way of you living life, then it becomes problematic. Therapy can help you find ways to relax, cope with the stress, and structure your life in a way to minimize the impact of stress.
Prenatal, Perinatal & Postpartum Mood Issues.
Pregnancy and childbirth can either cause or exacerbate underlying depression, anxiety, or OCD. Postpartum depression occurs in about 12% of women nationally, and 15% of women in the state of Michigan (2019 CDC PRAMS data). Risk factors for developing postpartum depression can include low social support, difficulty getting pregnant, previous history of depression, delivering preterm (<37 weeks), pregnancy complications, and having a baby who has been hospitalized. Postpartum anxiety and anxiety while pregnant can occur in as many as 10% of women. It can look like constant, uncontrollable anxiety, panic attacks, or obsessions and/or compulsions. The good news is that prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum mood issues are treatable through psychotherapy. Start the therapy early in your journey if you think you’re at risk or notice any symptoms.
Miscarriage, Infant Loss and Infertility.
Experiencing miscarriages, infant loss, or infertility can feel isolating and lonely. While 1/5 women experience a miscarriage, it is still not talked about enough to make the greater public understand how devastating it can be. It often leaves women feeling guilty, questioning what they did to cause the loss, worrying that they will not be able to get pregnant again, and fearing they will lose a future pregnancy. Couples who have infertility can also experience similar feelings. They may question what they did to cause the infertility, why others can be parents and they cannot, and how they can live in a world where a majority of child-rearing age adults have children. Therapy can help process the feelings of the loss/infertility, prepare for the feelings that could arise in a future pregnancy, process the complex nature of life without children, or determine the next steps in pursuit of having a child.