INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING
Individual counseling is just that. It is for you as a unique individual dealing with your own personal pains and struggles. For most individuals, our personal struggles and pains often are experienced in the context of relationships. Individual counseling offers you as an individual a safe place to deal with patterns and pains in relationships as well as your own personal needs.
I have given you some, but by no means all, examples of common presenting concerns in individual counseling.
COMMON PRESENTING CONCERNS
ANGER MANAGEMENT
hot temper • irritability • frustration • being overly sensitive • verbal arguments • feelings of rage • perfection and high expectations of self and others • short fuse • having to say you’re sorry repeatedly • the need to be “right” most of the time • rigid “black or white” thinking patterns
If these symptoms seem familiar to you, you may benefit from anger management counseling. Anger is a normal human emotion everyone experiences from time to time. However, when anger gets out of control, it can alienate friends and family. When you express your anger in unhealthy ways or in ways that are out of proportion to the situation, others are often triggered to become angry and defensive as well. Untreated anger problems often isolate you socially because anger pushes people away. Learning to properly manage anger and understand what triggers the anger is the focus of anger management counseling.
ANXIETY
Anxiety, Worry, and Fear
feeling tense and jumpy • persistent/intense worry & fear • restlessness and irritability • obsession & compulsion • intrusive thoughts • headaches and muscle tension • dizziness and nausea • trouble concentrating • insomnia and fatigue • sweating and pounding heartbeat • feelings of panic • feelings of dread or apprehension
Anxiety often feels overwhelming and scary. Feelings of worry, tension, agitation, and even fear are normal when we are under pressure or dealing with a stressful situation. The body’s natural response to danger or stress can be anxiety. However, anxiety that is constant and overwhelming or anxiety that significantly interferes with activities and relationships is defined as an anxiety disorder. There are several different types of anxiety disorders. Common to each anxiety disorder is a severe, persistent worry or fear that you can’t shake in situations where other people seem able to cope or feel unaffected. In counseling, you can find relief and learn effective ways to cope with and reduce anxiety.
DEPRESSION
Counseling for Depression
Too much or too little sleep • difficulty concentrating or focusing can’t seem to get things done • sudden loss of appetite or overeating • irritable and short-tempered • intrusive thoughts • overwhelming feelings of sadness, doom, or emptiness • thoughts of suicide or “giving up” • stop taking care of yourself • feeling hopeless or helpless • persistent restlessness or sluggishness
Emotional ups and downs are a normal reaction to life’s difficulties and disappointments. Clinical depression or ‘major depressive disorder‘ is more than just feeling sad. If you’re clinically depressed you can’t just “snap out of it” and feel better. Clinical depression can be pervasive and overwhelming, and it can feel like you’re “living in a black hole” that you can’t find your way out of. Things that used to bring you pleasure can seem uninteresting. Focusing and concentrating is often difficult, if not impossible. Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and even worthlessness can take control. However, everyone who’s depressed may not feels sadness per se. Instead you may find yourself easily irritated. Instead of describing yourself as sad, you just feel empty, lifeless, like you don’t care. Depression often interferes with your functioning and hinders your ability to work, eat, sleep, and even have fun. Research indicates that the most effective intervention for clinical depression is a combination of anti-depressants and counseling. Even though you may feel hopeless and helpless, with counseling and support you can feel better.
CODEPENDENCY
Consistently focusing on others needs even at your own expense • Being unable to receive help from others • feeling uneasy when others focus their attention on you • Identity chiefly based on being a “helper” • significant time/energy spent caring for someone who doesn’t reciprocate • difficulty living alone • feeling responsible anytime someone close to you suffers • seeming “together” on the outside but actually feeling quite needy, helpless or numb • having experienced abuse or emotional neglect as a child, or having grown up with an addicted or alcoholic parent or parent • keep your true thoughts, needs or feelings private because you fear they would displease others
People who experience codependency benefit from treatment that addresses the sense of loss of self. Codependency patterns are usually rooted in childhood. Counseling can help people understand why they overcompensate, fulfill everyone’s needs but their own, or put themselves last. Whatever symptoms of codependency you may be experiencing, they can be explored through counseling. Once identified, a counselor can help an individual understand why they developed these behaviors and what consequences they have had on their lives and the lives of those around them. This is the first step in transforming emotional reactions and behaviors.
TRAUMA
Losing interest in formerly enjoyable and important activities of life • feeling “removed” from other people • difficulty concentrating • persistently re-experiencing the event in thoughts, images, recollections, daydreams, and/or nightmares • feeling upset, distressed and/or anxious in the presence of reminders of the event • avoiding places, thoughts, conversations, and/or people associated with the event • problems recalling some aspects of the event • feeling numb being on the alert for danger • being jumpy and easily startled • experiencing sleep difficulties • irritability or angry outbursts
Each one of us has unique emotional reactions and ways of coping, of grieving and of reacting or not reacting to loss or trauma. Sudden, violent or unexpected loss or trauma imposes significant strains and can make emotional coping difficult. Counseling offers a safe place to address unique reactions to trauma and grief.