Individual Therapy

Even when your loved one won’t attend therapy, there are solutions. In fact, we can’t change others, anyway. The success of therapy depends on your own willingness to share the problem with someone equipped to suggest new viewpoints and new behaviors that will alter the interactions. It’s possible to be even more productive in therapy without a partner. It can certainly feel good to have all the healing energy focused on ourselves, and to still know that it can be effective. We deserve to feel good. We are more productive for others when we do.

Couples Therapy

When we feel stuck in ways of relating that are uncomfortable, it may be time for professional intervention. We may seek a therapist who is on our side, but it may be more useful to have a third party who is more objective. In fact, there are usually things we, ourselves, can do differently that will create the changes we are seeking. We can feel validated without having to be “right.”

Family Therapy

Our current problems may involve a family member, or even a partner, to whom we are not married. Therapy can be just as effective between other parties of two, three, or more, as it is for individuals and couples. The therapist may break down the sessions into various combinations, or continue to see you as a group. This depends on the issue, feedback from the members, and the level of tension between members during sessions.

Anxiety

We can struggle with anxiety for years, believing it is “normal.” By the time we realize that it may not be, and we seek solutions, we may have developed coping behaviors that make life terribly inconvenient. These have often developed into other pathologies, or mental illnesses. For instance, we have avoided social situations which elevate our anxiety, and have become depressed. 

Everyone has some anxiety. It can move us to face and solve problems or to better prepare. What differentiates normal anxiety from the pathological? To have the normal tendency to get keyed up and to worry become excessive, so that it is persistent and consistent. We feel constantly apprehensive and are more vigilant. It has begun to interfere with our ability to function in the ways we were once able, to feel productive and to enjoy life. When this  happens, it is time to seek professional help.

Relationship Issues

All relationships have struggles. Times of growth and times of peace. When the struggle begins to interfere with your ability to enjoy each other, your ability to solve problems, and even your ability to focus on more satisfying things, it is time to ask for help from an objective third party. An experienced therapist can help you identify the primary issues, and, maybe even causes, of the ongoing tension in the relationship. When we run out of good ideas, a professional can help us address the problem and, hopefully, develop new skills in the meantime, which become preventative in nature.

Conflict

Feeling heard and being validated are priceless. You should experience both with a qualified therapist, while also being offered alternative perspectives from a more expanded point of view. When we are stuck in conflict, we lose our objectivity, limiting our ability to problem solve as effectively. We may feel attacked and become defensive. Knowing these things does not solve our problem. But the sometimes novel suggestions for how to deal with the problem should begin to widen our own perceptions and even expand our hope. While the suggestions may seem practical, and sometimes obvious, their effects can be truly life-changing. This requires a bit of trust in your therapist. As you invest in trial and error regarding the suggestions, and they begin to work, your trust likely increases. If this doesn’t work, try being even more transparent in your sessions. The therapist’s effectiveness relies largely on your level of willingness, thoroughness and honesty.