Psychotherapy for Adults & Teens

Stress and Anxiety are not the same thing, as stress is a response to external stimuli and its generally short lived, as oppose to anxiety which is provoked by a persistent internal feeling of apprehension causing significant impairment in different areas of that person’s life. Treatment options for both include life-style changes, psychotherapy, and for anxiety medication might be needed as their a different types of anxiety that result in more debilitating symptoms. 

Occasional conflicts in families is normal across the different developmental stages. When the arguments become frequent filled with tension and resentments that’s when therapy may be the best option to provide the families with a safe place for them to voice and process their turmoil. There are several therapeutic options aside from parenting such as Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy (CBFT), Structural, Bowen, Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT), Solution Focused Therapy (SFT), Narrative Therapy (NT) and Experiential to name a few. Whichever the approach, MFTs always consider the potential cultural and diversity implications on the problem and solutions alike, assuring respect of the families.

All couples have their ups and downs, and many can get through those on their own, but for others in distress, their communication has broken down, leaving them to feel exhausted, dissatisfied, and even resentful in some cases. Whichever point you are in your relationship, it is critical to have a clear assessment of your level of satisfaction gauging how to proceed accordingly, meaning instead of being reactive, you can be proactive to assure you are nurturing and investing in your relationship. For instance, for those not yet married, they can benefit from premarital counseling, which can help with developing a more solid foundation (understanding) for the relationship to be resilient. As for those who are post-marriage, finding themselves in distress, it’s better to seek therapeutic services sooner than later as couples can get to the point of no return (divorce), which leads me to divorce therapy. Divorce therapy can be for those in the process of divorce and for others that recently have divorced with the goal of coping, rebuilding an independent identity and life, as well as for some to construct a relationship that may allow them to co-parent. There are many therapeutic approaches that can be helpful for any of these types of couples. For premarital couples, there are the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) and the Relationship Enhancement Program. For couples counseling, whether in distress or not, options may include but not limited to: Gottman, EFT, SFT, NT, SFTNT, Experiential, etc. Some clinicians, like Dr. Arias Shah, would offer package sessions as well as longer session hours when working with distressed couples and divorce counseling to tackle more.

Burnout seems more common in today’s work culture. The expression “no pain – no gain” has become literal. People work too hard/too much. For some, they have succumbed to the pressures of success; for others, they feel they don’t have a choice as their lifestyle depends on it (financial obligations, whether luxuries or bare necessities). Regardless sooner or later they feel exhausted, depleted, and lost; eventually for some this leads to a loss of motivation, as well as relational, physical, mental and emotional distress. Self care and reprioritizing life, responsibilities and expectations is critical to avoid further damages. Adults and young adults alike typically experience significant life-changing events.