Do you wish for a deeper level of connection with your partner and others? Perhaps you crave this intimacy but fear it at the same time?
Do you struggle to find healthy ways of dealing with conflict?
Do you often feel like you're not honoring your authentic self or that you often can't be genuine?
Does your fear of rejection or abandonment disrupt your connections with others?
Do you find yourself consumed with work as a kind of distraction to avoid dealing with other issues?
Does your life lack balance? (Romantically, Professionally, Creatively, Spiritually, Socially, Intellectually, Physically...?)
Do you find yourself getting attached to others very quickly, even before you really know them - only to be disappointed again?
Do you lack confidence and belief in yourself?
Do feelings of shame, humiliation, or embarrassment prevent you from trying new things or getting closer to others?
Do you define yourself mostly by external achievements?
Do you struggle to assert your needs? To make your voice heard?
Does anxiety or depression prevent you from living life fully?
Do you find it hard to trust your own decision-making abilities? Perhaps because you fear 'failure?'
Do you feel oppressed by the controlling or manipulative behaviors of others?
Does your life's passion elude you?
Do you struggle to find a gentle, compassionate way of relating to your own struggles?
(maybe you use a punishing, intolerant, judgmental voice toward yourself?)
Do you use excessive emotional eating, compulsive sex, shopping , cutting, or other numbing behaviors to soothe yourself?
Do you want to change your life but feel fearful of change or risk-taking?
Do you avoid painful or intense feelings, instead of letting yourself feel them and release them?
Do you suffer from chronic headaches, gastrointestinal issues, panic attacks, autoimmune disease, ulcers or other health problems?
Does work feel too much like drudgery?
Does your family life feel like a series of miserable 'have-to's without enough joy?
Do you often think it's 'too late' to change?
Do any of the following descriptions resonate with your experience?
Feeling Stuck Overly Anxious Hopeless
Apathetic Irritable 'I'm 'getting old'/Time is running out
Overwhelmed Often Angry Very separate / Isolated
Directionless Often Envious of Others Unfulfilled in one or more crucial areas
Tense Feeling Trapped Resentful
Feelings of regret Limited by past Traumas Often Not understood
Feeling Empty Emotionally Blocked Often Defensive
Mind/Body Disconnect? Feeling Ineffectual Desire change but feel it's eluding you?
Uninspired Preoccupied with Ego Concerns Fearful of Change
If you answered 'yes' to any of the above-listed questions
and if any of the above-listed descriptions resonate,
you might benefit from engaging in the transformative process of psychotherapy...
TAKE A MOMENT TO REFLECT
pause = possibility
HOW I CAN HELP
I do not view my clients as needing to be 'fixed.'
All of us require the right kind of support to help us access the inner resources we are already exquisitely designed with.
I view clients' negative behaviors as creative, adaptive responses that once were life-savers but are now limit-makers.
Through this process of 'Assisted Self Discovery,' brave enough and curious enough individuals can find long-term relief.
Here are just some of the changes you might experience with consistent participation in Psychotherapy:
A decrease in suffering. (characterized by feelings such as hopelessness, feeling stuck, feeling defective, shame, depression, anxiety, isolation, confusion, and the like)
Identification of self defeating thought and behavior patterns. With insight and deliberate intent toward change, challenging these can become second nature.
Identifying areas of limited thinking such as negative core beliefs or self defeating, assumed truths that you maintain. Together we will discover the origins of these, challenge them and revise those negative self concepts to arrive at more generous, compassionate, balanced and nurturing ones.
Oppressive wounds are processed with a validating, empathic witness. As you re-experience these old wounds within the new, more supportive therapeutic environment, they gradually transform as sources of enduring strength and wisdom. A restructuring of the memories on a cellular level (or Memory Reconsolidation in neuroscience terms) occurs during deep mind/body work to achieve the long-lasting change we all seek.
Unsatisfying or destructive relationship patterns are identified and their sources are uncovered. New, healthier relational patterns emerge, both practiced within the therapeutic relationship and outside of it. Trusting your authentic self, asserting your needs directly, increasing personal boundaries and challenging codependent dynamics are but a few of the things that are encouraged.
Challenging controlling impulses and other resistant behaviors that cause suffering. The alternative is to surrender to what is - tolearn to develop distress tolerance skills to ride the waves of intense emotions with increased ease vs. resisting them.
An overall increase in self awareness, leading to more conscious choice-making instead of unconscious participation in unhealthy patterns.
Negative coping mechanisms gradually get replaced with healthier ones. The process by which you regulate intense emotions will rely on your accessing the multitude of internal resources inside of you instead of reaching for external substances or harmful behaviors.
Self nurturance increases with an emphasis on mindfulness, balance and kindness/compassion to the self. Mindfulness Tools are utilized and practiced both inside and outside of therapy, allowing you to lasso the power of the present moment as a vehicle for change - one that is always available to you.
Improved intimacy with the self and others. This occurs, in part, as you overcome fears and defense mechanisms associated with past hurts.
An increase in mind/body connectedness to achieve more wholeness.
An increase of authenticity can naturally occur as well as the courage to access one's true potential in many areas.
J e n n i f e r M u r d o c c a, MA, MFT #45017
Licensed Pasadena Psychotherapist - Los Angeles