When is it Time to Seek Help?

Sometimes you need to talk to someone, someone who can help... When you feel like you can't do it alone... When you feel trapped, like there's nowhere to turn... When you worry all the time, and never seem to find the answers... When the way you feel is affecting your sleep, your eating habits, your job, your relationships, your everyday life... When even the advice offered by family or well-meaning friends doesn't really help you feel any better.

Recognizing the need for professional help is a good first step towards improvement. Therapy can be of real benefit, providing help for a wide range of problems such as depression, loss, marital strife, parent-child concerns, or emotional distress. It can also help fulfill aspirations for personal growth or self-improvement. Therapy has one clear and definite purpose: that something of positive value and constructive usefulness will come out of it for you.

Some of the most common reasons for seeking help from therapy include:

Emotional Distress
From time to time, everyone experiences emotional pain. But sometimes the distress is particularly severe or long-lasting and interferes with your ability to function in your daily life. If you are experiencing sadness, grief, or anxiety that is persistent, therapy can help relieve the symptoms, address the underlying causes for your distress, and provide you with help in restoring emotional well-being.

Personal Growth
Therapy can help you overcome obstacles that have kept you from reaching your goals and becoming the person you want to be. Although you might not have a clinical condition or symptoms, therapy can help you learn more about yourself, as well as others, and how you can live your life with deeper personal satisfaction.

Relationship Issues
Your distress may be coming from difficulties in your relationship with a spouse, parent, child, coworker or significant other. Therapy can be valuable in helping you understand the root of the problem and providing you with the understanding and skills you need to improve the relationship.

Coping Mechanisms
Sometimes emotional distress or relationship problems are associated with coping mechanisms, such as excessive shyness, weak communication, lack of assertiveness, or poor anger control. Therapy can enable you to acquire or strengthen skills that can benefit many of the most important areas of your life.

Loss
Experiencing a break from someone who is important to you (through death or separation) can result in great emotional pain. Therapy can be significantly helpful in coping with the loss.

Trauma, Violence, or Abuse
Victims of trauma, violence or abuse can feel so overwhelmed by feelings of fear, anger, or helplessness that their ability to function effectively is significantly impaired. Therapy can help provide a safe, confidential setting in which to discuss your victimization issues with a caring, supportive person and find ways to move forward with your life.

Sexual Problems
While they can be embarrassing to talk about, sexual dissatisfaction and sexual dysfunction are very common problems. There are therapists who are particularly experienced at helping with understanding and overcoming issues that may be impairing sexual functioning.

Clinical Disorder or Condition
Those who have certain disorders or conditions can benefit from an overall treatment plan which includes therapy and another form of treatment, such as medication. For instance, research shows that individuals with conditions such as ADHD, eating disorders, major depression or anxiety disorders benefit significantly more from a combination of therapy and medication than just medication alone.

Complementary Services

An important adjunct to treatment at the Center for Psychology is the use of complementary services such as bodywork, meditation, and Ayurvedic medicine. These services are available on site and will be recommended by your therapist as they are appropriate to your treatment goals.

Bodywork and Massage Therapy services are provided by HealthTouch Therapeutic Massage and Touch Therapies. Learn more...

Relaxation and Meditative techniques are usually taught within the context of your therapy sessions.

Ayurvedic medical services are provided by a licensed physician trained in Ayurvedic medicine. These services are available upon request and recommendation of your therapist. Learn more...

The Process of Therapy

Psychotherapy is not easily described in general statements. It varies depending on the personality of both the therapist and the patient and the particular problems which the patient brings. There are a number of different approaches which can be utilized to address the problems you hope to address. It is not like visiting a medical doctor, in that psychotherapy requires a very active effort on your part. In order to be most successful, you will have to work on things talked about both during the sessions and at home.

Psychotherapy has both benefits and risks. Risks sometimes include experiencing uncomfortable feelings such as sadness, guilt, anxiety, anger and frustration, loneliness and helplessness. Psychotherapy often requires discussing unpleasant aspects of your life. Psychotherapy has also been shown to have benefits for people who undertake it. Therapy often leads to a significant reduction in feelings of distress, better relationships, and resolutions of specific problems. But there are no guarantees that improvements will occur In any of these areas.

The first few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs. By the end of the evaluation, your therapist will be able to offer you some initial impressions of what your treatment might involve and an initial treatment plan to follow, if you decide to continue. You should evaluate this information along with your own assessment about whether you feel comfortable working with the therapist. Therapy involves a large commitment of time, money, and energy, so you should be very careful about the therapist you select. If you have questions about the approach recommended, you should discuss them whenever they arise. If your doubts persist, your therapist will be happy to help you secure an appropriate consultation with another mental health professional.

Normal practice is to conduct an evaluation which will last from two to four sessions. During this time, your therapist and you can both decide whether they are the best person to provide the services which you need in order to meet your treatment objectives. If psychotherapy is initiated, your therapist will usually begin by scheduling one 50 minute session per week at a mutually agreed time, although sometimes sessions will be longer or more frequent:. Once this appointment time is scheduled, you will be expected to pay for it unless you provide 24 hours advance notice of cancellation, unless it is mutually agreed that you were unable to attend due to circumstances which were beyond your control.

Minors

If you are under eighteen years of age, please be aware that the law may provide your parents with the right to examine your treatment records. It is the policy of the Center to request an agreement from parents that they consent to give up access to your records. If they agree, your therapist will provide them only with general Information about your work together unless there is a high risk that you will seriously harm yourself or another, in which case your therapist will notify them of the concern. Your therapist will also provide them with a summary of your treatment when it is complete. Before giving them any information, your therapist will discuss the matter with you, if possible, and will do their best to resolve any objections you may have about what they are prepared to discuss.

Contacting Your Therapist by Telephone

Your therapist will often not be immediately available by telephone. While office hours vary, your therapist usually will not answer the phone when they are with a client. When your therapist is unavailable, the telephone is answered by our office manager, Karen, Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm. An automated voice messaging system will answer calls at all other times. Please leave a message in your therapist's voice mail box including your name, phone number, and a brief message. The message center will page your therapist and they will return your call as soon as possible. If it is an emergency and you need to speak with your therapist immediately, press 8 after leaving your message. The message center will notify your therapist that it is an emergency.

If the emergency is life-threatening, please go to the nearest emergency room or dial 911.