Mid-Atlantic Psychotherapy
Conditions We Support
Adjusting To Life Transitions
Are you facing a change in your life that is creating feelings of overwhelm, stress or uncertainty?
Navigating life transitions can be a turbulent and complex experience. Whether it is dealing with the pain of a divorce, a move, a career change, marriage, the birth of a child, a loss, or retirement, the emotional rollercoaster of these transitions can be overwhelming. With support, these experiences can be navigated with more ease and understanding. Therapy can help you process the emotions you are experiencing, manage your stress levels, and cope with the challenges associated with shifting roles. We can help you feel more confident in your ability to handle and navigate future life transitions with less overwhelm and provide greater clarity about the emotions you’re facing.
Anxiety, Stress, Or Burnout
Is anxiety keeping you from living the life you want? Are you overwhelmed with keeping up with everyday life? Has multitasking robbed you of being fully present for yourself and family?
Symptoms like excessive worry, rumination, over-productivity, shame, dread, or fear might be parts of a larger clinical diagnosis of anxiety or anxiety related disorder. You may also find that you experience other physical symptoms such as muscle tension, sweating, and trouble sleeping. This can often be associated with a sense of disconnection from things you once enjoyed. Therapy can help you manage your anxiety with the right tools, strategies, and support you need to better understand and cope with your feelings. We can help you gain control and feel relief, so you can get back to living your life. Therapy can also help you manage burnout or stressful circumstances before the stress becomes overly symptomatic.
Communication & Boundary Setting
Does saying no make you uncomfortable or lead to ruminating thoughts? Do you find yourself in circumstances that don’t align with your desires? Are your relationships suffering because the people who are supposed to care for you most don’t seem to know you at all?
Setting boundaries in your personal and professional lives can be challenging and overwhelming. Most likely, your over-productivity and desire for perfectionism has served you well in many ways. It can feel uncomfortable to say ‘no’ or to establish limits with others. It can also feel uncomfortable to “settle” for anything less than your own personal best. When you fail to set boundaries, you are prioritizing the needs of others rather than yourself. This can lead to feelings of overwhelm, resentment, and a deep sense that you are being taken advantage of.
Boundaries are an important part of any healthy relationship, be it with yourself or others. Therapy can help you learn to set boundaries in a way that helps you preserve and honor your relationships and helps you feel a greater sense of ease. Together, we can explore the root causes of why it is difficult to set boundaries and develop skills and strategies to set healthy boundaries in the future. Learn to identify how slight adjustments in the way you communicate with yourself and others may help you live a life more aligned with your core values. A day to day with a little more ease.
Depression & Chronic Dissatisfaction
Have you lost some or all of the joy you used to experience?
Depression symptoms can manifest as feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of energy or interest in activities that were once enjoyable. Physical symptoms can include changes in appetite, fatigue, and trouble sleeping. Emotionally, depression can leave you feeling isolated and alone. Therapy can be helpful in treating depression by providing support, understanding, and coping strategies. Therapy can help you experience improved mood, increased motivation, and a greater sense of hope and wellbeing.
Grief & Loss
Are you struggling to move forward after a loss or finding that your grief can feel like too much to handle on your own?
Grief and loss can be overwhelming and can bring up a range of emotions, including sadness, anger, guilt, and confusion. It’s common to feel isolated and disconnected from the people around you. Therapy can help you manage those feelings and work through them in a safe environment. You can explore why you feel the way you do, develop healthier coping mechanisms, and ultimately take the steps to move forward at a pace that works for you. You don’t have to face your pain alone, we can help.
Over Productivity & Perfectionism
Do you have very high expectations of yourself and constantly reach for flawlessness? Are these standards accompanied by critical self-evaluation and constant concern for how you will be perceived by others? Do the people closest to you disappoint or frustrate you because they can’t keep up?
Living a day to day life that prioritizes productivity and perfectionism over engaging in the meaningful relationships at your fingertips can feel frustrating and lonely. Rigid standards of productivity and aiming for perfection can be exhausting and overwhelming. It can impact your self-esteem and result in anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even burnout. Additiontionally, the relationships that matter most to you can suffer as well.
Therapy can help you manage your desire to measure life by how much you can complete and help you gain control of your perfectionistic tendencies so you can live a life with greater ease, set meaningful standards, and increase self-compassion.
Pre/Postpartum Anxiety & Depression
Are you a new or soon to be parent experiencing excessive worry or fear about having a child? Do your episodes of tearfulness last hours or even days without relief? Does your journey to parenthood feel harder, more lonely, or more overwhelming than you anticipated? Are you experiencing persistent sadness, guilt or struggling to bond with your baby?
Although some level of anxiety and/or sadness is normal while pregnant or after having a child, some people develop symptoms of anxiety or depression that are significant and persistent. This can be true for both men and women. Your perinatal health is a priority at Mid-Atlantic Psychotherapy. Symptoms of anxiety and depression can occur before and after the baby arrives.
Perinatal Anxiety: Pre/postpartum anxiety is not as widely recognized as postpartum depression, despite being equally common, and you might be wondering, “If some level of anxiety is normal, how do I know if my anxiety is actually a problem?”. The line that divides normal amounts of worry from a level at which you may need support differs per person. You may benefit from therapy for pre/postpartum anxiety if you are experiencing: constant worry or a deep feeling that something bad is going to happen; if your anxiety is impairing your appetite or sleep habits; if you experience racing or ruminating thoughts that you can’t get a hold of; or if you’re feeling physical symptoms such as nausea and faintness.
Therapy is a valuable tool for individuals experiencing pre/postpartum anxiety. In therapy, the goal is to educate you about perinatal mental health, listen to you so you feel validated in your feelings and thoughts, and create a plan to help you manage distressing symptoms. Additionally, therapy can provide effective coping strategies, a deeper level of understanding, and a space to work through feelings.
Perinatal Depression: For many new moms and dads, adapting to parenthood can be difficult. It’s not uncommon to face unexpected challenges as you develop a new routine. With pre/postpartum depression, you may experience low mood, excessive crying or tearfulness, feelings of guilt or worthlessness as a new parent, difficulties in bonding with your baby, irritability, anger, or loneliness.
Pre/postpartum depression can be experienced while pregnant, within the first few months of giving birth, but may also develop over a longer period of time. There are many reasons individuals experience postpartum depression, including changes in hormones, sleep deprivation, emotional changes resulting from new routines and interpersonal dynamics, a history of other mental health challenges, and environmental factors such as a lack of social support, finances, and complications experienced during pregnancy.
Therapy can help you adjust to the feelings you are experiencing as a new parent by providing emotional support, guidance, and coping strategies. You don’t have to adjust to parenthood alone. We are here to support you!
Relationship Challenges
Are you struggling to reconnect or build a stronger relationship?
Relationships can be complicated and sometimes leave us feeling lost and alone. You may be struggling with communication difficulties, trust issues, conflicts, or feeling emotionally disconnected from your partner. These challenges can impact your daily life, causing feelings of sadness, frustration, and anxiety.
Therapy can offer you a supportive and safe space to work through your challenges, develop healthy communication skills, build trust, and address conflicts in a constructive manner. Therapy can help you set healthy boundaries and offer the tools and support you need to create the connection you crave.
Stress Management
Do you feel like there’s no end in sight to the list of things you need to manage or accomplish in the day—at home and at work?
Overwhelming stress can bring up a range of emotions, including anxiety, frustration, and exhaustion. It’s common to start to shut down and feel disconnected from the people around you. Therapy can help you explore why you feel the way you do, develop healthier coping mechanisms, and give you the tools you need to manage your current situation and start living with more ease. We can help you make changes, one step at a time.
Trauma & PTSD
Is a past event in your life keeping you from moving forward? Maybe you remember a specific incident that triggered a significant response by your brain to protect you. Or, maybe a series of chronic events have taught your cope in a way that no longer serves you. Trauma may have impacted your brain and its response has helped you survive. But, over time, your brain’s response to protect you can prevent you from thriving.
Trauma can cause symptoms such as intrusive memories, avoidance behaviors, hypervigilance, and feelings of anxiety, guilt, or shame. Emotional and physical responses to trauma can impact daily life and relationships. Therapy can help individuals who have experienced trauma process their experiences and develop healthy coping mechanisms. With therapy, you may experience a greater sense of control, improved relationships, a stronger sense of self-worth, and a renewed sense of hope for the future.