Individual Therapy in Washington State
Old patterns and habits have a way of removing our power and freedom to see the choices we have in every situation, as well as impacting our mood and ability to function in our daily lives.
By working at discovering our internal worlds of belief, self-talk, and conflicts, we can affect the situations that prompted therapy.
These patterns and belief systems can cause symptoms of anxiety, depression, or mood swings as well as symptoms of trauma and relationship disturbances.
There are many schools of therapy and one approach does not necessarily benefit every individual. We will work together to decide the best fit for you and your treatment goals.
One evidence-based approach to address mood symptoms is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
CBT is a form of psychological treatment that has been shown to be effective for problems including depression, anxiety, and trauma. Research studies have shown that CBT can lead to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life; CBT is based on the idea that your mood is negatively impacted by unhelpful ways of thinking and learned behavior.
Therefore, mood symptoms can be changed by addressing distortions in thinking and problematic behaviors and learning new ways to cope with thoughts and difficult situations. CBT is generally short-term therapy with an emphasis on “homework” exercises outside of session and practicing new learned skills.
Often it is helpful to integrate mindfulness-based practices into the therapeutic treatment. Mindfulness-Based CBT builds on CBT to incorporate mindfulness meditation to help you learn to pay attention to your thoughts and feelings without judging them. Using a non-judgmental stance when it comes to your own thoughts and reactions as well as learning to relax in the face of difficult emotions has been shown to alleviate many mood symptoms.
Through knowing ourselves better, developing coping skills, and changing the way we navigate our lives, we are able to improve how we function and feel.
The goal of therapy is multi-faceted.
It can improve your ability to function in your life in areas such as: social involvement and productivity at work, improving your ability to cope with emotions, self-management symptoms of anxiety, depression, or other mood disturbances.
By working together to clarify your intentions and motivations as well as understand how you function, there is knowledge and, ultimately, the freedom and power to change any old habits and tendencies that have been stumbling blocks in your life.
