Q&A
Questions and Answers
Unhealthy self-esteem presents in various ways such as but not limited to:
- Negative self-talk
- Putting yourself down
- Ongoing self-criticism
- Poor self-care
- Self-doubt
- Comparing yourself to others causing feelings of insecurity
- Not making time for yourself
- Unrealistic expectations of self that lead to feeling like you have failed
- Rarely or never feeling good enough
- Criticizing your body, your character, your abilities
- Allowing fear of what others think to influence you
- Never or rarely putting your needs first
- Feeling guilt and or shame a lot
- Not seeing that you have value
- Failing to advocate for your rights
- Often feeling guilt and or shame
- Not believing you have rights
- Not believing in yourself
Ask if yourself if you experience the following:
- How you feel about your body has a negative impact on your relationships, work/school, or activities.
- You avoid looking at your body.
- You compulsively and repetitively check your body by weighing yourself, measuring body parts, pinching your skin, or looking at your reflection in the mirror again and again.
- You will not leave the house without make-up.
- You avoid social events due to fear of being judged for how you look.
- You constantly compare how you look to how others look which often causes you to feel inferior.
- You hide your body with baggy clothes, long sweaters or coats, or wear hats to conceal your face.
- You excessively rid your body of hair.
- You are preoccuppied with how you look and wanting to lose weight to feel better.
- You have had many procedures done to change how you look including surgeries.
- You use harsh and critical words to describe your body.
- You intentionally hurt your body.
- You experience intense negative emotions when you think about your body or body parts.
Ask yourself if you experience the following:
- Eat more food when experiencing stress, anxiety, or other negative emotions.
- Eat even when not hungry or when feeling full.
- Eat to feel better, when bored, to improve mood, or soothe yourself when upset.
- Overeat to point of feeling physically uncomfortable.
- Avoid social events due to fear of being judged for how you look.
- Feels like food becomes your friend, keeps you safe.
- Feel powerless to stop eating emotionally, feel out of control around comfort foods.
Symptoms of trauma include denial, feeling sad, angry, fearful, anxious, and ashamed. Trauma often leads to nightmares, sleep difficulties, relationship issues, and emotional dysregulation such as outbursts and the inability to self-soothe. Physical symptoms of trauma include nausea, dizziness, sleep issues, appetite changes, headaches, and gastrointestinal issues. Trauma often co-occurs with PTSD, depression, anxiety, dissociation, substance abuse, eating disorders, damaged esteem.
Absolutely no.
I specialize in treating anxiety disorders and eating disorders, but I am qualified and skilled to work with many other mental health disorders.
The following may be indicators that you can benefit from counseling:
- Experiencing more unpleasant and negative emotions compared to positive
- Lacking healthy coping skills to decrease or better manage symptoms
- Unable to stop engaging in behaviors that cause you emotional and or physical pain
- Want to improve the quality of your life
- Be committed to the process.
- Show up to your therapy sessions.
- Be on time.
- Engage in sessions by opening up and sharing your truth.
- Do your homework when provided.
- Be honest.
- Tell your story, allow yourself to be vulnerable.
- If you do not feel hopeful, encouraged, or even a little better following your therapy sessions share this with your therapist. Ensure your therapist is a good fit, competent, and qualified to treat your mental health disorder(s).
- Do not give up.
- Make your health a priority.
Think of therapy as providing a safe place to 1) discover more about yourself through sharing your story, 2) being willing and open to learning, and 3) working with your therapist to create treatment goals in order to help you feel hope, believe change is possible and eventually experience improved quality of life.
Typically, counseling sessions are scheduled weekly. During the initial assessment, you and I will collaborate to complete treatment goals and your individualized treatment plan. It is at this time we can discuss the number of sessions and the frequency of sessions that may be required.
Your therapy session will be 50 minutes.
You can request a 30 minute or a 90 minute session.
- Missed sessions and Cancellations will be subject to $100 fee if Not RECEIVED AT LEAST 48 HOURS IN ADVANCE. This is necessary because a time commitment is made to you and is held exclusively for you. If you are late for a session, you may lose some of that session time. If you reschedule your session within the same week with at least 24-hour notice no fee will apply. Please contact me for any additional questions I look forward to hearing from you!