Depression

Living with Depression is very difficult and it may feel hopeless. There is hope. Depression comes from many different causes. Situational depression comes from life circumstances being difficult such as loss of a loved one, loss of a job, family and relationship conflicts, etc.

Even those who are genetically predisposed to depression or have a biochemical depression can find relief. The more we hold things inside, the less we talk about the things that are bothering us, the worse the depression will be. Depression’s root cause is most often a result of “bottled up or repressed emotions”.

Individual Counseling for Depression provides an opportunity to talk about the issues that are causing the depression; it offers an opportunity to get the feelings out that are strongly impacting the degree of depression you are suffering from. Depression is treatable, even if you are currently on medication for depression, there is a way to decrease the symptoms of depression. Many people can even eventually get off the antidepressant with the help of a good therapist.

Here are some symptoms of Depression:

• Feelings of Sadness
• Loss of energy/feeling tired
• Too much sleep or insomnia
• Feeling Listless
• Craving comfort foods/increased appetite
• Loss of Appetite
• Difficulty concentrating
• Irritability
• Frustration
• Loss of pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• Anxiety
• Isolation
• And more…

Please know you deserve to live a pain free, joy filled life and this is possible most of the time. Life does bring us situations that cause sadness and pain, but it doesn’t have to permeate your life. There is a light inside of you that wants to bring about healing for you. Allow yourself to be the Light you deserve to be.

Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Are You Experiencing Anxiety and/or Panic Attacks?

We Can Help.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a very common phenomenon in our society. With the fast pace of today’s lifestyle and the demands put on individuals in the workforce and family life, it’s no wonder anxiety is such a common experience. In fact, it’s the number one mental health problem in America today.

However, the good news is that anxiety problems are also the most treatable mental health problems as well, and often have the highest success rate of all disorders. With today’s modern, natural techniques, there’s no reason to let fears or anxieties limit your choices in life.

If your anxiety is primarily due to stress, we can teach you effective ways to manage your stress. If your anxieties are more the result of bottled up emotions, our experienced and caring therapists will help you to release the feelings that may be bottled up inside.

Panic Attacks

Many people suffer from panic attacks. You are not alone. Unfortunately, too many people continue to suffer for years or a lifetime, being treated with drugs or therapy or both – but never finding relief.

Sometimes it is necessary for an individual to use the support of anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications. However, please know your panic attacks can be cured.

I have never worked with a client suffering from panic attacks that did not get freedom from these attacks.

A key factor in helping one overcome panic attacks once and for all is to help discover the cause or causes of the panic and to release bottled up emotions. Our therapists are trained in various therapeutic techniques that are aimed towards opening the valve and helping clients to release the emotions that are creating their panic attacks. Techniques such as EMDR, Gestalt Therapy, psychodrama, guided imagery and the Journey Process can all help tremendously in relieving you of your anxiety and panic attacks.

Grief and Loss

Coping with the loss of someone you love is one of life’s greatest stressors and creates the greatest pain. The pain of the loss is oftentimes so overwhelming. These feelings include sadness, extreme pain, loss, loneliness, despair, sometimes guilt, anger and sometimes shock. It is normal to want to cry all the time, or want to die. You may not want to wake up in the mornings. The despair and pain can be unbearable. Losing someone you love can lead to a severe depression.

How can I get through this? That is a question you may ask yourself. While you may want to isolate and though that may be ok sometimes, it can be very harmful and prevent your healing if you spend too much time alone. What you need most during such a difficult time is love and caring. Sometimes you just need someone to listen without saying a word, someone who will just allow you to feel your feelings of grief, loss and anger. ( without trying to fix it for you).

You don’t need to go through this alone. Talking to someone who cares about what will help you get through it.

Other forms of loss include divorce, loss of job, loss of your health, loss of finances. All these losses create real feelings of grief and pain and anger. They can severely affect the quality of your life. Talking to someone who understands will definitely help.

Codependency

If you are a loved one of someone who has an addiction, you have been severely affected by their illness. Your life seems to have become unmanageable also and your esteem may also have been affected.

You may have tried everything to help your loved one to stop, including expressing your pain and anger. Yet still they are powerless.

You can’t make them stop – but you can help yourself to begin to recover from life as you have come to know it, filled with stress and disappointment. Oftentimes in helping oneself, the addicted person has a greater chance of recovering – breaking free from the grips of the alcohol or substance abuse or both.

Your happiness is important. You can live in greater peace and contentment regardless of what is going on around you. Let Inner Light Counseling & Holistic Center be a source of support to help you get through this difficult situation.

We have therapists that are experienced in working with drugs and alcohol as well as working with the family members of an addicted person and we would like to help.

Anger Management

Anger is both a learned behavior and a result of bottled up emotions of fear and/or resentment. It could be old emotions or it could be from a current job or family situation.

The first step in recovering from anger that somehow seems to overtake you is to #1: Discover the cause.

It is our job as therapists to help you sort through your life and discover the causes of your anger. Once the cause is realized there are a variety of techniques that can help you change your life and begin to live in peace, harmony and joy with yourself and others.

Specific techniques include supportive therapy, EMDR, Gestalt Therapy, psychodrama, cognitive and behavior therapy.

Phobias

Are you riddled with fears that you cannot control? Phobias that affect your quality of living whether it is a fear of flying, bridges, riding in a car, driving, animals, agoraphobia, heights?

There is a cure. The cure starts with your desire to get well. Believe it or not, phobias can be easily overcome by learning to change your thoughts (Law of Attraction) and is further enhanced by techniques such as EMDR and the Journey Process. Other techniques used are cognitive/behavioral guided imagery, and supportive psychotherapy.

Pain Management

If you are suffering in pain from an injury, car accident, surgery, fibromyalgia or some similar cause, our empathy is with you. Living in chronic pain or a chronic illness often leads to depression, despair or a sense of hopelessness.

Medical doctors can help the pain to some degree sometimes, but getting support to help you get through the experience and keep a positive frame of mind and your peace of mind intact is also so important. We have physicians who have been referring their chronic pain patients to us for a variety of reasons.

We have several therapists on staff that are experienced working with the chronic pain population through supportive counseling, Reiki, guided imagery, and the Journey Process. There is hope, although we understand at times it may feel hopeless. You can get additional pain relief through the power of these techniques and the power of right thinking.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

OCD is a mental health condition that is characterized by obsessive thoughts that may lead to compulsive behaviors. Your mind may race with the same unwanted thoughts. In an effort to decrease the stress and fears brought on by these thoughts, you then engage in repetitive behaviors such as repeatedly washing your hands.

Some symptoms of Obsessive thinking include:

• Fear of losing control
• Fear of contamination
• Fear of hurting yourself or others
• Superstitions
• Feelings of having to be perfect to prevent something bad from happening.

Some Symptoms of Compulsive behaviors include:

• Repeatedly checking that door is locked or oven is off
• Excessive washing of hands, grooming or cleaning
• Mental Compulsions
• Repeating the same actions over and over
• Hoarding

Treatments for OCD include:
Exposure and Response Prevention – this involves a gradual and continual exposure to the source of your obsession while restricting your ability to perform your usual compulsive behaviors. This teaches you that compulsive behavior is not the only way to relieve your fears and anxiety.

Cognitive Therapy – Looks at the exaggerated and compulsive thoughts and teaches you healthier ways to respond to these thoughts.

Relationship Issues

Relationship Problems?

Don’t Wait until it’s Too Late!

All relationships require some work. Relationship Counseling is one of the highest sought after forms of therapy. Because we have all come from some degree of history that has influenced us, we bring that history into our relationships.

Add to that the stresses of raising children, working 40-60 hours a week, financial or communication problems and the marriage is under a lot of pressure.

You fell in love for a reason. Remember those things you first loved about the other person. They are still present within each of you. The truth is you deserve a loving, happy, and fulfilling relationship. When you entered into this relationship or when you said, “I do” that is what you desired and hoped for. Your love was strong and you believed in your love. You can recapture that desire and that hope. You owe it to yourselves to give your relationship or marriage a chance and make your dream a reality.

Communication of course is a key factor in whether a couple can grow together or not. It is so important for couples to communicate from their “hearts,” express their feelings in a way in which they can be heard and in which the partner does not feel attacked or put down.

We have several marriage and relationship experts on staff and several powerful techniques such as such as Imago Therapy (“Getting the Love You Want,” by H. Hendrix) and psychodrama, that can help to:

• enhance your relationship
• resolve past or present conflicts
• release hurts and resentments
• e-romanticize your relationship
• restore the vision and love that brought you together in the first place.

Adult Children of Alcoholics

Growing up in an alcoholic home or a home where your parents were wounded themselves, thus growing up in a “less than happy” home is common. So common that statistics say about 95% of the population has grown up in a “dysfunctional” family.

The point is that all parents are human and all have been wounded. All people are unconscious to one degree or another. Thus your childhood may have had trauma, pain, emotional, physical abandonment, physical or sexual abuse, or neglect. Your parents may have expected perfection from you. Your Mom or Dad may have been so drunk that you were ridiculed, put down, ignored or you had to take care of them. You, in essence, feel like you were the parent.

Unfortunately our past does affect us. Many people carry around what the “Eckhart Tolle” refers to as “a pain body” in the best selling book “The Power of Now.” That “pain body” affects our lives in every facet – perhaps most of all in our level of happiness and in our relationships.

The good news is that you can heal the pain in your body. And you deserve to heal the pain body and achieve a high quality of life filled with peace, happiness, contentment, power, love fulfilling relationships, etc.

Women's Issues

Some types of issues that women may face other than the common depression and anxiety can be:

• Domestic Violence
• Sexual Abuse
• Discrimination
• Postpartum Depression
• Hormonal Changes
• Menopause
• Empty Nest Symptoms
• Workplace Discrimination
• Adjusting to new motherhood
• Identity Issues
• Divorce
• Raising Children as a Single Mother
• Body Image Disorders
• Weight Issues
• Compulsive shopping
• Aging

The therapists at Inner Light Counseling can help with any of the above issues you may be struggling with. We are here to help you heal, become more empowered and live happier, more fulfilling lives.

Counseling for the Elderly

Aging brings on new kinds of difficulties and struggles, including chronic and sometimes serious health issues, death of a partner, grief and loss, declining energy levels and mobility, depression, loneliness, and more.

Inner Light Counseling has 5 therapists on staff that have vast experience working with the elderly. They offer compassion, understanding and wisdom to help you or your parents get through these difficult issues with greater peace and ease.