Trauma/PTSD

Unfortunately, life can present with traumatic or extremely difficult experiences which our brain does not know how to process adequately because they are so outside of the norm of our day to day life.  These include but are not limited to natural disasters, motor vehicle accidents, physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, and combat experiences.  They may involve death, serious injury, or violence for yourself or someone you know.  Additionally, they can be a one-time experience, or may involve several traumatic experiences over the course of an extended period of time.  As a result, your brain continues to try to process these experiences, with peoples’ natural reaction being to try to avoid or push away the memories.  Yet until these memories have been examined and worked through, they will continue to impact people, either consciously or unconsciously.  Common symptoms and effects of PTSD include:

  • Re-experiencing the event(s) in some way, such as nightmares, flashbacks, or frequent images or thoughts about the event.

  • Negative changes to your thoughts and mood, such as extreme and rigid negative beliefs about yourself and others, blaming yourself for what happened, loss of interest in life, withdrawing from others, and difficulties feeling positive emotions.

  • Increased emotional arousal, such as increased agitation, hypervigilance, jumpiness, and sleep and concentration difficulties.

  • Avoiding thinking or talking about what happened, as well as things that remind you of what happened.

It often can feel like trauma symptoms control your life, including what you think about and what you can and cannot do.  While many people who have experienced trauma have lived with their symptoms for so long that they assume this is the way life just is and always will be, we have very good treatments proven to decrease symptoms of PTSD, make life feel more manageable, and help you to take back control of your life.  If you are suffering from any of these symptoms, please contact Dr. Amidon.

Adjustment Difficulties and Stress

One of the most common reasons people come in for therapy is due to difficulties managing day to day stressors and problems.  Life transitions, relationship difficulties, work or family stress—all of these can have significant impacts on our quality of life, and at times, feel all consuming.  Dr. Amidon uses a holistic approach focusing on mind, body, and spirit and draws from numerous theories to help clients achieve a balanced sense of living.  Through some basic skills training you can learn how to manage life stressors in a more effective and healthy way.  Life is not just about learning how to survive, but rather learning to thrive!  If you feel like you are not functioning at your optimal ability and could be getting more out of life, please contact Dr. Amidon.

Anxiety

1.     Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Do you find that you wake up feeling anxious, not about any one thing in particular, but just life in general?  At the core of GAD is an excessive sense of anxiety and worry about a number of issues that is hard to control.  The worry tends to quickly jump from issue to issue, such as home, work, relationships, money, or world issues.  Additionally, people with GAD may experience:

  • A sense of restlessness or feeling “on edge”

  • Fatigue

  • Concentration difficulties

  • Irritability

  • Muscle tension

  • Sleep difficulties

If you are suffering from any of the symptoms above and would like assistance, please contact Dr. Amidon.

 2.     Panic attacks/Panic Disorder

Do you ever have intense anxiety or fear quickly take over your mind and body, feeling almost as if you might be having a heart attack?  Panic attacks include symptoms such as:

  • Increased heart rate and a pounding heart

  • Sweating, shaking

  • Difficulties breathing, feeling as if you might be choking, chest pains, nausea

  • Feeling dizzy or faint

  • Either chills or heat flashes

  • Numbness or tingling in your body

  • Feeling as if things are “unreal” or as if you are outside of your body

  • Fears of losing control or dying

Panic attacks often feel like they come on “out of the blue” and surprisingly, commonly occur when people are calm.  After a panic attack people often become very worried about having another one, even avoiding things that they think might lead to one.  Panic attacks can be very scary while in one, but fortunately, are highly manageable with just a bit of skills training.  If you are suffering from any of these symptoms, please contact Dr. Amidon.

3.     Social Anxiety/Extreme Shyness

Do you find it extremely anxiety provoking to be around others?  Do you fear you will do something in social situations that causes others to judge you poorly, leading to embarrassment or humiliation?  Do you find yourself having difficulties talking, blushing, sweating, or feeling nauseous in public settings?  You are not alone.  Often people with social anxiety experience extreme fear in social situations and thus go out of their way to avoid these situations, or force themselves to participate in them while experiencing intense anxiety.  People often recognize that their fear is out of proportion to the situation they are dreading but cannot get past it.  Common social situations that are avoided are:

  • Going to social events or parties

  • Having to engage in perceived embarrassing behaviors in public, such as speaking, eating, drinking, or using a public restroom

  • Having to meet new people

If you are suffering from any of these symptoms, please contact Dr. Amidon.

Depression

Do you find you feel down or sad most of the time?  Do you feel life is less interesting, enjoyable, or just kind of “blah” most days?  This is common to depression, with clinical depression being more intense and longer in duration than just feeling down for a bit.  Other common symptoms of depression include:

  • Appetite or weight changes

  • Sleep disturbances

  • Fatigue or moving and talking more slowly

  • Feeling more negative about yourself

  • Concentration difficulties

  • Suicidal thoughts

When someone is in a depressive episode it can be very hard to see a way out, or even find the energy to get help.  Unfortunately, the less we do to change our experience, the worse we feel about ourselves and our lives, becoming increasingly depressed.  This is how people can get “stuck” in a negative cycle of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that contribute to their depression.  However, there IS a way out of depression, which starts with taking the first step of reaching out for help.  If you are suffering from any of these symptoms, please contact Dr. Amidon.

Issues of Emotion Dysregulation

Does it feel like your emotions sometimes have a mind of their own?  Does your anger go from 0-100 in the blink of an eye?  Does anxiety take over and feel overwhelming?  Do you get stuck in waves of sadness, finding it hard to pull yourself out?  Do you feel like you are emotionally more sensitive at times than your peers?  Difficulties managing emotions is a common problem, particularly for people who have experienced trauma or extreme difficulties in their lives, as this can be a side-effect of those experiences.  Intense emotions can impact self-worth, work, relationships, and overall quality of life.  You can gain more control over your emotions and start to understand underlying issues that drive these emotions.  Utilizing DBT and CBT skills, you can learn how to analyze destructive thoughts leading to emotional dysregulation, use mindfulness to gain more control over your experience, distress tolerance to learn to ride out and/or accept painful emotions more effectively, and emotion regulation to change painful emotions.  Additionally, interpersonal skills can be helpful in learning how to be assertive, set boundaries, and manage conflict all while handling intense emotions to better maintain self-respect and healthy relationships with others.  If you would like to gain more control over problematic emotions, please contact Dr. Amidon.

Moral Injury

Combat-based moral injury is a newer concept that researchers and mental health professionals have been looking at over the past two decades, although it has existed for centuries.  Moral injury involves engaging in, failing to prevent, or witnessing acts that go against your deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.  Moral injury can be thought of in three broad categories: perpetration (legitimate or otherwise), failure (of self or others), and disillusionment (with command, the military, the government, even the war itself).  Some of the effects of moral injury include:

  • Profound despair, depression, or inability to enjoy life

  • Poor self-care

  • Extreme guilt, shame, and alienation

  • Inability to trust self/others (particularly around acts of morality)

  • Detachment, isolation

  • Emotional numbing

  • Loss of faith or religious beliefs, feelings of being condemned

  • Disillusionment with the government, military, authority, civilians

  • Negative changes in ethical attitudes, intense anger, blaming others

  • Re-experiencing of moral injury events

  • Avoidance

  • Self-harm or suicide

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, please contact Dr. Amidon.

Relationship Issues

One of the most common reasons people come in for therapy is due to relationship difficulties.  In looking at what people value most in life, relationships often are near the top of this list.  It makes sense then that when our relationships are not going well, other areas of our life begin to suffer.  Whether you are struggling with romantic, family, friend, work, or other forms of relationship difficulties, Dr. Amidon can help.  Relationships are often strengthened by first gaining a better understanding of yourself and what you bring to a relationship.  Additionally, sometimes some basic relationship skills can be helpful in creating healthier relationships.  Dr. Amidon draws from various theories and techniques to help you to better understand yourself, determine what you are wanting in a relationship, and learn how to get there.  If you feel like your relationships are not where you would like them to be, please contact Dr. Amidon.  

Self-Esteem

One of the most common reasons people come in for therapy is because they do not feel good about who they are and where they are at in their lives.  How we think and feel about ourselves impacts all aspects of our lives.  Often by working on strengthening yourself, you will see healthy and positive ripple effects throughout areas of your life.  Whether you have always struggled with self-esteem, or have recently been shaken by difficult experiences, Dr. Amidon can help.  Dr. Amidon takes a strengths-based approach to treatment, focusing heavily on what is unique and best within each one of us.  Drawing heavily from positive psychology, CBT, EMDR, and mindfulness approaches, Dr. Amidon will help you to explore the root of your self-esteem issues and learn skills to maximize your potential.  If you are currently not happy with who you are or where you are at in your life, please contact Dr. Amidon.