Issues and Symptoms
Example issues
Relationship issues/breakdown
Bereavement/loss
Work issues
Identity issues
Parenting challenges
Lack of confidence
Social/friendship challenges
Low self esteem
Lack of assertiveness
Sibling issues
Change of life situation
Supporting elderly parents
Example symptoms
These are some of the symptoms which may be linked to issues and life events:
Panic attacks
Anxiety
Phobias
Low mood
Suicidal thoughts/intents
Compulsive behaviours
Headaches
Stomach problems
Body pain
Sleepless nights
Angry outbursts
Irritability
Chronic fatigue
Palpitations
Eating issues
Feeling on edge
General malaise
It is often a symptom which brings people to therapy, for example sleepless nights or panic attacks. It is usually the symptoms which people find difficult to live with, and which negatively impact their functioning in their lives. In brief counselling, I can help you to find strategies to manage these symptoms, for example the use of mindfulness and breathing techniques, or thinking about sleep 'hygiene'. Talking about these symptoms in counselling can help you to understand a little more about what issues may be causing these symptoms right now in your life. Symptoms usually, but not always, link to some kind of life event, like prolonged periods of stress or bereavement.
Sometimes symptoms can also be an indication of longer term or core issues, which have been a part of you for some time, but which have never really come to the surface. A current situation in your life can 'trigger' a longer term issue, for example a breakdown in relationship in the present can trigger issues of difficult relationships from the past or from childhood.
Sometimes, as we begin to understand the symptom, we begin to hear what it has to tell us about longer term patterns in ourselves which may need to be worked through in longer term psychotherapy. For example, low self worth which has been triggered by a difficult situation with work colleagues. Sometimes it is necessary to combine short term coping strategies with longer term therapy in order to get to the underlying issues whilst still managing everyday symptoms.
In creative arts psychotherapy, we can explore the issues you bring in detail, getting a felt sense of what it is like to be you and live the life you live. Sometimes I invite you to do creative exercises which help to deepen our shared understanding of a particular situation or set of emotions.
Creative, embodied, relational