Psychology Therapist Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: What are some common reasons that people seek a psychologist / therapist?
A: People seek a psychologist or therapist for psychotherapy for many reasons. Some need to respond to unexpected changes in their lives, while others seek self-exploration and personal growth. When guilt, doubt, anxiety, or despair overwhelm coping skills, a psychologist or therapist can help. Therapy can provide support, problem-solving skills, and enhanced coping for issues such as depression, anxiety, lack of confidence, relationship troubles, unresolved childhood issues, bereavement, conflicts, stress management, body image issues, and many other concerns. People who seek psychotherapy are willing to take responsibility for their actions, work towards self-change and create greater awareness in their lives, all of which promote feeling better.
Q: Is psychological therapy right for me?
A: Seeking out psychotherapy is an individual choice. There are many reasons why people come to therapy. Sometimes it is to deal with long-standing psychological issues, or problems with anxiety or depression. Other times it is in response to unexpected changes in one's life such as a divorce or work transition.
Many seek therapy as they pursue their own personal exploration and growth. Working with a psychologist or therapist can help provide insight, support, and new strategies for all types of life challenges. Therapy can help address many types of issues including depression, anxiety, conflict, grief, stress management, body-image issues, and general life transitions. Therapy is right for anyone who is interested in getting the most out of their life by taking responsibility, creating greater self-awareness, and working towards change in their lives.
Q: What is psychotherapy like?
A: Every therapy session is unique and caters to each individual and their specific goals. It is standard for therapists to discuss the primary issues and concerns in your life during therapy sessions. It is common to schedule a series of weekly sessions, where each session lasts fifty minutes.
Psychology therapy can be short-term, focusing on a specific issue, or longer-term, addressing more complex issues or ongoing personal growth. There may be times when you are asked to take certain actions outside of the therapy sessions, such as reading a relevant book or keeping records to track certain behaviors. It is important to process what has been discussed and integrate it into your life between sessions. For therapy to be most effective you must be an active participant, both during and between the sessions.
People seeking psychotherapy are willing to take responsibility for their actions, work towards self-change and create greater awareness in their lives. Here are some things you can expect out of therapy:
- Compassion, respect and understanding
- Insight into clarifying persistent patterns and negative feelings
- Tools for enacting positive change
- Effective and proven techniques along with practical guidance
Q: How can a psychologist or therapist help with parenting difficulties?
A: Parenting difficulties often happen as children grow and come upon new developmental stages. They can also be caused by a divorce, move, addition to the family or other large change. At other times, a child’s behavior may be difficult to manage due to anxiety, depression, irritability, hyperactivity or oppositionality of the child. For these and other reasons, parents often need support and guidance in developing new parenting strategies to manage behavior. This can be a frustrating process for parents, and it typically takes away from positive time between parents and children. A high level of conflict can make life stressful for everyone in the family. Therapy is often helpful in addressing parenting challenges because it increases a parent’s ability to:
- Develop and share realistic expectations with their children
- Understand their children’s behavior and developmental level
- Develop and maintain appropriate discipline
- Maintain consistent rules and parental interventions
- Connect emotionally and enjoy quality time with their children
- Successfully address future behavioral struggles
Q: How can couples therapy help with relationships?
A: Emotional and physical intimacy is essential to a strong relationship, and it greatly contributes to overall health and well being. A lack of intimacy can lead to distrust, irritability, loneliness and sexual dissatisfaction. Without couples therapy, re-establishing intimacy can be awkward, daunting and overwhelming, because couples are often unaware of the underlying issues.
Couples therapy can provide space to explore the underlying issues, work toward addressing them and recreate feelings of closeness. The therapist can help a couple to save time and energy by pinpointing the key factors and guiding the couple in expressing their true desires and needs. The psychotherapist can also help to overcome hostility and improve communication. If you would like to re-ignite the intimacy in your relationship, couples therapy can be an important first step.Q: How can a family psychotherapist help with family problems?
A: All families experience conflicts from time to time, and this is a normal part of daily life. However, frequent and severe conflicts can adversely effect every member of the family leading to feelings of frustration, anger and hopelessness. Some of the issues that impact family dynamics include:
- Divorce, separation and couples' conflicts
- Power struggles amongst family members
- Depression, anxiety and substance abuse
- Developmental transitions and life changes
- Children who act out or are difficult to manage
When confronted with these or other challenges, parents often rely on strategies that they learned in their own childhood family to resolve problems. These strategies may be ineffective in addressing current problems, and the family may struggle as a result. In addition, generation gaps, differing ideas, secrets and hidden feelings can create family patterns that are ineffective. Families may then feel stuck and unsure of how to proceed. When this occurs, family therapy is often helpful in developing more effective problem-solving tools. Some goals of family therapy may include:
- Re-establishing effective power structure (i.e., parents in charge)
- Creating greater understanding and compassion of other family members
- Decreasing conflict on a day-to-day basis
- Learning to communicate more effectively
- Improving support for one another as a family
- Increasing feelings of comfort and happiness at home
- Developing new parenting strategies
Q: Why is child and adolescent therapy important?
A: Children can face a range of difficult problems in their lives that might include sadness, anxiety, academic stress and family conflicts. They need to learn how to understand, control and share their emotions appropriately. They also may struggle to control their behavior and meet the expectations of their parents and teachers. Psycho-therapists can help children work through these issues and make better choices in their lives. A psycho-therapist can be a trusted mentor who helps children grow, mature and overcome obstacles.
Open communication between a client and psycho-therapist is the best way to enhance the effectiveness of psycho-therapy. At the same time, the child or adolescent needs to know that his or her privacy is respected. The therapist will provide parents with all of the information that they need to help their child while also working hard to safeguard the trust that the child has placed in her. Effective psycho-therapy takes effort, commitment and trust. Some children and adolescents avoid psycho-therapy because they are afraid to discuss experiences or behaviors that may cause them emotional pain. Although this may be difficult, it is the beginning of truly understanding oneself and making the changes that bring about a greater sense of happiness.Q: Is psychological therapy confidential?
A: In general, the law protects the confidentiality of all communications between a client and psychotherapist. No information is disclosed without prior written permission from the client.
However, there are some exceptions required by law to this rule. Exceptions include:
- Suspected child abuse or dependant adult or elder abuse. The therapist is required to report this to the appropriate authorities immediately.
- If a client is threatening serious bodily harm to another person. The therapist is required to notify the police.
- If a client intends to harm himself or herself. The therapist will make every effort to work with the individual to ensure their safety. However, if an individual does not cooperate, additional measures may need to be taken.
Kaynaz's psycho-therapy practice is located in Newport Beach, but she helps patients that visit her from all of Southern California, including Orange County, San Diego, and Los Angeles, such as: