A New Experience with Overwhelm

Mental Health

Jul 2

Sometimes the demands of life feel like more than we can handle. We find that we are stuck in a thought process and don’t know our way out. There is a way through this. We may just need a different approach.

In my psychotherapy practice I partner with my clients to help them not just find relief, but find another way of being in relationship with themselves. What I mean by this is that on top of feeling like things are just too much, we often heap on more weight by judging ourselves for not being able to handle what’s happening. We need space from this double bind to re-find our place in the world.

In working together, my focus is on the emotional experience of being in this overwhelm with you. We join together as I need to also feel how this is in your life and as you are sharing it with me in my office. We will also work with the judgment towards yourself as it surfaces. I am trained in a powerful modality called AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) What follows is an abbreviated example of what can occur as we work together.

We will pay very close attention to the bodily sensations felt in response to the emotions that arise. At some point we may notice some shifts. The breath may deepen a little, the eyes may tear, the gaze softens. These markers are signals to me of specific points in an emotional transformation that I am helping to guide you through. A well of emotions may surface and we will work with this viscerally and with the meaning of what surfaced. With these sensory and emotional shifts, I will attend closely and gently help us move from the experience of overwhelm that you came in with to a more open, fuller way of being with yourself. Keep in mind that while accelerated, this process is not rushed, and will not always go as described. Together we will author our own story of your healing. I will also check in with you regularly throughout the session to make sure you feel comfortable going where we are going.

Afterwards, we will process the emotional experience and change that we experienced together. There is a particular reason afterwards to focus on what just transpired, how it felt, how you are feeling now. In AEDP this is called meta-therapeutic processing. The purpose is that this particular type of processing encodes the experience in our brain. We want to deepen the experience we just had so it can become more integrated within you.

We started with you feeling overwhelmed and I will strive for you to leave the session feeling like you can see your overwhelm with some distance, as a phenomenon you experienced, a part of you, but not you. You may also feel more relaxed, pride or joy. Whatever arises within you and you are wanting help with, we will be develop a trust and a gentle process to transform your experience of life.