Adult Services
Anxiety
Do you worry too much? Do your worries cause significant stress for you or your family and friends? Are you experiencing physical symptoms of anxiety or avoidance behaviors (i.e., procrastinate from getting things done, avoid potentially fun activities due to your anxiety)?
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If the answer is yes, there is help. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a collection of therapies with specific techniques aimed at changing behavior and emotional responses. CBT works with to identify behaviors and emotional responses that contribute to anxiety. This approach works to understand what is maintaining anxiety and its accompanying behaviors, and how to quiet the anxious symptoms and manage the anxious thoughts. Utilizing this approach, I will work with you to develop a set of tools, which are practiced in and outside of sessions, to reduce the frequency, intensity, and duration of anxiety symptoms. Over time, you will get better and better at reducing your anxiety and learn how to reclaim your life by ending the avoidance behaviors.
CBT has been evaluated in a number of scientific studies and has been shown to be effective for the majority of those struggling with anxiety
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Depression
Depression is a condition that affects your mood and ability to function. Depressive symptoms include feeling sad, hopeless, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities. It can also cause difficulty with thinking, memory, eating and sleeping. Without treatment, depression can get worse and last longer. Fortunately, treatments can be very effective in improving symptoms of depression.
Different types of psychotherapy can be effective for depression. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one form of psychotherapy that aims to treat the symptoms of depression. It can help by:
Helping individuals adjust ways of reacting to a crisis
Identify negative beliefs and behaviors and replace them with healthy, more positive ones
Find better ways to cope and solve problems
Identify issues that contribute to your depression and change behaviors that make it worse
Regain a sense of satisfaction and control in your life and help ease depression symptoms, such as hopelessness and anger
Learn to set realistic goals for your life
Develop the ability to tolerate and accept distress using healthier behaviors
ADHD
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common behavioral disorder in children. Symptoms including inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, oppositionality and academic underperformance are often reported from youth suffering from ADHD. These youth may also have coexisting conditions (e.g., anxiety, learning, mood, or sleep disorders) which should be identified and treated. Behavioral and Cognitive Behavioral treatments are recommended for preschool-aged children through adulthood.
The goal of ADHD treatment is to improve symptoms, optimize functional performance, and remove behavioral obstacles. Effective therapies include parent training, classroom management, emotion regulation, self-esteem building, peer interventions, and combinations of these interventions.
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Parent training provides education to improve their understanding about ADHD, behavioral problems, and child development. This training also helps them employ positive parenting strategies (e.g., praise and rewards for targeted behaviors) and reduce disruptive child behaviors (e.g., planned ignoring of behavior and use of consequences). Classroom management focuses on strategies to improve classroom routines and structure, a token economy to shape positive behaviors, and a daily behavioral report card to monitor progress and provide feedback to the child, parent, and team. Peer interventions include social skills training to improve social behaviors.
Sleep Problems
Most people have insomnia at some point in their lives. Usually, it happens during times of stress and goes away in a few days or weeks without treatment. Professional help may be needed when insomnia lasts for months or even years. Untreated insomnia causes daytime functioning problems such as fatigue, irritability, and difficulty with concentration and memory. Long-term, chronic insomnia may also be associated with depression, drug and alcohol use, and heart disease.
Insomnia can take several forms and have many causes, but it always has certain characteristics. Insomnia comes in four basic categories:
Difficulty falling asleep
Difficulty staying asleep
Waking up too early
Poor quality sleep
Insomnia reduces the overall quality of life. Next day effects may include:
Fatigue or Malaise
Daytime Sleepiness
Attention, Concentration or Memory Impairment
Poor work performance
Irritability
Headaches
Worries about sleep
Cognitive behavioral therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is a treatment for chronic insomnia. CBT-I usually combines several clinically proven interventions tailored to each patients particular needs. Possible interventions include: stimulus control therapy, sleep restriction therapy, relaxation training, cognitive therapy, bright light therapy, sleep hygiene education and other interventions
CBT-I is often called a multicomponent treatment because it combines several different approaches. Sessions may include cognitive, behavioral, and educational components.
Cognitive interventions: Cognitive restructuring attempts to change inaccurate or unhelpful thoughts about sleep.
Behavioral interventions: Relaxation training, stimulus control, and sleep restriction promote relaxation and help to establish healthy sleep habits.
Psychoeducational interventions: Providing information about the connection between thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and sleep is central to CBT-I.
The order and flow of each component can vary based on the provider’s approach and the unique needs of each person. Here are some common techniques used in CBT-I.