Individual Relationship Counseling

Difficulty with Intimacy

You struggle developing a secure, loving bond with someone. You’re so confused that you’re not sure what you want when it comes to relationships. It’s discouraging. No matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to find a partner who makes you happy. Secretly, you may wonder if there’s something wrong with you.

Anxiety in Relationships

If you find yourself struggling with anxiety and panic disorder, a marriage and family therapist (MFT) can be a valuable resource. Systemically trained, MFTs know how to assess and connect the environmental and genetic factors that may be contributing to your distress. In addition to effective treatment modalities like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), MFTs also have expertise in relational therapy. The combination of these skills provides an anxious client with the opportunity to:

  • Connect thoughts, beliefs, and actions that maintain anxious symptoms

  • Examine how major relationships and events shape thought

  • Build on existing strengths while adding skills, like meditation and mindfulness, to better manage stressors that trigger anxious thoughts and feelings of panic

  • Increase awareness and understanding of the mechanics of anxiety through psychoeducation

If you relate to these statements, you may benefit from working with a MFT.

  • You have worries or insecurities that prevent you from dating or achieving greater intimacy with your partner

  • You don’t understand why relationships are so difficult for you

  • You are frustrated with repeated relationships that bring you so much pain

  • You don’t get your needs for emotional or physical intimacy met in your relationships.

    • You rely heavily on others to reassure you or calm anxious thoughts

    • You avoid serious conversations with your partner because you are afraid of conflict

    • You convince yourself your partner is unfaithful or isn’t attracted to you with no evidence

Depression in Relationships

    • You feel undeserving of a healthy, happy relationship.

    • You feel lonely. 

    • You long to have a happy, loving relationship with a partner who is there for you.

    • You sometimes doubt that you will ever find love that fulfills you.

Codependency

    • You have difficulty making decisions in a relationship.

    • You have difficulty identifying your feelings.

    • You have difficulty communicating in a relationship.

    • You value the approval of others more than you value yourself.

    • You don’t trust yourself, and have poor self-esteem 

    • You have difficulty setting boundaries

    • You feel resentful and frustrated because you feel taken advantage of or disrespected.

    • You often disregard your own needs in order to take care of others

    • You’ve been told that you are a people pleaser

    • You often feel like you are responsible for other people's happiness

    • Your relationships are highly conflicted, charged or seem to become easily explosive or volatile

    • In relationships you feel like your needs are often not met 

    • It feels like your relationships are one-sided and often not reciprocated

    • You struggle with identifying and asking for your wants and needs in a relationship