Psychologist Chicago Archives
Throughout their lives, many people will go through a crisis or challenging occurrence. While experiencing crises and challenges is a normal part of life, not everyone knows how to handle or respond to a crisis while experiencing it. I find that many clients of mine are attempting to cope with a crisis in their life and are looking for skills to utilize when the crisis is currently occurring, or even to handle a crisis that happened in…
Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling Have you ever been sitting at your desk at work and felt overwhelming anxiety? It can often feel like you can’t escape the racing thoughts and excessive worry as you are stuck trying to complete your work. You may feel like you can’t just get up and leave to go for a walk or get some air, so what can you do? Anxiety can be debilitating in all areas of…
Being able to find the right counselor for anyone can be really difficult. It is just like finding a doctor or dentist that you like, but with your therapist, you have to feel comfortable with them due to the amount of information you will be divulging to them. It is difficult to open up to anyone and even more to a stranger. Feeling comfortable in having the right therapist is key. In this blog post, I will…
Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling Engaging in romantic relationships is one of the biggest risks you can take. While they may bring you so much joy and happiness, they can also encompass pain and betrayal. As you continue to open yourself up and become vulnerable physically and emotionally with another person, the risk of getting rejected, hurt, betrayed, or abandoned grows. Experiencing such hurt can lead anyone to engage in self-sabotaging behaviors moving forward. People…
Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling When you think of “self-care” you most likely think of working out and eating healthy. While physical self-care is crucial, the other five forms of self-care are just as important in achieving the level of happiness and balance you deserve. A lot of people burn themselves out from all the stress in their daily lives or simply just put themselves last on their priority list. Unfortunately, it isn’t until they…
We often go through moments of high motivation and then some moments of low motivation. It is always frustrating for ourselves when we are unable to motivate ourselves to do anything, even sometimes the smallest things such as laundry, packing, dishes, showering, going to work, working out, and many other activities. I often see people out running early in the morning, or eating healthy, or doing whatever they need to get done, and I always wonder (and…
Happiness often feels like a prize we have to chase. Many people hold onto the idea that life will feel better once the next milestone is reached. “I’ll be happy when I finish school. I’ll be happy when I land a promotion. I’ll be happy when I lose those last 15 pounds.” These thoughts tie happiness to some future outcome and keep contentment out of reach. In a world where our phones deliver a constant flood of…
Amanda Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Practitioner Work environments can be stressful, exhausting, and depressing—and that’s a problem. Supporting your mental health at work is not optional; it’s required. Mental health issues can lead to decreased productivity, conflicts with coworkers, low job satisfaction, and even an inability to keep your job. If you dread going to work, here are four things you can do to promote your mental health in the workplace: 1) Protect yourself from negativity. A frequent…
Have you ever felt depressed or anxious and asked yourself, “Why do I feel like this? This is uncomfortable. I don’t like this feeling, and I want to make it go away right now.” While many people do not enjoy the feeling of not being okay, it is important to reflect on the relevance it has on your mind and body. While society has been a little slow in keeping up with the importance of self-care and…
Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling It’s Sunday afternoon and an intense feeling of dread may begin to overwhelm you. This anxiety is often accompanied by racing thoughts of what lies ahead in the work week and all the responsibilities that come with it. Some of these responsibilities include emails, meetings, deadlines, and late nights. Once the anxiety kicks in the rest of your night is then consumed with work-related stress leaving you feeling exhausted on…