Therapy Chicago Archives

Let’s face it – no matter how helpful our coping skills, self-care, supports, and therapists can be, we are all be bound to have an emotionally or mentally overwhelming week (or month(s)!). We are human beings and life stressors, triggers, and transitions can all interfere with our balanced day-to-functioning. Sometimes, there is simply no avoiding or suppressing an emotional or mental breakdown. These breakdowns can look very different from person to person. For one, a breakdown may…

A long work commute drains energy quickly, so coping with it is an important part of protecting your emotional wellness. Long stretches in traffic reduce time for connection and relaxation, which adds tension to the start and end of your day. Many people share that their commute pulls them away from moments with friends, family, and personal downtime. Small adjustments create space for better focus and a calmer mindset. How Coping with a Long Work Commute Supports…

You can take meaningful steps to reduce the pull of your smartphone once you understand how easy it is for habits to form around constant checking. Many people explore how to distance themselves from their phone because they want more focus, more calm, and more time for the parts of life that feel fulfilling. Small changes help you create some breathing room as you build a healthier relationship with your device. When these habits feel natural, and…

By now, we all know that it’s better for our health and our relationships to limit the amount of time we spend glued to our smartphones. By being attuned to our screens instead of the world surrounding us, we’re missing out on connections with our loved ones and peaceful moments. I can’t count the number of times a client has made a disparaging remark about their relationship with their cell phone, noted the difficulty in staying focused…

It’s 7pm on a weeknight. You’ve just gotten home from a long day at work and are absolutely exhausted. Unfortunately, you have a meeting in the morning you need to prepare for. Before starting to prepare you think to yourself “I should take my dog out for a walk”. When you get home from your walk you make dinner for your kids then start to get them ready for bed. While you’ve been productive with these tasks,…

Steven Topper, LCPC Most of us would agree that the world would be a far lovelier place with a little more compassion. And while many of us work to extend compassion toward our pets, families, and friends, so many struggle with self-compassion. In the Podcast “Psychologists Off The Clock,” Dr. Christopher Germer discussed the role of self-compassion and how to increase daily self-compassion. He asserts that self-compassion is a practice in moving toward acceptance, and that, “You…

I work with many clients who struggle with being a people pleaser. My job as their clinical therapist is to help the client understand possible reasons why they struggle with the need of wanting to please other people and then possible coping strategies on how to start saying “no” to others. I recently read an article from Fast Company that touched on this very topic, “How to stop your people-pleasing behavior from limiting your success” by author…

As a clinician, I often work with clients who may have moved to the area recently or are making a life transition in which they are no longer close to a group of friends on a daily basis such as in school or a work setting. They may be changing from an office job where they had coworker friends to working independently. They may be coming out of a relationship or divorce where they had shared mutual…