marriage counseling
Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling Wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, repeat. Our days seem so full that we tend to repeat this cycle over and over again throughout our weeks, months, and even sometimes years of our lives. When we engage in such a consistent work-week routine, it can tend to feel like our lives have become “automatic,” “monotonous,” and “exhausting.” When this occurs, we tend to work…
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Your relationship just ended. You may have been dating for a couple of months, a couple of years, engaged, or married. You may be feeling sadness, relief, joy, devastation, or a combination of many emotions. Even with the end of an intimate relationship, you may have to maintain a platonic relationship due to sharing children or being in the same friend group. Regardless of your circumstance, the transition from being in a relationship to being single can…
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Depression makes us sad and fearful of having emotions, and we do not feel anything but sadness and lack of enjoyment in our daily lives. After having a baby, those feelings can also occur, and it is called Postpartum Depression (PPD.) Just like depression, symptoms might start after a triggering moment, and with PPD, it is after delivering your baby. PPD symptoms include moodiness (mood swings), difficulty connecting with your baby, and not being able to make…
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Anxiety is a common emotion that we all share and, at times, it is actually useful. Its helpful functions are to alert you to danger or threat and to increase your awareness and motivation of a task that needs your attention (preparing for a presentation, or checking on your sleeping child). It is when anxiety gets out of control that it can become problematic and dominate the emotional state. High anxiety can manifest in many different ways,…
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It is not easy being single during the holidays because all the movies on the Hallmark channel (and really, all channels) are romantic movies and we just want to be cuddled up on the couch with someone watching those movies together, instead of alone. Your friends are all going to their significant others’ homes for the holidays and you are at home alone. None of your friends are free as they are doing “cute” stuff with their…
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Amanda Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Let’s say you’ve discovered a new method to cope with a problematic emotion or behavior, such as anxiety, depression, irritability, impulsivity, or procrastination, to name a few. Perhaps you’ve learned about a new technique such as meditation, from a therapist, friend, podcast, or blog, and you want to see if meditating would be good for you. Now what? As a therapist, I’ve seen many clients who struggle to implement new coping skills once…
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Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling We all have our personal boundaries when it comes to dating; however, there are times when our boundaries can get in the way of making the connection we desire. Ideally, our boundaries should be flexible, yet firm. They should not be so rigid that emotional intimacy is prevented, but they shouldn’t be so loose that you risk getting hurt. When you are dating, you want to pace the rate at…
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Amanda Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Therapists are constantly campaigning about the importance of self-care. They provide us with recommendations of ways to take better care of ourselves and constantly remind us to practice self-care and to do it often. Have you ever wondered what exactly those same therapists do to take care of themselves? I spoke with therapists who practice at Symmetry Counseling, Chicago’s mental health and relationship specialists, to discover how they practice self-care. Morning Rituals Many…
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With the holidays quickly approaching, many of us are already beginning to plan our get-togethers with family and friends. For this reason, sometimes “the most wonderful time of the year” often is also the most stressful time of the year. If you are in charge of the family and social calendar in your household and you feel mounting pressure around the holidays, it may be worthwhile to evaluate and change some of your holiday traditions. When is…
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I work with many clients who struggle with making tough decisions in their daily routines, whether it is something as simple as choosing between bananas or apples at the grocery store, or something as big as a significant career change. When working with these clients, I use a bit of psychodynamic theory, asking them about their childhood and how they made decisions when they were younger. Many times, they report that their parents tried to make decisions…
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