Emotion Regulation
​I focus my practice on emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation can be grouped into two broad categories, under- and over-control. Symptoms of under-control may be seen in sudden, extreme shifts in emotion, impulsive (often risky) behavior, an unstable sense of self, or difficulty maintaining healthy relationships. Dyscontrol-related disorders vary widely and include forms of mood, addiction, eating, impulse-control, and personality disorders.
Over-control is often observed in emotional suppression, excessive self-criticism, compulsive fixing or planning, frequent rumination, isolative behavior, rigid thinking, repetitive behavior, or fear of judgment. Over-control-related disorders also span diagnostic categories and include anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, eating, and personality disorders.
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Paradoxically, both under- and over-controlled behavior are maladaptive responses to heightened emotional sensitivity. I provide clients skills to manage distressing emotions so they can surrender patterns of impulsive and inflexible behavior that block their progress. By experimenting with new self-regulation strategies, clients establish the intrapersonal balance required to work toward valued interpersonal goals. ​
Trauma
At their core, trauma- and stressor-related disorders are emotion regulation disorders triggered by traumatic events. Trauma presents as an unpredictable oscillation between extremes of under-control and over-control. Over-control appears between moments of crisis as people strain to suppress the past. Under-control appears when exhaustive efforts to push away the past inevitably fail and historic traumas are re-lived in the present.​ I help clients to step into and out of distress so they learn to live with the past without re--experiencing it in the present.