THERAPY FOR ANXIETY IN MINNEAPOLIS
Learn to accept yourself. Feel more confident. Create the life you want.
Does it feel like your mind won’t give you credit for your accomplishments no matter what you do?
You have achieved professional success. People view you as high achieving and competent. You feel in control, powerful, and proud of your achievements professionally.
When it comes to your internal world, it’s a different story.
There is a part of you that feels inferior to other people. This leaves you feeling isolated and alone.
You find your mind constantly comparing yourself to others…
“Why can’t I make friends the way other people do?”
“I’m not good enough.”
“Why do I push people away?”
“No one would want to be close to me if they saw the real me.”
“Other parents can do it all, why can’t I?”
This inner critic makes you feel lonely and very, very stuck.
You constantly feel caught in the pull to be close to others but simultaneously feel that strong need to protect yourself from rejection.
When a friend invites you to a party, you feel a brief wave of hope and excitement, followed by a firing squad of questions from your mind about how it will go, what you’ll wear, whether people will think you’re awkward, and what you will talk about. Following the party, your mind will turn over every word you said in great detail.
This makes you feel exhausted and frustrated with yourself.
You wonder how you can be so successful in other areas but unable to figure these things out.
You observe other people and it seems to come so easily to them. This just feels like further confirmation that something is wrong with you. You feel ashamed and helpless. Over time, this life you built to protect yourself from rejection begins to feel depressing. You notice that all you do is work and then come home. After work, you find yourself leaning into anything that will give you comfort. Maybe you have two (or three) glasses of wine or spend $500 on some new clothes. Maybe you lean into rigid eating habits or diets followed by periods of overeating when it all becomes too much. These things make you feel a bit better in the short-term but you know that they aren’t enough to sustain you long-term.
This hurts and isn’t the life you envisioned for yourself.
You’re intelligent and industrious and you’ve likely tried to solve this problem in a variety of ways. You’ve read self-help books, practiced positive affirmations while staring yourself down in the mirror, started new exercise routines, and challenged yourself to talk to new people. Despite your best ideas and efforts, you find that your inner critic always finds new material about your shortcomings and pulls you back to the safety of your old patterns.
how i can help
Helping you heal your relationship with yourself
We will build a foundational relationship in which you feel safe and supported. You will practice letting your guard down in therapy, which, over time, will serve as the foundation for letting your guard down with other people outside of therapy.
We will work together to identify the unhelpful self-talk in your mind that keeps you stuck. We will work to replace it with kinder, more compassionate language that feels authentic for you.
We will explore and practice strategies to self-soothe in healthy ways, so you can let go of the “band-aid” strategies–those strategies that help you get by in the short-term but perpetuate your struggles in the long-term.
We will create a life that is based on your values and what you care about rather than what you’re fearful of. We may practice exposing yourself to anxiety-provoking situations (in baby steps!) in order to build confidence and agency.
If applicable, we can explore body image and your relationship with food. Learn to speak kindly to yourself about your body. Learn to incorporate balanced eating habits instead of engaging in restriction or overeating in attempts to self-soothe.
imagine if you could…
See yourself as a human with strengths and weaknesses and remember that your weaknesses are no worse than anyone else’s.
You will start to believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with you and treat yourself with respect and love.
Learn to calm the inner critic in your mind.
You will learn how to not let the inner critic run the show.
Learn to let go of unhelpful habits.
Maybe it’s online shopping, using alcohol or food to cope, or hopping from diet to diet in hopes that you’ll feel better about yourself. Learn how to let go of these “quick fixes” and find strategies to soothe yourself in sustainable, healthier ways.
I want you to know:
Therapy for self-esteem can help you:
Accept yourself as you are
Find peace within yourself
Increase your ability to be in the present moment
Deepen your relationships
Reconnect to your authentic self and feel more confident sharing that with the outside world
Let go of unhelpful habits (shopping, alcohol use, scrolling through social media) and replace them skills to help you self-soothe in the difficult moments
faqs
Common questions about therapy for self-esteem
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Many of the individuals I work with who struggle with self-acceptance tend to be professionally successful people who seem to “have it all together.” Many are lawyers, therapists, psychologists, nurses, or physicians. These individuals find that many of the habits that have helped them excel professionally (i.e., high standards, attention to detail) have made life difficult for them personally.
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The examples described above are primarily related to social anxiety and self-esteem challenges, which I have a special interest and passion for. However, I also have expertise treating individuals with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and OCD.
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Absolutely not. Every single person (myself included) develops unhelpful habits to cope when we are in pain and don’t have other skills we can use. I believe that all humans are struggling in some way and will not judge you for the particular manner in which you're struggling. I will offer compassion and facilitate the why underneath the unhelpful behavior so we can explore alternatives.
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I primarily use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I also use Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and exposure to address these concerns.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is also been a really helpful skillset for learning to manage strong emotions and a modality that I incorporate as well.
Ready to get started?