Reasons to seek psychotherapy

Stress is a fact of life. Good stress is usually acute, temporary and resolvable. This kind of stress motivates your "personal best" performance. Bad stress is more likely due to circumstances that a person perceives as chronic, and unresolvable. "Good" or "bad" stress can trigger the physiological "fight or light" response which is manifested in any of these physical symptoms: cold hands, rapid heart beat, sweaty palms, anxiety, forgetfulness, shakiness, headaches, muscle tension, or stomach upset. These symptoms are signals to help a person recognize "stress overload" in order to reduce the stress triggers in your life. Coping strategies that may help reduce "bad" stress are regular exercise, asserting and experiencing feelings, yoga or meditation, time management, and limiting refined sugars, caffeine and alcohol consumption.

Everyone feels anxious and stressed out from time to time. However, clinical anxiety causes significant emotional distress and leads to significant impairments  in daily living. Common anxiety symptoms include racing heart, sweaty palms, panic "attacks," dizziness, trembling, muscle aches, feelings of impending doom, or a choking sensation. Children also experience anxiety symptoms although they may manifest in poor academic performance, irritability, illness, school refusal, difficulty  making friends, and hypersensitivity to criticism. There are several subtypes of psychological conditions within anxiety disorders:  Dr Lachapelle specializes in Generalized Anxiety, Social Phobia and Panic Disorder. 

Depression is characterized by persistent feelings of sadness and emptiness, diminished interest of pleasure, irritability, insomnia or hypersomnia, loss of appetite or emotionally-driven eating, loss of energy, impaired concentration or memory, disturbed sleep, feelings of worthlessness, and sometimes preoccupation with suicide or death. Children, adolescents and adults experience depression. These symptoms interfere with the tasks of daily living (sleeping, grooming, eating, attending school/work) and can last for weeks, months or years. Several factors can predispose an individual to depression: a history of familial depression, chronic illness (e.g. diabetes, chronic pain), or major life stressors (e.g. death of a loved one, divorce, or job loss). Research shows that those who report depression often experience multiple major life stressors simultaneously. 

There are numerous self-help books and seminars a person can use in order to better interact with their child and to co-parent. Psychotherapy can be an important adjunct to this information so that you may recognize how patterns from the past require changes on multiple levels (i.e. thoughts, feelings and behaviors). It is helpful to try new interaction patterns, methods of discipline and communication tools with the guidance of a professional who can encourage you to overcome expectations we all carry from the past.