Anxiety, Depression & Addiction Therapy
in Santa Barbara

I help couples and individuals achieve long-lasting relief from symptoms of anxiety, depression, addiction, and codependency. As a practicing therapist in Santa Barbara, I have helped many clients overcome anxiety symptoms, depressive episodes, and patterns of codependency so they can experience life more fully, enjoy more satisfying relationships, resolve painful conflicts and improve their emotional well being.

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress – like when you are living through a phase of uncertainty, trying something new, running late, or giving a speech or toast. At its best, anxiety can help you stay alert and focused. At its worst, anxiety can severely interfere with your ability to live life fully and freely. 

Anxiety issues express themselves in a variety of ways, including: worrying constantly, specific phobias, or response to a traumatic event.

• Are you constantly tense, worried, or on edge?

• Are you caught in a limiting cycle of - perfectionism, procrastination, and paralysis/inaction?

• Does your anxiety interfere with your work, school, or family responsibilities?

• Are you plagued by fears you know are irrational but can't shake?

• Do you believe something bad will happen if certain things aren't done a certain way?

• Do you avoid everyday situations or activities because they make you anxious?

• Do you experience sudden unexpected panic attacks?

• Do you anticipate and fear disaster or have feelings of terror or dread?

• Have you experienced a trauma that now results in you being startled easily?

• Do you fear being negatively judged by others or feeling embarrassed or humiliated?
  

The good news is anxiety disorders are highly treatable and therapy can help get you the relief you are looking for.

Everyone gets the blues or feels sad sometimes – it is a normal response to loss and life’s struggles. These feelings usually pass within a few days. The initial phases of normal bereavement can take a few months. But when a person has intense sadness and feels helpless, hopeless, and worthless for more days than not – keeping you from living a full life, it might be clinical depression – a treatable condition.

• Do you find you can’t sleep or sleep too much?

• Have you lost interest in the things you normally like to do?

• Do you feel ‘empty’ or have feelings of helplessness or guilt?

• Do you have a hard time focusing, remembering details, and making decisions?

• Are you having difficulty controlling your negative thoughts?

• Have you lost your appetite or find you can't stop eating?

• Do feel constantly irritated or become enraged at small things - and this is new for you?

• Do you have thoughts that life is not worth living, are self-harming, or thinking of suicide?

• Are you waiting until you feel ‘good’ or ‘better’ to begin certain goals, be more social, or start living in a way you know would be healthy for you? 

• Do you wish you could handle life’s ups and downs with more balance?

Depression is common and a very treatable condition. Therapy is an effective part in helping you achieve the long lasting relief you’re looking for.

Addiction is a treatable condition in which people lose the ability to control their need for alcohol or other drugs, even in the face of negative health, social, or legal consequences. 

Symptoms of addiction include tolerance (development of resistance to the effects of alcohol or other drugs over time) and withdrawal - a painful or unpleasant physical response when the substance is withheld. Many people struggling with addiction deny they are addicted. 

• Do you ever feel you should “cut back” on your substance use?

• Do you ever get angry when loved ones try to talk to you about your substance use?

• Do you ever feel guilty for how much you are drinking or using?

• Do you ever feel like you need “an eye-opener” in the morning and reach for drugs or alcohol?

• Do you black out after drinking?

• Have you lost control over your drug or alcohol use?

• Is your drug or alcohol use negatively impacting your personal or work relationships?

People become addicted for many reasons. Sometimes a vulnerability to addiction is inherited, and other times it is a response to trying to cope with difficult life situations or mental health issues. 

While some are able to recover without help, the majority of addicted individuals and their families need outside assistance to recover. With support and treatment, many individuals are able to stop using and rebuild their lives. Therapy is an important and effective part of assessment, diagnosis and treatment.

Codependency is an emotional and behavioral condition that refers to people in a close relationship with someone who is engaged in self-destructive behavior (including addiction). The codependent person is typically overly involved or absorbed with meeting the needs of others to the exclusion and detriment of his/her own needs. 

While the codependent person acts as a caretaker and invests in the well-being of the other person, this can result in enabling behavior. This is when the codependent person helps the other person continue their self-destructive behavior by repeatedly protecting the other person from experiencing the natural consequences of their actions by doing things like: lying to cover up for them, making excuses for them, paying their debts, or taking over his/her responsibilities to excess. While this helps the other person to get by in the short-run, it ultimately allows the cycle of self-destruction to perpetuate, enabling addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement.

Codependency is often accompanied by depression. 

Common signs and symptoms of codependency include:

• Low self-esteem

• Perfectionism

• A compelling need to control others

• Problems with intimacy and boundaries

• Excessive caretaking

• An exaggerated sense of responsibility for other’s feelings and actions

• Deriving a sense of worth in “rescuing” others from the consequences of their own choices

• Saying “yes” when you mean “no” 

• People pleasing behavior – constantly meeting the needs of others without first meeting the needs of oneself

• Rejects compliments 

• Difficulty identifying feelings

• Poor communication

• Lack of trust in self and others

• An extreme need for approval

• Difficulty making decisions

Codependency is a learned response in an attempt to survive in an emotionally painful and stressful environment. These behaviors are passed on from generation to generation whether alcoholism is present or not.

During remote sessions from my downtown office in Santa Barbara via online therapy, I offer practical guidance, step-by-step methods, tools, strategies, action plans, support, and effective treatment for both the client and their loved ones. Together, we will work to manage, reduce, and relieve symptoms of anxiety, depression, addiction, and codependency to reclaim a more fulfilling life. Therapy rates are $300 per (50-minute) session.