Tag: anxiety

Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in Uncategorized

How Anxiety Shows Up in Everyday Life

Anxiety isn’t necessarily panic attacks or constant worry. For many people, it shows up through the nervous system’s fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses — automatic survival patterns that influence how we react to stress, relationships, and even our own bodies.

Understanding these responses can make anxiety feel less confusing and far more workable.

Am I in Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn?

Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn are reflexive responses that activate when your nervous system senses threat–even if the perceived threat isn’t actually dangerous.

Our nervous systems don’t differentiate well between real danger and perceived threat. Stress, conflict, health worries, uncertainty, or even internal sensations can activate these responses — even when you’re objectively safe. 

  • Fight – A “fight” fear response commonly develops when someone learned they need to stay alert or strong to feel safe. In daily life, fight often looks like tension, irritability, or control. You might feel easily overstimulated or have a strong need to control outcomes. In a moment of fear, you may feel tightness in the jaw, shoulders, or chest.
  • Flight – Flight isn’t always physical escape — it’s often mental. Many people with chronic anxiety live in this mode, engaging in avoidance and increased busyness. You could struggle to relax, seeking productivity to feel good about yourself (hello productivity culture). Overthinking, mental looping, and seeking distractions may be how you cope.
  • Freeze – Freeze occurs when the nervous system feels overwhelmed and unable to fight or flee. It can look like shutting down or feeling stuck. You may experience numbness or brain fog, making it difficult to make decisions in your daily life. Procrastination is a characteristic of the freeze response. Freeze is often mistaken for laziness or depression because it can show up as low energy or motivation, but it’s actually a protective response.
  • Fawn – Fawn prioritizes connection to maintain safety and may include people-pleasing behaviors. You may be over-accommodating and struggle to set boundaries out of fear of disappointing others. Doing these things often minimizes your own needs. Many people who fawn appear calm on the outside while feeling anxious internally.

Why Coping Skills Don’t Always Resolve Anxiety

Many anxiety strategies focus on managing symptoms — calming down, reframing thoughts, or pushing through discomfort. While helpful, these tools don’t always address the nervous system patterns driving anxiety.

Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn are responses rooted in the body, not just thoughts. This is why anxiety can persist even when you logically know you’re safe.

Most people move between fight, flight, freeze, and fawn depending on stress, relationships, and life circumstances. Anxiety isn’t random — it’s patterned. This also explains why anxiety can change form over time rather than disappear completely.

How anxiety Therapy Can Help

Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn are automatic nervous system responses that help us survive perceived threat, whether that threat is physical danger or emotional overwhelm. These responses are not choices or personality flaws—they are protective patterns shaped by the nervous system over time. When someone lives with chronic stress or anxiety, these states can be activated even in everyday situations like work, relationships, or health concerns. Working with an anxiety therapist can help you recognize your dominant patterns, understand why your nervous system learned them, and gently build the capacity to return to a state of calm, flexibility, and presence.

Effective anxiety treatment works at the nervous system level, not just symptom control.

want to learn more about anxiety therapy?

In my work as an anxiety therapist in Lawrence, Kansas, I help clients:

  • Identify their dominant nervous system patterns
  • Understand what their anxiety is protecting them from
  • Expand their window of tolerance and capacity
  • Work with body-based cues rather than fighting them
  • Build internal safety, not just coping strategies

Over time, clients experience less reactivity and a greater trust in themselves.

Anxiety is not a flaw – it is information. 

If anxiety has been running your life, you’re not broken — and with the right support, change is possible. Want to connect to learn how I can help? Go here.

How Do I Deal With Anxiety?

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in Uncategorized

Why “Coping Skills” Often Aren’t Enough for Anxiety

Many people come to therapy feeling frustrated with themselves because they know coping skills, and yet their anxiety is still there.

They can breathe deeply.
They can challenge anxious thoughts.
They’ve tried grounding, distraction, exercise, supplements, and all the “right” things.

And still, their body feels on edge. Their mind won’t settle. Or anxiety keeps returning in new forms.

When this happens, it’s not because you’re doing coping skills “wrong”. It’s usually because anxiety isn’t the real problem — it’s the signal. As I like to tell my clients, anxiety symptoms are a “check engine light.”

Coping skills are helpful… but limited

Coping skills are designed to help you get through moments of distress. They can reduce intensity, offer relief, and help you function when anxiety spikes. For many people, they’re an important starting point.

But coping skills tend to work top-down — they rely on conscious effort and behavior. Anxiety, on the other hand, is often bottom-up. It lives in the nervous system and the body, not just in thoughts.

This is why someone can intellectually understand that they’re safe, yet still feel:

  • Tightness in their chest
  • A racing or fluttery heart
  • Internal shaking or restlessness
  • A sense that something is “off”
  • Fear that comes out of nowhere

In those moments, telling yourself to calm down or reframe your thoughts may feel ineffective — or even invalidating.

Anxiety is often a nervous system pattern, not a mindset problem

For many of the clients I work with, anxiety isn’t about irrational thinking. It’s about a nervous system that, at some point, learned it needed to stay alert to stay safe.

This can come from:

  • Chronic stress or burnout
  • Early attachment wounds
  • Trauma (including subtle or developmental trauma)
  • Health scares or medical experiences
  • Long periods of uncertainty or overwhelm

Over time, the body adapts. Hypervigilance becomes normal. The nervous system gets very good at scanning for danger — even when life is relatively stable. Stress turns into anxiety (more about the difference in this blog I wrote).

Coping skills don’t always reach this level of the system. They can help manage symptoms, but they don’t retrain the underlying patterns that keep anxiety alive.

Why does anxiety come back sometimes?

One reason people feel discouraged is that anxiety may improve for a while — then return differently.

Maybe the panic attacks stop, but health anxiety shows up. Or sleep improves, but there’s constant tension. Or the thoughts quiet down, but the body still feels activated.

This doesn’t mean therapy isn’t working. It usually means the nervous system is trying to maintain control in the only way it knows how. When treatment focuses only on symptom management, anxiety often finds another outlet.

What is anxiety therapy like?

In my work, we go beyond “how do I calm this down?” and ask:

  • Why does your nervous system feel unsafe right now?
  • What patterns does your body rely on to protect you?
  • What hasn’t been processed, integrated, or resolved yet?

This doesn’t mean endlessly reliving the past. It means working with anxiety at the level where it’s actually generated.

That may include:

  • Slowing down and tracking body-based cues
  • Understanding your unique anxiety pattern (not a generic model)
  • Working with attachment and relational dynamics
  • Gently expanding your window of tolerance
  • Building safety inside the nervous system, not just coping on top of it

Over time, anxiety doesn’t just get quieter — it becomes less necessary.

Therapy isn’t about eliminating anxiety

Anxiety isn’t a flaw. It’s a protective response that once made sense.

The goal of therapy isn’t to get rid of anxiety completely. It’s to help your nervous system learn that it doesn’t need to work so hard anymore.

When that happens, clients often notice:

  • Fewer sudden spikes
  • Less fear of bodily sensations
  • More emotional flexibility
  • Greater trust in themselves
  • A sense of steadiness that doesn’t rely on constant management

Coping skills can still be part of the picture — but they’re no longer the only line of defense.

You’re not failing at healing

If you’ve tried “all the tools” and still feel anxious, nothing is wrong with you.

It may simply be time for support that goes deeper than symptom control — support that understands anxiety as a whole-system experience, not just a thought problem to fix.

Therapy can be a place where your nervous system finally gets the message that it’s allowed to soften.

If you’d like to connect with me and learn how working with an anxiety therapist in Lawrence, KS can help you in your anxiety recovery, please reach out here.

Anxiety vs. Panic vs. Stress

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in Uncategorized

What’s the Difference?

Many people come to therapy asking some version of the same question: “Do I have anxiety?”
Part of the confusion is that stress, anxiety, and panic are often used interchangeably — even though they’re different experiences in the body and nervous system.

Understanding the difference can help you make sense of what you’re feeling and know when anxiety therapy might be helpful.

Stress: a response to external pressure

Stress is typically connected to something specific and external — deadlines, conflict, health concerns, or major life changes.

Stress often looks like:

  • Feeling tense or overwhelmed
  • Trouble relaxing
  • Irritability or fatigue
  • Difficulty sleeping during busy periods

Stress usually decreases when the situation improves or when you rest. While uncomfortable, it’s a normal nervous system response. Therapy can certainly help, but stress isn’t necessarily chronic or ongoing and can resolve with a change in circumstances.

Anxiety: when the nervous system stays on high alert

Anxiety goes beyond situational stress. It’s a state of ongoing nervous system activation, even when there’s no immediate threat.

Anxiety may include:

  • Persistent worry or rumination
  • Physical symptoms like chest tightness, shakiness, or stomach issues
  • Hypervigilance or fear of bodily sensations (read my post about health anxiety here)
  • Difficulty feeling calm even when things are “fine”

Anxiety often feels confusing because the body reacts as if something is wrong, even when the mind can’t pinpoint why. This is where many people start wondering, “Do I have anxiety?”

Panic: a surge of intense fear

Panic is a sudden, intense spike of fear that often comes with strong physical sensations.

Panic attacks can include:

  • Racing heart or shortness of breath
  • Dizziness or trembling
  • Chest tightness or pain 
  • A fear of losing control or something bad happening

Panic is frightening, but not dangerous. Many people with panic also experience anxiety between attacks — often worrying about when the next one will happen.

Why these experiences overlap

Stress, anxiety, and panic are all driven by the nervous system. They exist on a spectrum rather than as separate boxes. Chronic stress can lead to anxiety. Anxiety can increase the likelihood of panic occurring. And people experience these brain states in widely different ways.

This overlap is why symptoms can shift over time — and why reassurance alone often doesn’t resolve them.

How anxiety therapy can help

Effective anxiety therapy doesn’t just label symptoms — it helps you understand why your nervous system is reacting the way it is.

As an anxiety therapist in Lawrence, KS, I work with clients to:

  • Identify nervous system patterns driving anxiety or panic
  • Reduce fear of physical sensations
  • Build internal safety and emotional flexibility
  • Address underlying stress and trauma responses

The goal isn’t to eliminate all stress or anxiety, but to help your system feel steadier and more resilient.

You’re not broken — you’re responding

If you’re dealing with stress, anxiety, or panic, it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It means your nervous system has been working hard to protect you.

With the right support, those responses can soften — and life can feel more manageable again. Want to connect about starting therapy? Message me here and let’s chat.

References

  1. Chu B, Marwaha K, Sanvictores T, et al. Physiology, Stress Reaction. [Updated 2024 May 7]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541120/
  2. National Institute of Mental Health. (2022). I’m so stressed out! Fact sheet. http://Www.nimh.nih.gov. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/so-stressed-out-fact-sheet
  3. ‌National Institute of Mental Health. (2022). Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/panic-disorder-when-fear-overwhelms

Anxiety Therapy: Not Just Another Person Telling You to “Calm Down”

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in Uncategorized

anxiety treatment tailored to your needs

Anxiety can quietly take over your life. It can show up as constant worry, physical tension, racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping, irritability, or a lingering sense of being on edge. Many of the people I work with are highly capable, thoughtful individuals who *know* on a logical level that they should be okay—yet their nervous system doesn’t feel that way.

Maybe that resonates with you?

Whole-Person Anxiety Therapy

Therapy helps people understand that anxiety is not a personal flaw, but a nervous system that has learned to stay on high alert. Anxiety often develops for understandable reasons—stress, overwhelm, life transitions, past experiences, or long periods of pushing through without enough support.

In our work together, we focus on creating safety and clarity so your system can begin to settle rather than constantly scanning for threats. Therapy with me is collaborative, attuned, and practical. We look at how anxiety shows up for you specifically—in your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, and daily life—and then build tools that actually fit you.

Addressing Both Mind and Body

Anxiety isn’t just something you think—it’s something you feel. Many people experience anxiety through physical symptoms like muscle tension, shallow breathing, restlessness, stomach discomfort, fatigue, or a sense of internal agitation.

In therapy, we work with both the cognitive and physical aspects of anxiety. This may include:

  • Understanding how anxiety affects the nervous system
  • Gently shifting unhelpful thought patterns without forcing positivity
  • Learning how to respond to anxious sensations with less fear
  • Building grounding and regulation skills that support long-term change

This whole-person approach helps reduce the cycle where anxiety feeds on itself.

Anxiety therapy isn’t about eliminating all discomfort—it’s about expanding your capacity to live fully, even when stress or uncertainty shows up.

If anxiety has been shaping your thoughts, emotions, or daily life, therapy can help you feel more grounded and supported. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but with the right approach, relief and clarity are possible.

Do you need an anxiety therapist in Lawrence, KS? Want to schedule a free consult? Reach out here.

Mental Health Trends: 2023

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in Uncategorized

2023: a year of significant transition for mental health crisis care

It’s 2023, and mental health care is in high demand. Unfortunately, the mental health industry has experienced a substantial uptick in need, and current directives have been insufficient. More specifically, crisis care has been severely lacking in recent years.

While the U.S. mental health system is aware of these trends in mental health among its population, we’re ill-equipped, and clinicians are burned out. However, this systemic issue is on the cusp of change in 2023.

The need for more mental health providers for consumers in the U.S. is a piece of the puzzle: most of my colleagues working in outpatient settings are at or beyond capacity for patients. In addition, community mental health centers in my area are beyond typical capacity—with months-long waitlists.

Prevalence of mental illness

An estimated 1 in 25 adults has a severe mental illness, based on data from 2023. Suicidal ideation and behaviors have been trending upward in the past decade, and we are still in a global pandemic that caused increased isolation and significant life changes for many.

Recent mental health reports indicate:

  • 21% of adults are experiencing a mental illness (all levels of severity)
  • 11% of adults with mental illness are uninsured, preventing ease of access to mental health services
  • 55% of mentally ill adults receive no treatment (28 million people), and 26.7% reported severe MH issues

What is a mental health crisis?

A mental health crisis is any event where an individual may be putting themselves or others in danger or experiencing mental health symptoms with such intensity that they require outside help. The need is immediate due to feeling severely distressed. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the most common sign of crisis is “a clear and abrupt change in behavior.”

Regardless of symptoms, specific mental health crises present an immediate need:

  • Talking about engaging in self-harm or suicidal behaviors
  • Increased or new illicit drug use
  • Intense emotional distress that interferes with the ability to function
  • Engaging in impulsive or reckless behavior

Problems in crisis intervention

There’s an overall lack of emergency department mental health resources. For example, I’ve heard of cases where a patient in crisis is held for hours in the ED due to the limited availability of inpatient openings in area psychiatric facilities. In addition, recent studies show that many ED mental health cases are not urgent, suggesting our resources are not being utilized appropriately.

Data from 2022 shows 350 consumers for every mental health provider (including psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, and social workers). Assuming 21% of these consumers have a mental illness, this means a conservative estimate of 74 individuals per provider—an enormous caseload for one clinician (for reference, my practice has about 40 clients I see regularly).

Cost of care remains a significant barrier for many individuals in the U.S., as well as a lack of education on how to seek services:

  • 42% of adults with mental illness not seeking care
  • 27% of adults not seeking care due to lack of awareness of services
  • 26% of adults believed they could manage their mental health without pursuing help
  • 19% of adults claimed they had no time to get treatment
  • 17% of adults indicated that their health insurance does not pay enough for mental health treatment

Studies show that of individuals unable to pursue care, there’s a higher incidence of chronic medical conditions and mental health concerns that arise. This could result in higher levels of care (e.g., intensive outpatient or inpatient treatment) if resources are not utilized. This costs more money for insurance companies and consumers.

Starting with less stigma

The past decade has observed a reduction in the stigma of mental illness and seeking care. I occasionally even encounter a therapy client in public, and they readily greet me like a casual acquaintance—this has evolved over recent years. Patients would walk the other way in the early days of my counseling work a decade ago!

The incidence of issues has increased, but so has the willingness to talk about it and seek help. People are engaging in vulnerable conversations, and social media’s focus on mental health has encouraged individuals to identify concerns and feel less alone in seeking treatment.

Talking about mental health addresses proactive approaches, such as reaching out to a potential counselor or downloading a helpful smartphone app to add calmness to your day.

Some changes expected to take place in 2023 are:

  • Employers will improve offerings for employees with free EAP sessions and training for supervisors to identify mental health concerns
  • Reduced cost of mental health care with new mental health parity rules
  • Improved provider reimbursement to retain more counselors to provide counseling
  • The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to improve the capacity of the 988 Lifeline by growing its existing mobile crisis intervention services and developing improved crisis response
  • The U.S. Department of Education is expected to initiate substantial grants used to increase the number of mental health professionals in higher-need regions

Impact of the Pandemic on Mental Health Care

The COVID-19 pandemic saw reported increases in mental and emotional distress, according to the U.S. Census:

  • 11% of adults reported experiencing anxiety and depression in 2019 before the pandemic
  • 40% of adults reported experiencing anxiety and depression in 2020 after the onset of the pandemic

In my private practice, I saw increased client referrals during the COVID-19 pandemic and had to add people to a waitlist frequently. Also, referring therapy patients to colleagues was challenging, as many of my therapist contacts already juggled an intense caseload of therapy clients.

I conducted more safety plans for harm reduction with therapy clients over the past 2-3 years than in all the years of practicing in an outpatient mental health setting.

Pandemic life created a blurred line between work and home with increased work-from-home jobs—causing confusion and carryover stress between settings. This cascade of effects increases relationship conflict and marital stress, impacting children and friendships.

Additionally, the use of technology increased with the pandemic. Youths of all ages began attending school virtually, and increased time at home led to more screen time—which indirectly and negatively affected mental health.

Screen time increased dramatically; however, a positive aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic is the increased prevalence of virtual options for mental health, which has opened doors and provided access to more providers through telehealth.

Importance of preventative measures

Preventative measures include:

  • Outpatient mental health services from community mental health centers and private practice therapists
  • Employee Assistance Programs – typically a benefit from employers that allows an employee to utilize several free therapy sessions
  • Increased ability to earn and use paid time off to prevent employee burnout
  • Access to education on mental health issues to address early detection of concerns before they spiral into crises

In my experience, improving preventative care translates into fewer crisis calls for mental health emergencies. I believe crisis needs would be reduced with improved access to outpatient counseling, employee assistance programs (EAP), partial hospitalization programs, and group therapy.

Employers appear to be waking up to retaining employees (and avoiding the cost of replacing lost employees) involving mental health care. It’s becoming a line item in budgets for companies, with benefits like EAP and providing free or reduced-cost access to smartphone apps (e.g., Calm, Headspace). According to the WHO, $1 trillion is lost annually in productivity due to anxiety and depression, and offering such benefits could help.

Businesses and school systems are realizing that the investment in the mental health of workers and students is cheaper than in the loss of productivity from mental health issues.

Mental health systems train employers and supervisors to recognize employee concerns and provide wellness education.

Not all companies are on board with mental health initiatives. Still, I hypothesize that they will understand that they only stand to benefit from taking care of their employees over time. Recognizing burnout, asking how workers are doing, and focusing on wellness are essential.

There’s hope in 2023

In conclusion, mental health issues are on the rise in all age groups. However, while many mental health treatment services, online therapy platforms, and medication providers exist in the U.S., barriers remain. Growing demand for mental health services coupled with a shortage of mental health providers, plus a lack of insurance coverage and high costs, create a system built for people with substantial incomes.

I’m hopeful that the landscape for mental health crisis care will improve, with greater access and increased options at all levels of intervention in 2023.

What the heck is anxiety?

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in anxiety, mental health counseling, therapy, Uncategorized

What is anxiety?

The term “anxiety” is thrown about loosely as a “catch-all” descriptor for quite a few feelings: fear, apprehension, worry, panic, etc.  As humans, we demand a lot from our brains–to maintain bodily function, to make significant life decisions, to process information, and to alert us to danger. Genetics, environment, and life’s circumstances combine to determine vulnerability to anxiety and may contribute to the activation of anxiety symptoms under pressure.

Is anxiety harmful?

Not always. As humans we must innately feel alarmed or alerted to potential risks in our environment–a complete lack of worry or fearfulness could be linked with a lack of awareness and as a result, a lack of survival skills. An anxiety-prone individual has the added advantage of generally being sensitive, more empathetic, and in general more attuned to his or her own emotions.  In athletic or academic performance an “ideal” or “optimum” level of anxiety can be key to peak performance, as the individual is alert and ready to take action.

Is anxiety damaging if I don’t do anything about it?

Perhaps. It is commonly known that repeating a behavior will cause that behavior to eventually become a habit. For example, a person who starts a new routine of taking his vitamins with breakfast may over time adapt this ritual into a daily habit. Anxiety-prone individuals may develop the tendency to think automatic, detrimental thoughts (e.g. “I’m going to fail this test” even though the person studied). Also, a person with heightened anxiety or sensitivity may learn over time to react to potential triggers in a manner that is harmful to his or her ability to function optimally and/or enjoy relationships.

How to reduce anxiety

Re-framing thoughts is a concept derived from a variety of therapy techniques (particularly from a treatment modality like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT). People prone to anxiety seem to struggle to see options outside of their automatic negative thoughts. To re-frame an automatic negative thought, try this re-framing technique:

  • Instead of “I’m going to fail at_______”  try  “I’m having the thought that___________” [e.g. I didn’t prepare enough for this test and I could get a bad grade]”

Anxiety types: cognitive distortions

Anxiety can be categorized into a few more specific descriptions or faulty ways of thinking; one or a combination of the following may apply:

  1. Discounting or ignoring the positive: focusing primarily on the negative events or pieces of a situation, thoughts may crowd out the “light” or positive pieces of a circumstance.
  2. Black and white reasoning: rather than see a “gray area” or simply view a situation as complicated, this anxiety-ridden reasoning style is “all or nothing”.
  3. Catastrophic thinking: everything is viewed as a disaster, even if it’s a controllable circumstance (e.g. car runs out of gas, and becomes the end of the world rather than a fixable inconvenience).
  4. Perfectionist thinking: anxiety symptoms sometimes fuel the false belief (particularly for high achievers) that anything done less than perfect is not worth doing (e.g. “If I can’t get an A on my paper what’s the point?”)
  5. Emotional reactivity (or emotional reasoning): this subcategory is relevant when emotions tend to take over in the heat of the moment and an individual reacts in anger, sadness, or by acting out–beliefs about a set of circumstances may lack reason or rationality.

Can my anxiety symptoms go away? 

Yes, over time and with intention, anxiety symptoms and worry can decrease. A goal in the context of therapy may be to reduce the impact of anxiety on an individual’s daily life. Another goal would be to develop coping skills to reduce the impact of situational anxiety or panic.  A therapy client will work with the therapist to develop a set of “tools” unique to his or her needs to reduce the intensity, duration, and frequency of anxiety symptoms.

Still have questions about anxiety or how therapy can help? 

Please feel free to contact me with questions or about how we can work together to manage your own anxiety and stress.

Bibliography:
Willard, C. (n.d.). Mindfulness for teen anxiety: A workbook for overcoming anxiety at home, at school, and everywhere else.

Comfortable being uncomfortable

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in anxiety, happiness, health, mental health, mental health counseling, personality, therapy, Uncategorized

Are you an introvert?

I am an expert solo traveler. I take the “expert” designation seriously, with my budget-friendly international youth hostel memberships and my phenomenal Airbnb guest reviews.  I love the freedom and the decisions I can make independently about how active or restful I want to be. As I write this I’m planning my 10th solo excursion! So stoked for more adventures.

I think the word “travel” paints a picture dependent on your unique reality; often, traveling is an opportunity to see more of the world and expose oneself to a plethora of experiences. And people–it very well may increase interactions with PEOPLE.

I’m an introvert!

Yep. It’s weird because I willingly embrace 25 or more weekly one-on-one planned social interactions, a.k.a. therapy sessions, and I’m introverted. It happens. Conversely, I absolutely need solitude for chunks of time each day to “recover” from my social and work life!

I have enjoyed my introversion for the strengths that accompany the label the past few years, but I didn’t always see my perceived awkwardness as a positive trait. Growing up, the idea of novel social situations made me nauseous. Made me bite my nails and cease all talking–I’d freeze and my thoughts would race. I remember planning in advance what I’d say in class should my high school teachers call on me. I remember keeping to myself and assuming the “peaceful observer” role I had mastered. It still happens sometimes.

Introversion and the possibility of meeting new people–but how does that work?? Solo restaurant reservations, unattached walking treks in LA or Chicago, or unaccompanied baseball games invite a plethora of unplanned social interactions that could render the typical introvert paralyzed with angst. And how awkward, right? I remember mentally preparing to defend my “aloneness” to strangers, praying that I wouldn’t need to ask anyone for help with something because that could be terrifying.

In July 2009 I was a solo-travel baby when I booked a flight to Boston–I attended some scheduled Independence Day events but otherwise explored without an agenda. If you know me well, you know I operate based on an intensely-structured calendar, planned hour to hour (#therapylife). I’ve since flown several times to the West Coast where I’ve rented a car and ventured north or south along the coast (I’ve covered all of Route 1 from Seattle to San Diego!) to hang out in the large metro areas of LA and San Francisco–contrasted by peaceful jaunts into the Redwood Forest and underrated vineyards in Monterey County, CA. I’ve driven loops around the Midwest to check out the Windy City, Memphis to visit family, and St. Louis for ballgames.

I befriended a fellow guest last spring at my Airbnb in Salinas, CA.  She had started temp work at an organic farm nearby; I’d commented on her boldness for starting a job in a place she’d never been. Her response was simple but has resonated:

“I’m becoming comfortable being uncomfortable”.

Whoa. I sat on this idea for a while. I reflected on my own adventures and the opportunities I created through solo travel. Yeah, I sought out some shareable Insta-worthy highlights, started a goal to visit all 30 MLB ballparks (I’m at 14), and honed my clumsy repertoire of conversation starters. That’s all good stuff.

But more importantly, I have gained a new boldness that I can only attribute to stepping outside my comfort zone multiple times, to gather wisdom about myself and my place in the world. I’ve boarded planes/ferries/trains/Ubers, asked for help (me?!!), and offered to share tables in coffee shops. I’ve felt humbled over and over again. I’m able to sit awkwardly with myself and embrace it for what it is… at that moment. I’ve developed security with my identity and growing ability to venture beyond my home base, beyond the familiar. And I think that’s pretty freaking empowering.

Am I still an introvert? Definitely. I still need “recharge” time each day, still, need to allow myself grace to adjust to new situations. And that’s okay, you know?

How to break from routines

I would encourage you to seek ways to break routine on occasion, to get a taste of comfort in being uncomfortable: with travel, trying new food, asking for assistance in a store. The change doesn’t have to be monumental–it could even be therapeutic. How will you do it?

Have an amazing day, friends!

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Rychel

Personality Styles vs Disorders, part 1

by Rychel L. Johnson, LCPC, posted in mental health counseling, personality

Diagnosis of mental disorders can be helpful in providing a systematic way to better understand an individual and select treatment approaches specifically tailored to meet his or her needs. In the context of managed care, an accurate mental health diagnosis is necessary to justify the provision of services by insurance companies over the short or long term. A diagnosis creates uniformity among clinicians and medical providers working with a particular patient, ideally increasing the likelihood that treatment will occur on a continuum.

But diagnosing an individual is a complicated process–despite the continual revision and updating of the classification processes for diagnosis (DSM-5, ICD-10, etc), there exists room for error or misinterpretation of symptoms. As a clinician with diagnostic capabilities I encounter clients who have received a mental health diagnosis that they allow to define them. Not to mention, each person in the world was created uniquely and it’s impossible to utilize a carbon-copy/tailor-made treatment approach for one person that would be 100% appropriate for another.

From the beginning of my career I’ve enjoyed utilizing Personality Style inventories as a tool for understanding clients (as well as loved ones). Below is an image from New Personality Self-Portrait, Why You Think, Work, Love, and Act the Way You Do by John M. Oldham and Lois B. Morris. This text was used in a graduate course I took years back. The link I’ve included in this paragraph directs readers to a personality inventory that takes a few minutes to complete.

The Personality Style/Personality Disorder Continuum chart illustrates the notion that personality style exists on one end of a spectrum, and a corresponding personality disorder exists on the extreme end of the same spectrum. For example, an individual with a style of Vigilant may be watchful and aware of his or her surroundings; however, hyper-vigilance may indicate disordered functioning, in this case Paranoid Personality Disorder traits.

New Doc 12

 

Please stay tuned for additional information about each of the personality styles and how each can be used in treatment and to better understand how we function in relationships.

 

Oldham, J. M., Morris, L. B., & Oldham, J. M. (1995). The new personality self-portrait: Why you think, work, love, and act the way you do. New York: Bantam Books.