Intimacy issues are common for people who fear vulnerability. Some people can become vulnerable in front of a few trusted friends, however, but when a relationship starts becoming too close, they feel suffocated. In this sense, the intimacy issues are seated in the fear of developing a deep and meaningful relationship with another person.

Two fears that are at the heart of intimacy issues, are the fear of abandonment (fearing the partner might leave them) and the fear of engulfment (fearing that they would lose themselves in a relationship), which sometimes co-exist. These fears, often rooted in childhood traumas, are often deeply entrenched in codependent adult relationships where they cause friction.

A therapist who works with people who have intimacy issues will first help you to learn to become comfortable with yourself and accept yourself for who you are. You will explore the complex past events that have created these intimacy issues and discover that those events don't have to cloud your present experiences.

This process is essential in discovering that rejection does not have to be a traumatic experience. Finally, you will learn how to set personal boundaries that will help you to avoid the fear of engulfment and to cope, should abandonment occur. While healing intimacy issues can be a challenging and somewhat painful task, the rewards are incredible.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who addresses intimacy issues, you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

A positive self-esteem is an essential tool to help someone function as a productive member of society. Our basic sense of worth determines how well we are able to deal with situations and how well we perform in the family, at school, at work and in life.

Having a healthy self-esteem means that we have a sense of self-worth, self-respect and the ability to find the good in yourself. On the contrary, a negative self image can lead to social anxiety, loneliness, self-criticism, shame and even anger. A person with low self-esteem often feels isolated.

Self-esteem issues are usually created in childhood when negative experiences and poor influences and reactions from caregivers stunt the development of a positive self esteem. Self-esteem can also be affected by abuse, or by being different. A person may be stigmatized for his or her social identity, race, social class, behaviors or appearance.

However, a person's self-esteem can also be challenged during adulthood when one experiences marital issues, financial problems, career glitches or legal challenges.

Therapy can help a person come to terms with self-esteem issues. A therapist will help identify the causes of self-esteem issues and help the individual to regain control over circumstances through goal-directed therapy.

It can help someone with low self-esteem to separate who they are from what they have, or how they look in order to overcome low self-esteem issues. Discovering one's worth is a great way to take control of situations and to learn to feel adequate.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who offers goal directed therapy to address your self-esteem issues, you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.
 

While stress is a normal part of our modern, everyday lives, it can also have dramatic side effects. Chronic stress can lead to behavioral issues, such as drug abuse that can harm relationships. However, most commonly, chronic stress can affect a person's physical health in a number of ways. Many people avoid asking for help in coping with stress management, accepting it as a common hazard of today's fast-paced life.

Yes, at some point everyone suffers from challenges with stress management, but if at any point in time you feel like you have trouble handling it, it is time to get help. Signs that you are not coping with stress management includes a change in your sleeping or eating habits, feeling physically unwell (headaches, ulcers, frequent colds and flu), reduced productivity and decreased pleasure in activities you enjoyed before.

Stress is common when dealing with life changes or situations such as job losses, getting married, breakups or divorces, discrimination, parenting, moving house, death of a pet or loved one, being diagnosed with a serious medical condition.  

Therapy can help you to better deal with stress management issues. Negative moods reduce the quality of several aspects of our lives, including productivity and interpersonal relationships. Through cognitive restructuring, negative thoughts can be challenged and rescripted to help you create a more positive mindset.

Stress can often cloud the validity of our interpretations of certain events and circumstances, and cognitive restructuring challenges those assumptions. In the case of invalid interpretations, the way we think about situations naturally changes, which has a positive effect on our moods and ability to handle stress better.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who will help you manage stress more effectively you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.