Book an Initial Relationship Session →

How Shame Can Warp Our Lives

Green leaves flowing in the wind

The dynamics of shame and embarrassment are central issues in the development of the self in those individuals who have come from dysfunctional families. Understanding a few issues can be helpful in making changes so that these fears will lose their great power in your life.

Read more

Consequences of Not Having Personal Boundaries

A person standing on the edge of a serene forest, looking contemplative, symbolizing the internal struggle of setting personal boundaries

We all want to be fair, kind and loving to the people that we care about. Sometimes that means going out of our way for them. At other times, it means putting up with a certain amount of crap. In the long run, we hope and bet on the odds that it’s worth it for our relationship to have a little give-and-take. However, giving out love without any personal boundaries can be extremely dangerous and carries extreme risk to our own sense of self and others.

Read more

How NOT to Talk to Your Doctor

Patient sitting on a doctor's exam table looking uncertain while a physician reviews a clipboard

Medical appointments are short, high-stakes, and often anxiety-provoking. That combination reliably produces a set of communication failures that leave patients without the information or care they came for. This article, written by a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who works with anxiety and communication patterns in clinical settings, breaks down the most common ways people undermine their own care through how they communicate with physicians, and offers practical guidance on advocating for yourself more effectively.

Read more

Why Do People Who Come From Dysfunctional Families Have More Interpersonal Problems?

Green leaves flowing in the wind

Dysfunctional families never admit their problems. The rules are simple: Don’t talk, think or feel. As a result, we feels insecure and can only depend on ourselves. In order to survive this lack of trust, we end up creating a rigid way of dealing with life. Yet when we go out into the real world, these dysfunctional rules for living end up blowing up in our face.

Read more