Therapy for Stress & Adjustment Issues

Characterized by difficulty coping with and adjusting to a particular stressful event.

I provide therapy for Stress & Adjustment issues to younger adults (aged 18-40) located in Liverpool, Clay, Baldwinsville, and the greater Syracuse, NY area.

Woman wearing cap and gown

Have you recently experienced a significant life change or stressful event? Been feeling stressed, anxious, sad, or hopeless? Wondering why you can’t seem to “get it together” and move forward? If yes, you may be experiencing adjustment issues.

Life transitions are defined as times of significant change in your life. Adjustment issues (or stress response issues) often arise when you have difficulty coping with or adjusting to a particular source of stress, such as a major life change, loss, or event. Typically the response is stronger and longer lasting than expected for the type of event that occurred. If left untreated adjustment issues can morph into other issues such as anxiety disorders or depression.

Some Examples Include:

  • Beginning or graduating from college
  • Transferring to a new college or starting a new class
  • Starting a new job or changing careers
  • Being promoted or taking on more responsibility at work
  • Moving to a new location
  • Beginning a new relationship
  • Ending a relationship
  • Getting married/divorced (or children coping with divorce/remarriage)
  • Having children
  • Developing a serious illness (yourself or a loved one)
  • Having an accident
  • Illness or death of a loved one
  • Enduring a global emergency – such as COVID-19

Symptoms May Include:

  • Frequent crying/tearfulness
  • Sadness
  • Anxiety/Worry
  • Hopelessness
  • Irritability
  • Lack of motivation
  • Headaches or stomach aches
  • Withdrawal or isolation from people or social activities
  • New (and uncharacteristic) dangerous or destructive behavior
  • Changes in appetite
  • Sleep problems
  • Feeling lethargic or without energy
  • Increased use of alcohol or other drugs
paper heart on a string torn in half

Therapy Can Help Treat Adjustment Issues By:

  • Allowing for a space to identify, process, and organize your thoughts and feelings. Processing your thoughts and feelings can help you better organize, understand, and make sense of them, which in turn helps you to feel less overwhelmed
  • Finding ways to remove or reduce the stressor, if possible
  • Reframing the stressor to reduce feelings of anxiety, depression, or stress (as in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
  • Developing effective coping and problem-solving skills. I tend to teach a lot of communication skills, boundary setting skills, organizational skills, social skills, emotional self-regulation skills, and mindfulness techniques in therapy
  • Learning better ways to manage stress by implementing stress management techniques and distress tolerance skills
  • Identifying your strengths, and utilizing them to help you through difficult situations
  • Building your self-confidence to handle challenging situations in the future, which in turn decreases self-doubt and builds self-esteem