• You find yourself exhausted from the previous night because of another blowup you had with your partner over something stupid?
• You think of yourself as a “good guy” but lately you are so irritable at everyone and everything that it’s making you question, “how good of a parent, friend, partner am I really?”
• You’re a smart, successful man. You know almost every problem can be solved with a little hard work but you can’t figure out why you keep repeating these patterns and habits of blowing up and then immediately feeling guilty afterwards.
• Now, you’re worried that if you continue down this path, your relationships with loved ones will begin to crumble.

Anger is a common symptom of a bigger underlying issue like depression. Controlling your anger usually comes down to identifying your relational template-how you relate to others. And we learned this template from our family of origin and the people that played a significant role in our lives.  Once we can understand the “why” behind your angry episodes, the rest will fall into place.

Through Men’s therapy I can help! As a Men’s therapist, I’ve seen it all from those who can’t help but go from 0 to 100 during outbursts to others who internalize the anger and pain so that it becomes  violence deflected instead of violence endured by all.

Do you experience these anxiety symptoms:

• Irritability, fatigue, or distraction.
• Racing thoughts.
• Having problems sleeping (hard to fall asleep, nightmares, hard to stay asleep).
• Thinking, “I’m not enough.”
• Thinking, “I feel so much better when I’m taking…” (fill in the drug of choice here)
• Trying to put on a good face for the outside world but your insides are screaming.
• Your “mask” is slipping and you are scared that everything will come crashing down if it continues to slip off because the mask is hiding all the anger, fear, self-loathing and self-doubt-everything that needs to be kept hidden in your mind.

I use a variety of methods to work with anxiety. There’s no one size fits all approach in my book-we all come from different backgrounds, cultural identities, and life experiences so it wouldn’t make sense to use a “one size fits all” approach to anxiety treatment.

However, the treatments I do find that provide the greatest relief in the quickest time period are: hypnotherapy and brainspotting. At my Richmond, Virginia counseling practice, you can receive anxiety counseling for symptom relief.

Do you experience these depression symptoms:

• You turn to mood altering substances to relax and “have fun.”
• You’re a workaholic or use external validation to fill the “void” inside.
• You constantly compare yourself to others and as a result always feel let down or worse, you punish yourself for “not measuring up.”

These depression symptoms are common in men.  Think about the dominant messages you grew up with? Male socialization in our culture has taught you to disconnect from your feelings and emotions. I will teach you how to reconnect with your loved ones and get your life back on track.

It has not always been popular for men to go to therapy. As a therapist who regularly works with men around a variety of mental health issues, I hear this.

I also can attest that I’ve seen men make incredible gains, grow mentally, physically, and emotionally, and become the executive, husband, father, son that they’ve always wanted to be.

The idea that men must be strong in the face of mental distress is completely entrenched and leads to higher rates of substance abuse, homicide, suicide, and other behaviors that temporarily mask the pain.

We live in a society that expects men to have all the answers, and if they don’t, to be able to figure them out on their own.

There are not a lot of spaces where men are given the freedom and support to be okay with uncertainty, to sit with helplessness.

• To feel more in control of your emotions so that you don’t blow up at your partner and children and end up feeling guilty the rest of the day.
• About covert depression and the painful effects of male socialization.
• How to feel calm, own your feelings (and the meaning behind them).
• Tools to meet your future self and know that change is possible.
• New ways to increase your happiness and self-worth so that you can be fully present in your life.
• How to find and receive support from “your tribe” and a licensed professional and certified Hypnotherapist who specializes in treating Depression and difficult emotions.

Whether through 1:1 therapy for men or our popular Men’s support group, you will learn the WHY behind your not feeling happy and content with your life.  You’ll reduce fear and build up, and learn ways to cope with the covert depression and gain control of your emotions while identifying the source of the issues. Therapy for Men can finally help you create the YOU that you want to be.

Therapy for men isn’t the only service we provide in our Richmond, VA counseling practice.

We know life can be hard sometimes and you may be struggling with more than one issue. At Life Cycles Counseling, we have a variety of specialties to meet your needs.  We can meet you in our office in Richmond or online anywhere in Virginia. And with our hypnotherapy specialty, we can meet you online anywhere in the United States.  Some of our specialities include substance abuse counseling, eating disorders counseling, anxiety treatment, obsessive compulsive disorders, anger management, and brainspotting therapy for anxiety.