Identity usually means a stable sense of who one is and a clear understanding of what one’s values and ideals are. Problems with identity include not achieving a stable, long-term sense of who one is and trouble establishing and committing to people, goals, careers, and other major aspects of life. Identity issues can occur at any point in the life span, but most often we think of adolescents and young adults as those concerned with establishing their identity. When this doesn’t happen, problems with relationships, career, self-esteem, and one’s overall sense of well-being can suffer, often for years until the issues pertaining to identity are addressed.

People who have successfully achieved a stable identity during late adolescence/early adulthood may find this identity shaken due to life circumstances, such as the death of a loved one, the sudden loss of a job or other important commitment, or the natural transitions of life (for example, when children grow up and leave home, retirement, etc.).

These events may force a person to re-evaluate their identity and adjust accordingly. For example, a woman who has defined herself primarily as a wife and mother may feel lost and confused about who she is when her children grow up and leave home. Although she may continue to see herself as a wife and mother, she may need to explore other areas of interest and involvement in order to continue to feel positive about herself as a person. As a result, her identity will shift to accommodate these changes.

When a person has difficulty establishing an identity or adjusting his or her identity at a later point in life, therapy may be able to help.

Often people benefit from psychotherapy or talk therapy following a loss. It can be helpful to discuss painful and sometimes confusing feelings that death and loss bring with someone who understands these feelings. While therapy obviously cannot return the person, it can aid in adjusting to a satisfying life after the loss and help the grieving person move toward a life without their loved one.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is much more than the normal anxiety people experience day to day. It often includes chronic and exaggerated worry and tension. Having this disorder means always anticipating disaster, often worrying excessively about health, money, family, or work. Sometimes, though, the source of the worry is hard to pinpoint. Simply the thought of getting through the day may provoke anxiety.

People with GAD can’t seem to shake their concerns, even though they usually realize that their anxiety is more intense than the situation warrants. People with GAD also seem unable to relax. They often have trouble falling or staying asleep. Their worries are accompanied by physical symptoms, especially trembling, twitching, muscle tension, headaches, irritability, sweating, or hot flashes. They may feel lightheaded or out of breath. They may feel nauseated or have to go to the bathroom frequently. Or they might feel as though they have a lump in the throat.

Many individuals with GAD startle more easily than other people. They tend to feel tired, have trouble concentrating, and sometimes suffer depression. Usually the impairment associated with GAD is mild and people with the disorder don’t feel too restricted in social settings or on the job.

Unlike many other anxiety disorders, people with GAD don’t characteristically avoid certain situations as a result of their disorder. However, if severe, GAD can be very debilitating, making it difficult to carry out even the most ordinary daily activities.

GAD comes on gradually and most often hits people in childhood or adolescence, but can begin in adulthood, too. It’s more common in women than in men and often occurs in relatives of persons with GAD or other anxiety disorders. It’s diagnosed when someone spends at least six months worried excessively about a number of everyday problems.

In general, the symptoms of GAD seem to diminish with age. Research into the effectiveness of medications is ongoing. Successful treatments may include a combination of medication and talk therapy, relaxation techniques, and biofeedback to control muscle tension. [from ANXIETY DISORDERS: DECADE OF THE BRAIN (NIMH)]n

People seek help for a number of different kinds of eating problems. Some of these include anorexia nervosa (restricting food intake and becoming dangerously thin) and bulimia nervosa (bingeing and purging), as well as compulsive overeating. Treatment helps people have a more positive relationship with food and their bodies.

Some persons have serious mental illness that is present on an ongoing basis, in which the realistic goal is to manage rather than cure the illness. For example, persons with the illness of schizophrenia, a disorder that leaves the person with disorganized thinking and difficulty keeping a focus on reality, may have to receive treatment services throughout their lifetime.

The person with chronic mental illness deals with loss resulting from the illness, as do family and friends. Sometimes families come to a psychologist to learn how to support their family member, to develop healthy ways to manage their frustrations, voice fears, and identify positive goals for working as a family through stressful times.

Most parents just ask that their children do as they are told. Easier said than done! Some children easily comply, some children occasionally comply and some children rarely comply. The yelling, fighting and punishing that is employed can have a negative impact on the parent-child relationship and also on the parents’ ability to influence their child. Additionally, if one child has behavior problems, all the other children in the family will be affected. Treatment can help both parents and children learn a new way to live together.
“Behavioral Management Systems” is an approach that has been used with children and adolescents with problem behavior. This approach holds that children and adolescents learn best when parents include them in the problem-solving process. There are four major behavior management systems, each of which is described briefly below (summarized by Dr. Dan Fallon):
1. Rationales: Verbal explanation
•    Verbal dialogue with child
•    Listen to understand your child’s thoughts and reasons
•    Recognize and appreciate your child’s feelings
•    Explain your reasoning
•    Describe your values, the `why’ we must do things this way

Example: “We do not hit other people. When we have problems we say `Mommy, I have a problem. Can we have a talk?’ People are not for hitting. People are for talking with.”

Example: “Doing your homework helps you build your brain muscle. The more we build our brain muscle the more we’ll be able to solve problems. The more we solve problems the happier we will be.”

Example: “It’s important to say how we are feeling. Sometimes I need to just sit down with your Mom/Dad and tell her/him how I felt during the day. Happy. Sad. Excited. Scared. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I laugh. It’s good to do this with each other. How was your day today? How did you feel?”
2. Behavior Shaping
•    Increases or decreases the frequency of specific behaviors

Example: Bedwetting (decrease)

Example: Verbal abuse toward sibling (decrease)

Example: Talking (increase) instead of tantrums (decrease)
•    Improves child’s sense of “I did it on my own!”
•    Increases self-esteem (for both parents and children)
•    Reinforces each successful accomplishment.
•    Operant conditioning, i.e., the child is in control of gaining and keeping privileges / reinforcers
•    Does not punish or disparage when the child does not perform desired behavior
3. Point and Level System
•    Children control their behaviors; parents control privileges
•    Improves child’s sense of “I did it on my own!”
•    Increases self-esteem (both parents and children)
•    The children don’t like `limits’ (who does?) but they typically respond very well
•    The parents have to `unlearn’ punishment strategies and `learn’ to make privileges contingent upon good behavior
•    Operant conditioning, i.e., the child is in control of gaining and keeping privileges / reinforcers
4. Out of Home Placement
•    Residential treatment facilities
•    Juvenile justice system
•    Psychiatric hospitals

It is normal for children to go through phases of being afraid and anxious. However, those fears and anxieties should not excessively disrupt school attendance or the family’s ability to function. In an effort to help their child, parents can sometimes unknowingly make matters worse, especially when the parents recall similar experiences in their own childhood.

Pediatricians are often skilled at distinguishing a normal fear/anxiety from an abnormal one. Some children seem to have been born with a tendency to be more anxious in general, while others develop fears over time. In either case, it is important that the child learn coping skills that will last them throughout their life.

Our staff of licensed counselors can help you achieve solid footing as you travel the stepping stones of healthy change.

Testing and Neuropsychological Services
for Children and Adolescents

Our staff of professionals, under the direction of Sandra Kasprzyk, Psy.D., provide an environment for testing that is comfortable for both you and your child.
Psychological testing can be stressful, confusing, or uncomfortable for children and their parents. There are so many questions. Should I have my child tested? What kinds of tests will be administered? Who will see the results and how will that affect my child? These and any other questions will be answered during this initial visit.

Children develop on many levels. They need to develop physically, cognitively, emotionally, socially and academically. At times, a child advances in some areas and lags behind in others. Delays or advances in development can cause difficulty for the child and the family. Understanding how best to help the child can make the child’s development easier for all involved. Our staff of licensed therapist and counselors can help you achieve solid footing as you travel the stepping stones of healthy change.

Testing and Neuropsychological Services
for Children and Adolescents in Chicago

Our staff of professionals, under the direction of Sandra Kasprzyk, Psy.D., provide an environment for testing that is comfortable for both you and your child.
Psychological testing can be stressful, confusing, or uncomfortable for children and their parents. There are so many questions. Should I have my child tested? What kinds of tests will be administered? Who will see the results and how will that affect my child? These and any other questions will be answered during this initial visit.

Difficulties in one’s work life can occur at any stage. When a person is just starting to look for a career path, trying to find the right job “fit” sometimes can be very challenging. Problems may arise during an established career when the person begins to feel less satisfied and wonders whether to consider finding a new career or putting renewed effort into making the existing career more acceptable.

Retirement poses still more challenges because it represents a significant transition in one’s life with many potential pitfalls as well as opportunities. Whatever the career stage, it often can be helpful to meet with a therapist to discuss the particular issues causing difficulties. If it’s a question of career fit, the clinician may recommend a vocational assessment to help guide the choice of career.

For other career-related issues, talking with an objective professional can often help to clarify the issues and the person’s feelings, thoughts and motivations related to the career situation in question. Our staff of licensed therapist and counselors can help you achieve solid footing as you travel the stepping stones of healthy change.

Bipolar disorder (the new name for manic-depression) refers to experiencing mood swings that cannot be explained by a person’s reacting to something happening around them or to ideas they are having. It refers to “two poles” or extremes of mood from being “up” to “down and depressed.” When “up,” often times the person feels more energetic or happy than seems justified by their situation and the feeling can include so much energy that the person doesn’t seem to need rest and feels that they can “do anything” and “lick the world” at the same time they don’t “have a care in the world.” Our staff of licensed therapist and counselors can help you achieve solid footing as you travel the stepping stones of healthy change.

At those especially energized times, the person may do something that they seriously regret later. The person’s mood may then swing rapidly to feeling depressed, like sinking on an elevator into a dismal basement of a building, and then experience very negative thoughts about themselves, their life and their future.

This feeling “down” is unusually severe and doesn’t go away as quickly as would be expected if a person simply had a bad experience, like the loss of a relationship, and was able to get going again quite soon. The swings in feelings can happen fairly rapidly, even within a day, or they may take days, weeks or months. Although everyone experiences some swings in mood, they are usually related to events in the person’s life and may not be as extreme.

With a bipolar disorder, the mood swings seem to be unlinked. Drinking and recreational drugs, irregular eating and sleeping patterns, and unpredictable activity patterns can make these swings much worse.