Adjustment to Life Transitions
Our lives are often very busy and complicated, with many expectations. Sometimes normal life changes or transitions, such as moves, job changes, or graduations, can feel overwhelming. And some life changes, such as divorce or job loss, are very difficult just by their very nature.
Dealing with these life changes can lead to feelings of sadness, irritability or the sense that “it’s just too much to cope with.” Many people benefit from an opportunity to work with a therapist to address these stressors.
For life transitions, therapy can help one:
- Identify the most stressful aspects of the change
- Build skills at dealing with such changes
- Recognize the impact of the change
- Develop skills to address the transition, when that is appropriate
Many events happen in our lives that we have little or no control over (such as job losses, economic swings, illness). Some we planned for (like the birth of a child or a move to a new house) and are positive, but are still difficult to adjust to. We all have those life transitions.
Therapy for feelings related to life adjustments often consists of a combination of support, exploring the reaction and understanding the background for the feelings, and treating the accompanying emotion, be it depression or anxiety.
