Therapy for Life Transitions

Adjusting to Life Transitions

Life transitions: Exciting or Terrifying? Both.

Whether you have been preparing for a life transition or you are experiencing an unexpected shift, change is an inevitable part of life. Although periods of change are normal, life transitions can exceed your capacity to cope, possibly leading to difficulties. Challenges may be seen at work, within your relationships, or taking care of yourself. Life transitions are not a mental health diagnosis, but problems adjusting to periods of change can lead to a symptoms of adjustment disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and major depressive disorder (MDD).

Common life transitions:

  1. Reaching a significant age, e.g. 30, 40, 50, 60

  2. Getting married or getting divorced

  3. Becoming a parent

  4. Changing job/losing your job

  5. Becoming ill or disabled

  6. Losing a loved one

  7. Retiring

Physical and Mental impacts of life transitions:

  • Muscle tension and pain

  • Decreased energy/Fatigue

  • Difficulty sleeping

  • Gastrointestinal complaints

  • Headaches

  • Significant decrease of sex drive

  • Loss of appetite or increased appetite

  • Feeling generally overwhelmed

  • More anxiety than usual

  • Tendency to socially isolate one’s self

  • Irritability

Therapy can lead to smoother life transitions

Life transitions counseling helps to empower and prepare you to be able to cope with emotionally taxing periods of change. Using a strengths-based therapy technique, we will explore methods that have worked for you in the past for managing your stress levels during life transitions. In addition, new techniques and methods will be introduced to help you take control of the how you respond to life changes. Since life transitions impacts both your mind and body, treatment may also focus on utilizing somatic techniques to address the mind-body connection and the physical manifestations of stressors, including muscle tension, fast heartrate, and rapid breathing.

You will find support in reaching your therapy goals by strengthening the methods that have worked for you previously as well as exploring new strategies that may help in adjusting to life transitions.

You may still have questions about coping with life transitions…

If you think you may be currently struggling to cope with life transitions and would like some guidance, it may be useful to connect with a therapist. Please feel free to reach out here to book a free consultation to discuss this further.