Therapy in a Nutshell: For Chronic & Physical Health conditions

Presenting Issues

Priyanka* sought therapy through symptoms of fatigue and a self-observed numbing disconnect from their emotions, body and the Self.

Background Information

In the intake session, she mentioned that she had been feeling these concerns greatly for a few months now. She also felt distressed by their seemingly sudden onset, and that her current state of disability was such a big departure from how functional and productive she was during her college days. She mentioned a few different physical health conditions (like PCOD) that she had been diagnosed with years ago, and had been living under the stress of since then.

Assessment

Priyanka appeared to come in with a number of observed depressive symptoms, leading to a breakdown in daily functionality. These symptoms are likely related to unhealthy/irrational core beliefs along the theme of self-perceived productivity and vulnerability. It seemed ‘unbearable’ to them that their body was not in its best possible condition through all of life’s phases. This observation seemed to subconsciously bring them to particular interpretations about themselves (for instance, that ‘I’m too weak’, or ‘I’m a failure now’) and their life (‘life is unfair’, ‘why is this happening to me?’), which seemed to add on to the depressive symptoms.

Treatment Plan

Goals

1. Using various grounding and orientation techniques to help the client feel more present and regulated within each session (considering the client’s pre-existing experience with Yogic practices).
2. Priyanka wished to get back to her previous level of functionality and wished to eventually get her life back ‘on track’. Initial work thus involved exploration of what ‘on track’ realistically looked like for her and how we could go about attaining it.

Intervention Strategies

1. Over months, therapy involved a mix of cognitive/behavioural techniques to work with core beliefs that seemed to be unhealthy for her considering the circumstances.
2. As and when these beliefs and the narratives around them presented in a session, IFS-based parts work was also employed to aid fostering empathy and practicing relational work within the self, somatic and mindfulness-based techniques to ground our selves in safety, and Somatic Experiencing for resolution of trauma ‘stuck’ points across Priyanka’s lifetime.

Frequency and Duration

Weekly therapy sessions for over 3 years, and continuing.

Results

1. Over time, Priyanka was able to reconnect and trust her sense of Self by reconnecting with her own emotions and bodily sensations. She came to understand and be curious about what was happened around her (in place of being generally hypervigilant across situations), which made space to self-assert and advocate for her current needs.
2. This general practice of emotional regulation, in her opinion, has contributed to the near complete resolution of a few chronic physical health issues (like PCOD).
3. Somatic Experiencing and IFS-based parts work were also employed to navigate through events that may have resulted in trauma had Priyanka not been receiving professional mental health support.