Addiction Therapists in Whittier, CA.

Most often, nothing becomes an issue until it starts to interfere with your own level of functioning. Depending on the level of addiction, may depend on your level of treatment. Outpatient therapy is focused on those who are more stable within their addiction, and are wanting continued accountability and personal growth as their focus. Treatment may be more collaborative at this level (psychiatrist, physician, sponsor) to ensure that progress is continuing. Types of addiction treated in my practice: drug/alcohol use, food/exercise, shopping and co-dependency issues.

Addicted to alcohol, marijuana, cocaine? Addicted to sex, the internet, gambling, shopping, food, porn, exercise, money? Or perhaps you have achieved sobriety as a recovering Alcoholic or Drug Addict, you attend AA or NA regularly, and want additional support from a psychologist? I can help. In my Newport Beach Private Practice, I draw on my prior experience as a psychologist at celebrity rehab Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach. My specialties in helping you through recovery are Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorders, Anger Management, and Couples Counseling. Call, click or text (949)791-7127 and get the support you need.

If you're battling an addiction, know that you're not alone. My sessions offer a supportive environment to explore the triggers and underlying reasons behind your addiction. We'll work together to develop healthy coping mechanisms to manage cravings and build relapse-prevention strategies. This might involve exploring past traumas, managing stress, or identifying alternative ways to cope with difficult emotions. My goal is to empower you to take control of your life and build a future free from addiction.

Addiction can ruin lives. Whether it is a substance (like alcohol of drugs) or a behavior (like eating or gambling) it stimulates that part of or brain that is the reward center and makes us feel pleasure. Humans, not surprisingly, like all animals, seek pleasure and avoid pain. We can get addicted to such a degree that we lose sight of the important things in our lives; our family, friend, job etc. Anything and everything can get side-lined by our addiction. Breaking free can be hard, it can involve many attempts and yet the rewards are enormous. I don't have the magic bullet but I can walk alongside you and help you on the path to recovery and sobriety.

We become addicted to certain behaviors when painful feelings about ourself cannot be recognized or expressed, and therefore unprocessed. Caught in these unrecognized feelings that never get understood, behaviors of accommodation take hold and keep us trapped. Therapy is a process of recognizing these emotional patterns leading to a personal empowerment to speak what one really desires and needs. This process breaks the addictive patterns.

Battling an addiction is one of the hardest hurdles to overcome because you basically have two enormous issues to work through. You have the addiction, which is an overpowering urge to engage in a particular activity despite it’s negative consequences and then you have the issue underneath that you’re attempting to cope with by means of the addiction. Therefore, my approach is to work with the client on reducing the addictive behaviors so we can explore the root cause of it. Obviously elimination of the addiction is the goal, but sometimes just slowly reducing it is enough to begin work on the underlying cause. Benefits of this would be gaining back your control over your life.

Does it feel like sex or a substance is out of your control? Maybe it feels compulsive, it's the fix for sadness, hurt, anger and stress its also what you’ve used to increase your joy, peace and good feeling. Whether you call it addiction or just problematic, you're reading this because you're hoping things could be better. I'm here to tell you they can be. Together we will work to understand what's really going on and get you to a place where you feel a sustained sense of goodness. If you're ready--let's connect. I'd love to meet you and see how I can help.