Patrick J. Hart Psy.D.
Seattle Psychotherapy | Mental Health Counseling
Even one conversation with the right psychologist or therapist can help you initiate change, regain your psychological balance and generate a sense of direction that supports your mental life.
Begin to Ease Your Struggle | Give Me a Call 206-547-HELP (4357)
I respond personally to each of my phone calls. So please call and make use of voice mail if you do not reach me directly. Your initial call will allow us to briefly discuss your situation and assess your needs. This call will help both of us determine just how my practice can benefit you.
If you know you are already prepared to schedule a time with me, I’ll encourage you to Respond to this Introductory Questionnaire and Tell Me About You so that I have a good sense of how I might help even before our first session.
I’m confident that even a single session will move you a step forward toward personal balance and psychological health.
Routinely, I recommend six sessions to accomplish significant improvements. At the 6 session “benchmark” we’ll certainly have developed a firm grasp of your clinical issues and the direction you’ll be willing to take to achieve full resolution.
I aim to help you achieve the results that you desire. We’ll find what it takes to restore you to the full life you want to live. If my practice is attractive to you, I look forward to meeting you personally — as soon as you wish! Give me a call and we’ll see if you believe we have a good fit!
“I want to tell you, don’t marry suffering. Some people do. They get married to it, and sleep and eat together, just as husband and wife. If they go with joy they think it’s adultery.”
— Saul Bellow
206-547-4357
Cheryl wistfully disclosed that she had suffered from depression for a while. Maybe a year, maybe more. It’s not that bad, she kept telling herself. It’ll go away.
Meanwhile, she couldn’t continue trying to ignore it. That just had not worked. She complained that she seemed somehow fused to her emotional pain as she emphasized that it wasn’t the sort of pain that kept her in bed under the covers, exactly, but it was always there. Her worries interfered with her sleep. Her everlasting restless weariness interfered with her work and connection with family and intimate friends.
She described her life as narrow, emotionally hollow — full of fearful rumination — colorless and bleak. Tearfully reflecting upon her profound sense of loneliness, she commiserated that she stayed isolated at home a lot, because it just wasn’t worth even trying to enjoy a gratifying social life.
And then, on top of everything else, there was the worry over feeling so bad for so long and not seeing any hope. Most of the time, she was pretty good at not thinking too much about it. It was better not to think about it, because when she did, all these scary thoughts came roaring up in her head: What’s wrong with me? Why do I feel so bad so much of the time? I have no courage. My fear prevents me from trying new things. What if my anxiety never lets up?
In her earnest attempts to rid herself of the pain of depression, she read everything she could about it on the internet. Lots of information, no help. No way to cope with feeling so bad; no way to feel better.
There seemed to be no one she could trust to safely ask about it. No one else she knew seemed to be struggling like she was. She said she felt ashamed and embarrassed to go to the doctor to ask for help. She was afraid to admit to anyone that she’d been fighting this internal struggle with depression and anxiety for as many years as she could recall. She was ashamed she couldn’t get herself to feel normal… afraid they’d say she was crazy.
While Cheryl’s situation may not look exactly like yours, her story somehow mirrors what many of my clients encounter as they consider their first call to me. Something about this may seem powerfully familiar to you? All to often, we know something about our deeply personal internal experience is drastically “off balance,” but continue to avoid action in the hope our internal mental challenges and struggles will somehow magically disappear.
Reflect for a moment, how many of these ways have you tried to get relief?
- Just tried to ignore it and think of something else.
- Researched symptoms and found your “psychopathology” believing that you could understand your problems you could wrestle them into submission
- Earnestly read self-help books, taken classes in futile attempts to get rid of distress
- Attempted distraction with drugs, alcohol, gaming, sex, a flurry of activity,
- . . . . or a change of jobs or location
How well have these efforts paid off for you? Honestly, how much has this lessened the emotional pain? So often your hard work to suppress such “emotional pain” will distract of ease symptoms for a while, and then – almost inevitably – you’ll experience its rebound and mental problems return with renewed force.
We human beings are so very accustomed to ignoring, running, hiding, and distracting ourselves from our problems that seemingly small challenges escalate to intolerable extremes.
Routinely, such avoidant coping strategies mask and ultimately escalate our anxiety and depression. If something about this seems all too familiar to you, perhaps you are willing to make your first call!
Great news if you are willing to . . .
“Get out of your mind, and into your life!”
- You can escape the trap of anxiety and avoidance
- Foster willingness to persevere toward valued change
- You need not retract from anxiety and live a narrow life
- You can gain mastery over unwanted habits .
- You aren’t helpless, defective or otherwise crazy
- You can commit to living a vital and meaningful life
It can be difficult to make the decision to seek out the help of a therapist. I hope you don’t get caught in a trap of avoidance when it comes to mental difficulties. Most people try hard to “fix” their moods, emotions or behavioral habits on their own. Routinely, people are successful,
As an old southern adage goes:
“If ya keep on doin‘ whatcha bin doin‘,
— you‘ll keep on gettin’ whatcha bin gettin’.
Rather common sense isn’t it? Yet some personal problems seem so strongly ingrained and “sticky” that we ultimately must take the courage to risk opening up to professional help. If it seems somehow futile to continue puzzling out a solution on your own, let me know when you are willing to take your first step.
I make use of practical evidence based therapy approaches that can be tailored to work for you, in your unique life, and in your particular circumstances. We will carefully evaluate your unique struggles and challenges and skillfully tailor therapy to suit your specific needs.
Contemporary Cognitive Behavioral Therapy |
Behavior Analytic Approaches to Psychotherapy
- Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP)
- Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MBCT)
Stop Struggling & Start Living!
- You want to resolve your most perplexing personal challenges…
- You want to learn personal coping skills…
- You want to start living life again –
- You are looking for lasting personal change…
- You are tired of being controlled by your moods and habits…
- You are tired of feeling overwhelmed and perplexed –
- You are burdened by troublesome habits…
- Your relationships aren’t working…
- You feel defeated and hopeless –