In an ideal situation, we would all emerge from our childhoods as fully rounded healthy individuals. However, this doesn’t always happen due to difficult upbringings. With the dawn of social media apps and ever-increasing awareness, we are better able to identify some general factors in our childhoods that may have affected our mental health. Professional therapeutic exploration and guidance can help to solidify one’s understanding of what that actually means in terms of adulthood and personal growth going forwards. Research demonstrates that both positive and adverse childhood experiences shape brain development and mental health across the lifespan.
My Psychotherapy in Hertfordshire practice aims to validate your experiences and to enable you to make sense of them.
Common problematic factors in childhood include:
- Closed communication in families
- Avoidant or Anxious attachment styles
- Lack of helpful support in difficult times
- Parents with mental health issues that are not addressed
- Emotional and psychological abuse
- Not feeling safe or protected by a parent at home
- Struggles at school including bullying that hadn’t been addressed appropriately
- Feelings of not being supported by friends growing up
The above list is not exhaustive, there are varying themes that can and have affected an individual’s ability to thrive as adults in both their personal and professional lives. One of the central outcomes of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) is forming negative core beliefs. These are developed in childhood and can lead to a range of negative outcomes.
These include:
- Low self-esteem
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty in forming healthy relationships
- Fear of failure
- Trust issues
- A general inability to reach full potential
Negative core beliefs can fuel negative emotions like sadness, anger, difficulties with dealing with disappointments in interpersonal relationships, low self-worth, shame and anxiety that all contribute to low mood and depressive episodes. This may lead to procrastination and general lack of motivation and missed opportunities for overall personal growth.
My Psychotherapy in Hertfordshire practice aims to validate your feelings and to explore the reasons why you are having difficulties with moving forwards with your life in areas that really matter to you. Feeling ‘stuck’ in certain areas of your life and repeating negative cycles that seem unfathomable is very common in my practice. For an example, Individuals with negative core beliefs commonly resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as avoiding open communication with loved ones for fear of conflict or they continually project unconscious childhood skewed coping mechanisms that are not helpful when considering adult relationships. This outcome can lead to disappointment and resentment and further problems down the line. My integrative approach and my therapeutic practice experience of over 20 years can help you to understand and reframe the basis of your negative core beliefs with the aim of broadening your perspective on life and reaching your full potential.
If you feel that you could benefit from a new wholistic approach to your life to improve interpersonal relationships and you want to fulfil your potential, please contact me at Penny Glazebrook Counselling and Psychotherapy today!
