Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy and medication are what people commonly turn to when confronted with an emotional problem, such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, triggers from past traumas, grief, relationship issues, etc.
These are the treatments that are considered best practice in the medical model.
“Karen’s Shares her Experience”:
I have been a licensed therapist for over 25 years and worked in many different settings. I have also been a client of psychotherapy for over 25 years, and through these two different experiences can speak to the hopes and expectations of clients who pick up the phone and call a psychotherapist for help.
I remember when I first saw a therapist in my early 20’s, I thought that one session would cure
At the recommendation of my therapist, I went to see a psychiatrist and was prescribed mind numbing tranquilizers for my panic attacks which were so strong that I noticed one day that I couldn’t feel the water in the shower. I felt like I had been given a full body shot of Novocain.
Is this the goal of psychotherapy and psychiatry? To numb us so we can’t feel anything? Is this what we want when we call a therapist? A numb, pain-free life?
If you are searching for solutions for your health concerns and would like to work with a confident and knowledgeable guide, please contact Karen today. There ARE ways to improve your health!
Emotional and physical symptoms, while uncomfortable, are there to get our attention to do something different. They are not to be suppressed, medicated away or ignored.
I found in my many years of practice that people were well intentioned when they came to therapy but as we worked together, and the patterns that needed to change came up, the feelings were too intense and the person would retreat back into the coping skills, such as medication, alcohol, food, co-dependency, etc. The well-worn path, is extremely hard to shift.
Through these years , I began to realize that the body was being left out of talk therapy and we couldn’t reason our way out of emotional pain. I left no stone un-turned in my search for answers that would support myself and my clients through the journey to wellness.
It was not until I stumbled across homeopathy and energy medicines, did I find the answers I was seeking.
Homeopathy and flower essences offer emotional support to ease the difficulty in feeling our feelings and facing the sometimes painful truth about the work we need to do. It compliments therapy to shift patterns, reduce compulsions minimize cravings, ease anxiety and creates a feeling of well being inside.
In my practice, most people come to therapy for the pain in their interpersonal relationships. These are the feelings that are most intense and get people in the door. Once they start sharing their story, it soon becomes apparent that they are using all kind of unhealthy coping strategies, and that they are suffering from much more than a painful relationship.
My goal, when someone comes to see me, is to help the person create a vital, healthy and vibrant life, which includes having all their feelings. I help people enter into a different relationship with themselves whereby they can tolerate and even welcome, strong feelings; which then become the guidance system for their lives.
I don’t recommend my clients go on medication for their symptoms, the way my therapist did, so many years ago.
In fact, I want to work with the symptoms and learn from the symptoms to find the root cause of my client’s suffering.
Numbness is not the goal.
Vitality is the goal.
We can’t have vitality if we are suppressing our feelings and symptoms.
Each of my clients, can describe that moment when they “decided” to shut down and not feel what was happening. They turn away from the pain and discomfort and deliberately wall off a part of themselves.
The trouble is, that our body, mind, and spirit, has wisdom and knows that we need a whole self to live a healthy life.
The painful feelings that we have shoved down into the vault, start seeping out, and we need more and more tools to keep them at bay.
At this point, we are fighting against ourselves and the wisdom of our bodies. We search for things to make us feel better; to make those uncomfortable feelings go away. We try food, sugar, alcohol, drugs, sex, caretaking others, gambling, shopping, TV, internet, and all other kinds of addictive behaviors that soothe us in the moment.
It works temporarily, but over time we need more and more to shut down the feelings. And now we have a new problem, we are dependent on a substance or a behavior to keep us in balance.
Homeopathy can help on several different levels. First, it can heal the original wound that we are masking; second, it can heal the addictions we have created to survive, and third, it can heal the health problems that have been created by our ineffective attempts to avoid the feelings in the first place.
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
~Carl Jung
Karen Davis, LISW
Karendavishomeopath@gmail.com
Phone
(207) 844-4885
Location
Cedar Rapids
By Appointment