Stress & life transitions

What we help with

Some of these are DSM-5-TR diagnoses; most are simply hard situations. Your clinician will tell you which applies after a full evaluation.

Adjustment disorders

Emotional or behavioral symptoms, such as low mood, anxiety or conduct problems, that begin within three months of an identifiable stressor and are out of proportion to it or impair daily life. The DSM-5-TR classifies these as trauma- and stressor-related disorders; they're the most common diagnosis in outpatient counseling and usually resolve with brief treatment.

Chronic stress and burnout

Burnout isn't a DSM diagnosis, but the exhaustion, detachment and reduced effectiveness it describes are real and can tip into depression or anxiety if ignored. We work with healthcare workers, teachers, first responders, business owners and others in high-demand roles.

Anger

Anger that's frequent, intense, or damaging relationships and work. Sometimes it's a symptom of depression, trauma or ADHD; sometimes it's a learned pattern. Either way it responds to treatment focused on triggers, physiology and the beliefs underneath it.

Divorce, separation and co-parenting

Grieving a relationship, managing conflict with an ex, and helping children through the change. We see adults individually and also work with children and teens whose parents are separating.

Caregiver strain

Caring for an aging parent, a child with special needs, or a partner with a serious illness. Support for the guilt, resentment, exhaustion and grief that caregivers rarely get to say out loud.

Career, school and financial stress

Job loss, a difficult boss, a career change, academic pressure, and the strain money problems put on individuals and couples.

Major life changes

Relocation, retirement, becoming a parent, an empty nest, a new medical diagnosis, coming home from deployment, and other transitions that are normal and still hard.

How we treat it

Most people come for a limited number of sessions focused on the problem in front of them. Solution-focused and cognitive behavioral approaches help you sort what you can control from what you can't, build concrete coping skills and make decisions you can stand behind. Mindfulness-based work helps when the body is carrying the stress. If a stressor has uncovered something deeper, such as unresolved trauma or depression, your therapist will say so and adjust the plan.

• Solution-focused therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Mindfulness and acceptance-based therapy
• Person-centered therapy
• Narrative therapy
• All approaches

Where to get help for stress & life transitions

Available at every Oceanic® office and through our telehealth team.

Diagnostic descriptions on this page are summarized in plain language from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR, 2022). This page is educational. It is not a substitute for evaluation by a licensed clinician, and only a licensed clinician can make a diagnosis.