Therapy for Sleep, Stress and Anger Management

Sleep stress and anger. They are often interrelated but don't have to be. Sleep is essential to be a healthy functioning individual and so it is probably the most important of the three. It is generally accepted that the average adult needs roughly eight to nine hours of sleep a night. Unfortunately, in our society, many people feel that they can function well with a lot less. Much like the drunk who feels he or she is functioning just fine, people who are sleep deprived are often in the dark about how much the lack of sleep is affecting them. Irritability, memory problems, difficulty focusing, and excessive daytime fatigue are the more noticeable problems. Long-term, however, the consequences can be far more serious and include decreased coordination and responsiveness leading to an increased risk of accidents, impaired creativity, hallucinations, the triggering of mania in people with bipolar disorder, depression, paranoia and suicidal thoughts and behavior. Sleep deprivation can also cause a range of physical problems including increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, a compromised immune system, obesity and early death. Certainly, there's a lot that can be done to improve your sleep. Having good sleep hygiene including regular sleep and wake times, refraining from caffeine, nicotine and alcohol before sleep, getting regular exercise and other behavioral strategies can be very effective in improving sleep. As a psychologist here in Honolulu I have a lot of experience helping people deal with insomnia and other sleep issues.

More effectively dealing with stress is one of the most important things you can do to improve your sleep and, coincidentally, your mental health. Besides yoga, meditation, exercise and spending more time out in nature, there is a lot that can be done in psychotherapy to decrease stress levels. You may have an underlying depression, anxiety or other mental health concern that is exacerbating your stress. Exploring deeper underlying issues can be very effective in reducing stress and creating a more vibrant and relaxed sense of well-being. Doing this in the context of psychotherapy with a trained psychologist can be of great benefit as an experienced clinician can often see, and help you realize yourself, aspects of your inner self-emotions thoughts and behaviors--of which you were unaware. This process of illumination can certainly enlighten and lighten you.

Speaking of taking the edge off, anger generally has a bad reputation and yet it is the emotion that many men in our society are conditioned to express-not that there aren't a few women who have difficulty managing their anger as well. One of the problems here is that anger is sometimes mixed up with assertiveness. Yes, anger is a valid emotion. The issue is how it's expressed, hopefully in a calm rational manner that can lead to a greater understanding of the underlying emotions- such as fear, shame, guilt, frustration, sadness or humiliation. Psychotherapy is a process that allows us to explore the underlying issues and how they came to be. Resolving these issues is guaranteed to take a great amount of emotional effort, especially when it comes to acceptance and forgiveness. Yet that gift, which at its core is really about self-acceptance and self-forgiveness is the greatest offering of healing one can provide for oneself.

Having provided psychotherapy here in Honolulu for over 25 years has allowed me the opportunity to work with countless individuals in resolving their sleep, stress and anger issues and much more. I invite you to call so I may assist you too.