How do we feel stuck? 

Where is the feeling stuckness coming from? 

Is it possible to get unstuck? 

We can experience feeling stuck in many ways.  You are tired of feeling anxious and depressed despite all help. You complain about constant pain in your body. You feel that you are being emotionally abused, you feel confused and helpless. You get into uncontrollable anger constantly and you feel bad. You feel burnout with your job. You repeatedly get into bad relationships, feel trapped and unable to get out of it no matter how hard you try. You try to quit smoking, gambling, drinking or other addictions/bad habits but relapse repeatedly. You feel insecure and jealous of your loved ones even though you know you should not. You constantly feel that people - your children, husband/wife, friends, co-workers are against you.   

These feelings of stuckness can come from various sources. It can be due to the nature of our personality and temperament. The most common source is the influence of our environment - our past experience, such as trauma. We all experience some forms of trauma in our everyday life. What is trauma? 

Trauma is a damage to our mind that caused by the body having been wounded or by a sudden shock or terrible experience.  Some examples of traumatic events, just to name a few, prolonged feeling stressed and overwhelmed, car accident, sudden death or loss of loved one, witness parents fighting with rage, sexual assault/rape, emotional abuse (e.g. being verbally attacked, put down constantly), neglected physically and emotionally, witness someone being killed.

We may experience the following symptoms when we feel stuck: easily angry, stressed, anxious and agitated; feeling sad and down frequently for no reason; lack of motivation to do anything; no ambition for work; frequently feel tired and exhausted; easily reactive to trivial things; trouble with sleep; having frequent nightmares; suicidal thoughts; feeling stuck and confused; staying away from friends and family; problems with relationships (trouble trusting, destructive and suspicious) - couple/parent and child in the family and trouble getting along with people at work. Children often exhibit behavioural problems such as aggression, defiant, not listening, difficult with bedtime and morning routines, just to name a few.

It is possible to set ourselves free from feeling stuck- whether it is due to the nature of our temperament/personality or past experiences. At Gracey Psychotherapy, I can help you with the healing process and you are able to enjoy life to the fullest.  I use a holistic mind and body approach to work with my patients/clients to attain the optimal treatment outcome.

----  Grace Yong, MA,RCC,RMFT