Welcome to Empowerment Therapy . . . Accessing Your Full Potential:

Barbara came to therapy, depressed and hopeless. She felt stifled and bored in her position as a school administrator and was increasingly angry and frustrated with her husband and 17 year-old daughter, Robyn.

Her general practitioner had diagnosed her with depression and prescribed antidepressants. Although functioning better, Barbara now felt “emotionally numb” and was still dissatisfied. Her initial question in therapy was how much she needed to increase her antidepressants in order for her to feel better.

Before having Barbara go up on antidepressants, Dr. Schreiber had her do a thorough evaluation of her current life situation. Barbara discussed being worried about all of the upcoming life changes. Having her daughter leave for college made her feel slightly uneasy about her marital relationship as Robyn had been their primary focus and main topic of discussion for the past 17 years.

Watching her daughter excitedly prepare for college, had also made Barbara think about her own past dreams and what she had given up in order to be with her family. Although initially wanting to pursue a graduate degree in Art History, she had switched at the last minute to School Administration so she could have similar hours as her young daughter. As she discussed this, Barbara realized that she had been feeling resentment towards her husband and daughter because of what she had given up in order to be close to them.

When encouraged to look at what she had accomplished and the positives of her current life situation, Barbara was happy with what she saw. Her daughter was successful, outgoing, and about to embark on her own college career. Her husband loved her and was proud of her successes. She had done a good job as a mother, spouse, and career woman.

Being able to see what she had given up, but yet also what she had created with her current family, gave Barbara some immediate balance and life satisfaction. No longer seeing herself as someone who sold out on her dreams, and whose life was over, she began to feel initial excitement and motivation about what she could do now to fulfill on her previously suppressed passions.

Furthering the process of understanding, Dr. Schreiber also pointed out that what Barbara was going through was developmentally normal and quite common. She was not “crazy” or “beginning early menopause”. She was having very normal feelings about her current life situation. The comprehension and normalization of what she was feeling helped Barbara tremendously in moving past these emotions. It also provided the necessary motivation she needed to make some life changes.

By the second session, Barbara had registered for some evening classes in Art History. She had also begun to do some yoga classes which calmed and centered her. She was even thinking about taking up her painting again.

Within 2 weeks, Barbara was already well into the process of creating a life that was fulfilling, powerful, and passionate. Follow up sessions continued with clarification of what she wanted and the skills she needed to make those things happen. Her antidepressants ended up in the trash and Barbara felt as passionate and excited as her 17 year old daughter.

Jonathon came to therapy after losing his 3rd job. His job history in the computer industry demonstrated a pattern of an initial strong job performance, followed by a quick promotion.  However, upon being promoted, Jonathon panicked and was unable to perform at his previous level of functioning. His failures in his career made him feel depressed and worthless and he had no idea how to fix this chronic occurrence.
 
Dr. Schreiber encouraged Jonathon to explore where the pattern of failure might have originated. As therapy progressed, Jonathon discussed having a severe learning disability as a child that caused chronic struggles in school. He was often told by teachers and his parents that he would never succeed if he didn’t perform better. Faced with failure, Jonathon’s tendency was to withdraw and give up. Rather than disappointing people again, Jonathon decided at a very early age that it was safer to just not try.
 
Because of early life experience, Jonathon developed a subconscious core belief that he was stupid; that he would not be successful; and that others would be disappointed in him. Therefore, when Jonathon had the opportunity to succeed, he subconsciously sabotaged it, fearing that his boss and coworkers would discover his lack of intelligence and be disappointed with him.

When Jonathon was able to identify these basic core beliefs, he saw how significantly they were impacting his life. He also was able to see how his original belief about his intelligence level was not at all true or accurate. Although he was not traditionally “book smart” he was very smart technologically. His brain had an immediate grasp of computers, how they worked and what needed to be done to fix one.

With this new knowledge, Jonathon’s belief in himself, his job performance and his capabilities, skyrocketed. He not only flourished in his next job, he eventually quit it to open his own thriving technology company.

Understanding the power of his core beliefs, as well as their subconscious nature of the pesky little buggers, Jonathon checked in regularly with Dr. Schreiber if there was anything in his life that wasn’t working to his full satisfaction. Identification and modification became his new life motto.

When I found out that my idea of myself as “damaged and unworthy” was just a belief I had made up to explain what happened to me as a child, it felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted from my shoulders. I knew I could really go for my dreams now AND accomplish them.  (statement from a child abuse survivor).