Insight Therapy Pittsburgh
Sharna Olfman, Ph.D.
We often reach out to a therapist when we are overwhelmed by the intensity of our feelings. All too often mental health professionals frame our feelings as symptoms. Despair becomes Depression, fear becomes Anxiety, elation becomes Bipolar Disorder and rage becomes Oppositional-Defiant Disorder.
But feelings are not merely symptoms. They are an essential part of the human condition.
When feelings overwhelm us, we need a therapist who is not afraid of their intensity. With guidance, trauma can be resolved so that the wounds of the past no longer defeat us. We all face very real crises at some point in our lives. But we do not need to silence our feelings or face the journey alone.
Our understanding of the developing brain and the complex interplay of genes and environments - has led to significant breakthroughs in approaches to treatment of childhood mental health issues.
Meanwhile, the "chemical imbalance" theory of mental illness has been roundly discredited by the scientific community, but it is nonetheless relentlessly promoted by the pharmaceutical industry leading to irresponsible prescribing of dangerous psychiatric medications such as antipsychotics and mood stabilizers to children when therapies based in real science are available.