Are you hearing voices, sounds, music, whistling, crying, knocking or banging that other people cannot hear?
Do you see visions, flashes, flames, blinding light or geometric figures?
Do you have feelings on or just beneath your skin like bugs crawling?
Or any other unusual perceptual experiences?
Are you experiencing intense fears that others may be watching or talking about you, or that people in your life are not loyal or trustworthy?
Do you sometimes feel like you may not be in control of your own thoughts or ideas?
Or feel like things you see on the TV or around you have special meaning?
Do you have experiences that remind you of or evoke thoughts about telepathy?
Is this causing you intense anxiety, depression, or interfering with achieving your goals?
Do people accuse you of being paranoid when really they are at fault?
Contact us to find out more information about how we might be able to help. Or to set up an appointment fill out this scheduling form or call 646 868 8396.
At NYC CBTp we take a normalizing approach. We believe experiences and beliefs commonly regarded as symptoms of psychosis are often highly understandable reactions to adverse life events. We avoid using labels, unhelpful diagnosis or judgment. Our primary aim is to help you overcome your distress and achieve your goals, as well as develop ways of restoring autonomy and dignity, without shame or stigma. We work from a person centered, recovery oriented perspective, which means we do not believe that you are sick, wrong, or bad. We provide a supportive and accepting therapeutic environment for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation or gender.
1.We don’t believe you have a medical/genetic/biological illness We don’t believe in diagnosis. It isn’t helpful and it's also not a scientifically verified thing! (happy to talk more about this in session). Whatever unusual experiences you are going through, they are more than likely highly understandable reactions to adverse life events that you have been through.
2.We won’t tell you that its not real and that you have to admit that Whatever you are experiencing, we know it’s real and we won't ever waste your time with conversations to the contrary. However if you are experiencing distress and/or if this experience is getting in the way of you achieving your dreams and what you want in life we can help with that!
3.Somewhat related – it’s not our job to take away your experiences, especially if you find some of them supportive You may have heard professionals in the past tell you they were going to “get rid of the symptoms” (whatever that means!) For a lot of people this includes getting rid of the good with the bad. We won’t ever try and do that. However, we can help you manage what you don’t like, and enhance what you do!
4.You are allowed to have whatever life goals/dreams you wish and we will support you with them In fact if you don’t have any life goals we will actively encourage you to dream!
5.We won’t ever force you to come to therapy Therapy is always a choice, even if someone else has offered to pay for you to come, it is your choice whether you do. We always support that, and advocate for you if you need us to.
6.We will always consider you the expert No one has ever walked in your shoes and we won’t take the patronizing expert stance of pretending we have. You will always be the expert on you. We are just here to help you facilitate that expertise to its fullest potential.