We Specialize in Treating:

• Mood Disorders
• Depression
• Bipolar Disorder

• Anxiety Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Phobias
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Psychological Trauma
• Abuse
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Dissociative Disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Low Self-Esteem
• Relationship Issues
• Risk Taking Behaviors
• Self Mutilation
• Unresolved Grief

Dissociative Disorders

Dissociative Disorders are a cluster of diagnoses in which a person's general functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception become disrupted. There are many types of Dissociative Disorders: Dissociative Amnesia, Dissociative Fugue, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Depersonalization Disorder. Symptoms of these disorders can be frightening and disorienting to the person, and often times, are the result of a trauma experienced by the individual.

In Dissociative Amnesia, individuals experience a loss of memory surrounding a traumatic event(s). Some individuals also report depressive symptoms, panic and anxiety.

In Depersonalization Disorder, individuals experience a persistent feeling of being detached from one's own self, experiences and body. Depersonalization can be characterized as feeling "spaced out" or "out of it" and is recurrent. This experience is protective to the individual, used as a coping mechanism in which a person has experienced a situation or experience too traumatic to integrate within his/her conscious self.

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a complex disorder stemming from severe psychological stress associated with childhood abuse and/or trauma. Often times those who suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder are extremely depressed and find themselves unable to account for being in a strange place, purchasing certain items, or other unrecognizable actions. An understanding of why someone cannot recall these incidents or episodes is that an aspect of their personality (or "alter") is kept our of the individual's awareness. A therapeutic goal would be to introduce the other "alter" or "alters" into one's overarching personality and work towards eventual integration.

Treatment towards managing Dissociative Disorders is multi-faceted. At Bridges to Recovery we provide not only pharmacological support but a variety of therapeutic modalities focusing on the underlying trauma of these disorders. We also provide a safe and stable environment where individuals can explore triggers with their therapist. Somatic therapies and skills training provide hands-on experience and practice to help "re-ground" individuals experiencing dissociative symptoms.