- Depression and anxiety (general anxiety disorder, phobias, panic attacks)
- Complex trauma /complex PTSD (C-PTSD) and how it affects our lives
- Neurodivergence – Autism and ADHD in adults
- Consciousness and self-awareness of the individual, emotional literacy (How much do I keep in touch with myself? Do I know what I’m feeling? How closely do I get in touch with my surroundings?)
- Personal development, the authenticity of the individual and self-actualization
- Relationship problems, perfectionism, low self-esteem, and self-respect
- Identity crisis, adaptation to various life changes (divorce, relocation, illness)
- Codependency /emotional codependency and other toxic relationships
- Transgenerational trauma transmission
- Mental state as a cause of autoimmune, chronic, and acute diseases
- Addictions (behavioral and substance)
- Narcissistic personality structures and narcissistic abuse – in the primary family (parent/s
with personality disorders (often undiagnosed, subclinical type) and their comorbidities
(depression, aggression, alcoholism, etc.) and how such family dynamics affect children – today adults, clients of psychotherapy or counselling) and – in partnerships (dysfunctional/abusive partnerships) - Borderline personality structures
We learn most from our own experience and the problems we have managed to solve.
I noticed psychological problems in my life very early, although I did not understand what they were – I just knew that something was wrong.
Today, when I can verbalize all these problems, I can say that from very early childhood I have suffered from depressive states, dissociation, social anxiety, perfectionism, undiagnosed eating disorders (anorexia) and body dysmorphia, psychological abuse and emotional neglect in the primary family, somatic problems that marked my life (acne, psoriasis, bruxism), mood swings, anxiety, sleep problems, lack of emotional control (fear, guilt, anger, shame), vague identity, learned helplessness, consequences of peer psychological abuse – later psychologically abusive intimate relationships as well, as well as burnout (psycho-physical breakdown) and excessive alcohol consumption.
All these difficult problems made me seek the help of a psychiatrist at the age of 24. At first, I was only treated with medication and later decided to start long-term psychotherapy.
For almost 12 years I have been attending individual psychotherapy (systemic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis) and I can say that I have gone a long way in recovery and that I have a lot of experience with all the steps and stages involved.
I am now also a Gestalt therapy client – as my education requires (min. 100 hours) and as I enjoy (and benefit of).
I also know a lot about psychiatric medications (learned Psychiatry at Propaedeutics of Psychotherapy) and have personal experience consuming antidepressants, anxiolytics, and mood stabilizers.
Furthermore, I have personal experience with narcissistic relationships (narcissistic abuse), both in the primary family and in romantic partnerships.
Narcissistic abuse is not “just” psychological abuse that a “narcissist” (a person high on the spectrum of narcissistic personality disorder, or a full blown NPD) executes over somebody, but rather a special form of perfidious destabilization and complete psycho-physical destruction of another person through manipulation, triangulation, gaslighting and traumatic bonding – from which it is very difficult to get out – and it is very difficult to find someone who will believe you, understand what you are going through and support you – primarily because you don’t believe your own reality – everything that is happening is very mind-bending and soul crushing – and because there are still relatively few educated experts on the subject in Croatia (more on that in the blogs that follow).
Through psychotherapy, I realized my role and responsibility in abusive partnerships, became aware of my “bad programming”, repetitive destructive patterns and striving for an emotionally codependent relationship (both fear of abandonment and fear of real emotional closeness) – started raising my consciousness and began to understand myself better, learned to set healthy boundaries in relationships, found and built my identity and began my self-actualization.
Psychotherapy has helped me start a whole new life and find myself at the age of 31 – I consider it my rebirth – finding my authenticity and freeing myself from the destructive patterns of my past.
I am proof that change is possible – that self-awareness and taking control of your own life is the hardest but also the most important thing you will ever do for yourself – because satisfactory alternatives to life that fulfils you and makes you happy and does not include the authentic you – does not exist!
Let me help you, with life counseling and /or psychotherapy, on that path of personal growth.