I often provide therapy or counseling for college aged young adults in Utah Valley. This is my speciality and what I love to do most as a counselor. Over the last two decades I’ve worked with many BYU, UVU and other students or young adults in this area of Utah. I will outline some of the more common issues that young adults in this regioun bring to therapy.

Depression

Young adults who need therapy often present with depression (Related Article: Depression in College Students). This can manifest in several ways. Often depression shows up in your motivation or interest. You might find yourself not as interested in things that you used to be interested in. It just doesn’t seem fun anymore to do what you used to do for fun. Depression also shows up as withdrawal. This can be a subtle withdrawal, like not hanging out with friends, or a more drastic withdrawal, such as dropping out of school. You might be sleeping too much or too little. Your hope for the future could be waining or actually gone. There are many signs that you could be depressed. Recognizing that its depression is important if you are going to be able to do something about it. If you can see it, you can change it. The trick is seeing it in the first place.

Anxitey

Struggling with anxiety seems to come with the territory of being a young adult (Related Article: Anxiety For College Students). You feel anxious about school, dating, deciding on a career, paying for your life, family and other things. Sometimes anxiety can be specific to a certain event or circumstance – such as a test. Sometimes anxiety can be more general where you simply feel nervous or you ‘buzz’ no matter what you are doing. Your eye might start to twitch or you might get stomach aches. Definitely, anxiety can be something big or small in your life. It’s definitely present for most all young adults at some point.

Social Issues

What’s more important to many young adults than friends and finding someone to be with? Social rejection might be more painful than physical injuries for young adults. Being a part of a group – being accepted, loved and validated is crucial to your development and health. Figuring out what group you belong to is going to help you develop your emotional and relational skills. This is crucial during this time as you launch from home and try to find your way through life. You need others to be there with you.

What Can You Do?

First of all, you can talk with someone. Not talking about difficulty in your life makes it more likely to impact you negatively. It’s a myth that talking about yoru problems make them worse. Most people don’t want to face things that are hard and eventually develop weak emotional and social muscles. Have you ever noticed someone like this? They struggle to address issues as they arise and get buried. It doesn’t take much for them to become overwhelmed and eventually check out. If you talk with someone about your troubles they can listen, give good advice and be there for you. It can be scary to open up, but is worth it.

Second, you can get professional help (Related Article: How To Help A Struggling College Student With Mental Health). A therapist is not a friend, however, they are friendly. A therapist is trained to assess your situation and apply proper treatment. They use methods that have been researched and found to be helpful, rather than just listening and offering advice. They can help you navigate difficult emotional situations in a way that will help instead of damage.

Third, you could read a self help book written by an expert about the issue you are struggling with. For example, books I often recommend are: Depression – ‘Feeling Good‘ by David Burns; Anxiety – ‘The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook‘ by Edmund Bourne; Marriage Problems – ‘Hold Me Tight‘ by Susan Johnson.

Call me today to see if we are a fit for therapy. I have been successfully working with young adults in Utah Valley for several decades now.

Written by Triston Morgan, Ph.D., Utah Valley Therapist

Depression is Common among College Students

It’s common for college students to feel depressed. Now, when I say depression, I mean anything from just feeling down to feeling so depressed you can’t get out of bed. It’s important to know that feeling sad is a part of life. Feeling significant depression doesn’t have to be, however. Everyone gets down from time to time, but depression is different (Related Article: What Is The Difference Between Sadness And Depression). So, if you are feeling down, know that others feel that way too. They might be able to help you if you reach out.

Depression Versus Sadness

What’s the difference between the two? Well, one of the differences is that sadness can be situational. If you just broke up with your girlfriend, you might feel sad. It might last for a few days or weeks. However, if that sadness turns into depression, you might find it lasting longer and stopping you from functioning in life. Depression seems to be a deeper feeling and can be longer lasting (Related Article: What Is Depression?). It might also show up when there doesn’t seem to be a reason to feel it. Sometimes it’s the weather and time of year that causes you to feel depressed (Related Article: Seasonal Affective Disorder). But, wether it’s the time of year or a situation that has you feeling down, there is help. It doesn’t matter if its sadness or depression they both hurt and are uncomfortable.

Signs of Depression

There are several signs of depression (Related Article: Depression Counseling: Surprising Symptoms You May Miss). First, a lack of interest in things you used to enjoy. Second, anger and irritability. Third, lack of energy. Fourth, impulsive decisions. It’s important to know what to look for in yourself or your partner (Related Article: Supporting Your Partner Through Depression). Adjusting to college life can be difficult and with that comes discomfort. Knowing if its turning into depression can help you reach out when needed.

Get Help For Depression

One of the best things you can do when feeling down or depressed is to get help. Try talking with a partner, parent, sibling, roommate, Church leader or friend. Meeting with a trained counselor for depression has been shown to be effective as well (Related Article: Help With Depression). Whatever you do, don’t keep it to yourself. Reach out to those who love you and can help.

Written by Dr Triston Morgan, PhD, LMFT. Utah Valley Marriage and Family Therapist

Anxiety is Common for College Students

Going to school at a university is stressful. Its hard moving out, entering your 20’s, and trying to be social and date. Add on top of that the stress of college level classes and expectations. It’s no wonder that anxiety is common for college age students. You have probably felt this yourself as you navigate this time of life. Part of the problem, however, is that anxiety is often left un addressed and untreated. Most people who suffer from it try to deal with it on their own. Counseling in Utah can be helpful and effective (Related Article: How Counseling Can Help Your Anxiety). I will outline several tips for dealing with anxiety that I teach my college aged clients here in Utah Valley.

Talk With Others About Your Anxiety

Simply talking with others about your anxiety is a good first step. It won’t solve it, but will certainly let others be there for you. Dealing with anxiety at college on your own is a recipe for more stress. So, let others know about your stress around dating (Related Article: Counseling For Dating Anxiety), classes, being social, your roommate and money. Chances are they are going through it as well. Or, they might have gone through it earlier in their life and might offer good suggestions. The point is, you aren’t alone and others can be there for you. Open up to them.

Do More Of What You Love

Try doing more of what you love in life. Often, when you start college you get bogged down in school. You become unbalanced. So, try doing more of what you like to do – what you used to to for fun. If you are into D&D, don’t give it up. Start a group. If you are into sports, make sure you play on a team or for fun. Even if you are busy with school, you can’t afford to not do things for fun. It makes you a better student.

Try Counseling Or Medications for Anxiety

One of the best things you can do for your anxiety while at college is to get professional help. Try counseling or medications for anxiety. Counselors are trained to help in ways that your friends or family can’t. Often, the best combination of anxiety treatment involves talk therapy and medication (Related Article: If I Take Mental Health Medications, Should I Start Individual Therapy?). In therapy for anxiety you will learn coping skills, ways to recognize anxiety and how to reach out to others. You will improve you emotional capacity to handle the difficult of school and your social life (Related Articles: Emotions 101: How To Be Healthy and 3 Principles of Emotional Health).

My Experience As An Anxiety Counselor In Utah Valley

I have been offering mental health counseling for college students in Utah Valley for 2 decades. I have helped them overcome anxiety (Related Article: Anxiety), depression, poor academic performance, pornography issues and problem with dating/social life. This is one of my specialties as a marriage and family therapist in Utah.

Written by Dr Triston Morgan, PhD, LMFT.

What do you do when your young adult child is struggling in Utah Valley? At this point, parenting is different. You don’t have the same influence over them that you used to. They don’t seem to listen and don’t think you have all the answers anymore. Not like when they were young. It’s difficult to know what to do to help them when they continue to make bad choices. Here are two things to consider that will help you help them (Related Article: How To Help A Struggling College Student With Mental Health).

Mental Health for Young Adults

Your young adult child might be open to talking about their mental health. It might not be now, but they will eventually be open to it if they trust you. So, be trustworthy. Talk with them about all aspects of their life – whats going well, not just whats going poorly. If they think you are just trying to fix them or talk to them about what they need to do better, they won’t trust you. You can talk with them about depression and anxiety when it seems to come up. However, it’s important to also talk with theme about what they enjoy and are having fun with – or want to be doing. Make it a safe relationship with them by being genuinely interested in all aspects of their life.

Be Open About Your Struggles As Well

Be open about your struggles with mental health, relationships or work with your child as well. This normalizes you and models for them how to work through it. Some conventional approaches to parenting tell you to not show any weakness. However, open up! Share with your young adult child that sometimes you don’t want to go to work. Or, that sometimes you feel down. It can be relieving to them that you aren’t perfect. They can start to see you and what you are doing in your life differently. They might be able to connect with you better. This helps create a safe place for them to be imperfect in front of you.

Counseling for Young Adults in Utah Valley

I have been a counselor for young adults in Utah Valley for almost two decades. They need help and need someone that is courageous enough to point them in that direction. My counseling office is in Orem. You can check out my other clinic as well – The Center for Couples and Families.

Written by Dr Triston Morgan, PhD, LMFT

Transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood is difficult. You usually don’t want to be told what to do – and most likely aren’t reading this article. But parents of young adults might be because you are struggling to help your child grow and figure out how to navigate life away from the nest. Depression, anxiety, pornography, drug use, issues with school or work and issues with significant others are among many difficulties young adults face during that transition from high school to college or from serving a Church mission to being back in college. Over the years, as a counselor in Orem, Utah, I’ve noticed a few things that parents do who successfully help their child navigate this period. First, they give them space. Your child is going to make mistakes. Giving them space to do so shows that you trust them and honor their ‘adulthood’. This doesn’t mean, however, that you run the other way and cut them off. They need a safe place to come back to, in a consultative manner. They still need you to be there so they can process what is going on. They might not come right away, but they do come eventually. Make yourself available and reach out to them. You can’t force them to share, but you can invite them. You can say to them, ‘You might not want to talk, but just know that I am here for you and I care about you. I’m happy to listen if you want to share’. Second, they create emotional safety. When your child does share with you, you want to ‘hold emotional space’ for them by accepting, validating and reflecting what they are saying rather than telling them what to do. You might not agree with what they are doing or saying, but telling them they are wrong and then telling them what to do will close the door of them sharing at all. You want to help them figure things out rather than force them to think the way you do. You can, for example, validate the emotions they feel rather than the actions they are doing. Saying, ‘I can see that breaking up has really been painful for you’, rather than, ‘Stopping going to church just because you broke up isn’t going to help. You just need to keep going’ can be helpful. You might not agree with their choices/actions, but you can certainly empathize and understand their emotions (that then led to certain actions).

Many couples that come in to see me for counseling are dealing with the devastating effects of an affair or infidelity. There is a process that usually happens as things unfold. For the sake of this article, I will assume that it is the male partner who has had the affair, although this certainly is not always the case. When couples come in they are still, often, in the discovery phase. She is continuing to learn about what he has done or at the least she worries and fears that there is more than what she knows. He seems contrite and sorry to a degree and willing to go to therapy. After talking, it usually seems that there is more to it that what has been discovered or disclosed. Sometimes for women, they are having a hard time dealing with the shock and betrayal. I notice at this time that they are also dealing with fear of losing him. For some women they seem as if they are mad, hurt and afraid. That fear keeps them from really sharing their feelings about what has happened. There can be desperation at this point too. Sometimes they try to win or keep their husband because they realize that he has gone out and has been with or still is with someone else. There is an element of competition, perhaps. This can be very difficult because to her, it seems as if she isn’t able to fully embrace and share her feelings because if she did, he would get upset and leave for good. Over time, he gradually, as my experience with couples has shown, opens up more and shares more details about what he has done or is doing. As the couple works through therapy, it becomes safer to talk about these emotions and she does. For male partner, this can be surprising, and he often states that ‘I thought we were doing fine, where did this come from?’. This is because she hasn’t felt safe enough with him to share it before, but after working through some of the issue they face, she has felt more secure and stable in the relationship – so she shares more of the hurt or betrayal that she is feeling because she isn’t afraid that it will end their relationship. It’s important to understand that this is a normal part of the process of healing. A good couple’s therapist will be able to help a couple navigate the different stages of healing after an affair.

I’m currently accepting new clients in my Orem Utah counseling center office. Call me at 801-215-9581

Written by Dr Triston Morgan, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Anxiety is a problem most of us face at some point or another. It isn’t a question of ‘if’ we will experience it, but ‘when’. Anxiety comes in many forms. It can be difficult to cope with when it is severe and difficult to detect when it is mild. There is a situation when anxiety is actually covering up, and is a reaction to, other emotions. Let’s talk about how and when that is the case. There are primary emotions and secondary emotions. Primary emotions are our natural emotions to a situation. For example, feeling sad when you get a divorce is a primary emotion. In this example, you might also feel other emotions such as hurt, fear, confusion, betrayal, desperation, abandonment, despair, hopelessness, overwhelmed, etc. When these other emotions, in addition to feeling sad, become too much, a secondary emotion can come in to take the role of blanketing them so that you distance yourself or numb yourself from them. It covers them up so that you don’t see them and seemingly don’t have to deal with them. Anger is a good example of a secondary emotion. Anxiety, at times, can be, but isn’t necessarily always, a secondary emotion as well. When you are feeling all of those things, anxiety can come and make you buzz so you don’t feel them. In this case, it is secondary to what is actually going on. The trick, then, is to ask yourself, ‘what am I really feeling’ and recognize, feel and cope with your primary emotions. Dealing with anxiety alone won’t be enough as it isn’t the root of what is going on.

Pornography is often mistaken as a ‘sex addiction’. Some have said to me that, ‘If me and my wife just had sex more, pornography wouldn’t be an issue’. This is a myth and false. It has less to do with frequency of intercourse and more to do with the emotions behind so many things. Pornography temporarily numbs someone from feeling uncomfortable emotions. It keeps them from feeling what is really going on in their life. It helps them avoid. For example, feeling rejected, alone and unseen is uncomfortable. Most people don’t want to feel these types of emotion’s so they try to avoid them. They might recognize that those emotions are present, but their main goal then becomes to get rid of them without first picking them up and experiencing them. The only way to do this is to numb yourself. You can’t move something that you first don’t have. You have to pick up the emotion if you are going to do something with it. That act is counterintuitive and difficult. Pornography is one way that people avoid feeling what is right there in their lives. It numbs them from feeling rejected, alone or unseen. But those emotions don’t go away, however. They get buried and still influence us. Learning to feel uncomfortable emotions and increasing your emotional capacity is part of the solution to addiction to pornography. Simply stopping using pornography isn’t enough to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Moving pornography out of the way only serves as a move towards creating more space to feel your emotions and therefore increase your emotional capacity.

One of my past clients would often talk about his depression as if he had a relationship with it. I started to believe that it was a real entity in her life. As if she interacted with it and that it did something for her by being there. She would refer to it as coming and going. She would often say that she hated when it showed up because it would ruin things.

I started to realize that she was part way down a path towards recovery with this mindset, even though she was hurting because of depression. Depression isn’t something that a person is, but rather it is something that that a person experiences. It is outside of us (even though it feels like it is a part of us).

We started to work on externalizing this problem in her life by continuing to see it as something acting on her – from the outside. She was able to realize that she is not depression and that there is a part of her that is happy, willing and able. She was able to embrace this happy, willing and able side more often, despite depression pushing on her at times (and sometimes often!).

She started to learn how to let depression come and go in her life without debilitating her to the point where she couldn’t function. This helped lessen depression impact on her. She still had depression come around, but it was a different visit when it did.

I often work with college students who have a difficult time transitioning to the workload, social aspect and emotional difficulties of being out of the home. Going off to college or leaving home for the first time can be complicated. Many young adults struggle to make the adjustment and need help. Those who make it to my office often have a family member urging them to get help, or they have realized that they need help an are proactive enough to get it (although this is more rare). I work with these clients to develop independent living skills so that they can function at work, school and with their friends, while maintaining a good connection with family at home. One of the reasons the struggle is that they haven’t had a chance to go out on their own yet. It seems ironic, because now that they are out on their own, its too much for them. Don’t worry – this is normal. Its ok to have a difficult time in this transition. However, its important to note several milestones as they progress:

• Financial – are they able to financially manage their money without parents overseeing it all?
• Social – are they able to balance their social life with work and school? Do they have a social life or are they secluded in their apartment”
• Scholastic – are they able to meet the demands of school and ask for help when needed?
• Work – are they working and are they able to maintain a job while engaged in the rest of their life?

If you answered ‘no’ to any of these, they might need help. See out a therapist who knows how to help young people transition here.

By Triston Morgan, PhD, LMFT