Therapure
Emotional Avoidance
Fine, thanks. And you?
For people who look composed to everyone, and privately wonder why they feel so little, or so much they have to shut it off.
Who it is for
Keeping busy so you don't have to feel
Maybe you fill every hour, or you are the calm one when others fall apart. You're probably good in a crisis. Yet when someone asks how you really are, your mind goes blank.
Emotional avoidance is something Naomi sees often, especially in adults who learned early that feelings were too much for the people around them.
What it can feel like
- Numbness where sadness or anger should be
- Changing the subject when talk turns personal
- Partners saying they can't reach you
- Crying alone, rarely in front of anyone
What we work on
Gently, at your own speed
Vulnerability
Letting someone see you without bracing for rejection.
Shutting down
Noticing the moment you go blank, and what triggers it.
Staying busy
Exploring what the constant motion helps you avoid.
Closeness
How avoidance affects partners, friends, and family.
How Naomi works
Respecting the parts that keep you guarded
Naomi uses Internal Family Systems to meet the protective parts that hold feelings at bay. These parts usually formed for good reasons. We thank them before we ask them to step aside.
Psychodynamic ideas help too: looking at what happened to emotions in your childhood home. Nothing is forced. You decide how close we get to anything tender.
What can shift
Staying a moment longer
Some clients find they can sit with a feeling for a few breaths before reaching for their phone. Others start telling a partner one honest thing a week. Change like this tends to be quiet, and it unfolds differently for everyone.
What sessions look like
No one will make you cry
Sessions happen weekly by video or in person and run at a pace you set. We might spend a whole hour on something light before anything heavier feels possible. That is part of the work, not a detour.
Fees in brief
Individual and couples options
On your own, 45-minute sessions are $200 with Naomi or $150 with an associate. Bringing a partner in costs $250 with Naomi for 60 minutes, or $175 with an associate. Rates and Insurance
With Naomi
$200 individual, 45 min
$250 couples, 60 min
Associate clinicians
$150 individual, 45 min
$175 couples, 60 min
Questions
About emotional avoidance
What if I don't know what I feel?
Can my partner join?
Is it bad that I avoid feelings?
Related
Keep reading
Start with whatever you can say.
Even “I'm not sure why I'm reaching out” is enough for a free consultation with Naomi.