Love & Attachment
Love and attachment are central to the human experience. So the stakes are high in relationships. As a result, the fear, anger, jealousy, and regret can be high too.
What Causes Anxiety?
There are a variety of possible answers… Perhaps one’s anxiety can be traced back to their childhood; it is common for children who grew up in a “chaotic” environment (i.e. an overly strict parent, parents who fought constantly, a parent with a mental health issue, etc.) to deal with unusually high amounts of anxiety in their adult life. It’s as if their nervous system learned to be on “high alert” during these early formative years (and for good reason), and now they seem to be “tuned” to this setting.
Why Do People Become Depressed?
It is difficult to answer this question in general terms because each person’s life circumstance is unique. Having said that, in my observation as a therapist, depression is often (but not always) a response to pain; more specifically, prolonged emotional pain.
Parts
A human being’s internal experience is not a singular, unified “thing”. We don’t simply have one thought, feeling, or desire, we have many. Sometimes, in fact quite often, these components of our inner world contradict each other. For example, we may resent a family member yet feel guilty about our resentment. We may want to get in shape yet want to avoid the discomfort that comes with doing just that.