Gavin Versi, MA, Licensed Marriage and Family Associate

ADDICTION I see addiction as a disease of the nervous system: an unhealthy way of regulating. Like any disease, nobody chooses it: it chooses you. And you can choose to overcome it. It is usually a maladaptive coping response to difficult experiences. It disconnects you from your authenticity and negatively impacts relationships. By addressing the trauma that led to addiction, you can overcome it. As well as substance addictions, I specialize in process addictions like sex, pornography and social media. CODEPENDENCY Codependency may show up as people pleasing and denying one's own needs. I like the famous analogy of being on an airplane: to be in a relationship, we must tend to ourselves (put on our own gas masks before helping others). Life is about relationships and there is none more important than the relationship we have with ourselves. To treat codependency, I draw on the teachings of theorists such as John Bradshaw, Pia Mellody, and Melody Beattie. COMPLEX POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (CPTSD) My extensive training in body-based approaches such as somatic therapy and Brainspotting can be effective for the treatment of PTSD. I believe that, like almost all so-called 'disorders', PTSD is the body's method of finding a way to cope with adverse experiences and environments, not least in childhood. Through a slow, intentional process of reconnecting with one's body, we can heal this trauma.

There are multiple benefits to good therapy, including: understanding oneself better (and therefore being better equipped to make decisions, especially about relationships); enhanced emotional regulation; and bringing the unconscious to a level of consciousness. Somatic therapy, which I practice, goes a step further by promoting greater awareness of bodily sensations, which in many cases means reconnecting with one's intuition ("gut feeling") and authenticity.

The world is upside down, with strength often perceived as weakness, and the most emotional folks being seen as the least emotional. It is easy to isolate and be invulnerable; what takes courage and strength is to ask for help and be introspective. Showing up to a therapy session is an act of vulnerability. It is an act of strength.

There is a reason for everything, even if we don't always see it. There is nothing disorderly about "disorders": they are maladaptive coping mechanisms; ways in which we unconsciously adapted to survive, often at the expense of our authenticity. There are few disorders that cannot be overcome if one is willing to put in the hard work. It may lead to more ease and joy. :)