The high eventually crashed, and now you can’t even image that kind of energy and life.
01 / Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disorder Therapy in Iowa City
Have you been feeling like life is a roller coaster lately? You don’t have to navigate all of that on your own, not anymore.
02 / recognitionWhat Bipolar Disorder Can Feel Like
Bipolar disorder can feel like living on a roller coaster. In the highs, your ideas, energy and confidence speed up. Sleep can start to feel optional. Choices you would never normally make can seem like great ones.
Then the ride descends. The crash can leave you flattened, ashamed of what happened in the high, and unsure which version of you is the real one. Not knowing what comes next can wear you down too.
The good news is that bipolar disorder can be managed. Together we can learn to notice when the ride may be starting up again.
03 / Therapy and MedicationTherapy alongside your psychiatric care
Treatment guidelines put medication first in bipolar care (CANMAT and ISBD, 2018). I cannot prescribe medication. Your doctor or psychiatrist can provide that for you. Therapy with me runs alongside that care.
Research backs this pairing. A 2021 review looked at 39 trials (Miklowitz and colleagues, JAMA Psychiatry). When skills-based therapy was added to medication, mood episodes came back less often.
04 / How I WorkFour approaches, one step at a time
If past experiences still weigh on you, EMDR helps you reprocess specific painful memories. We start by widening your window of tolerance, the amount of emotion you can feel while staying steady. Before any EMDR or NARM, we take time for skills work, resourcing and overall wellness. That groundwork supports long-term change.
DBT skills work builds emotion regulation skills for the highs and the lows.
Ego-State Therapy helps prepare you for EMDR.
NARM is for adults who want to work on present negative patterns without going back through each memory.
05 / The logisticsWhat it costs and how long it takes
I do not bill insurance, so you and I decide how your care goes. No insurance company sets a limit on the sessions you get.
You can still ask your insurer to pay you back. I will give you a superbill, which is an itemized receipt you send to them yourself.
You can also ask for a Good Faith Estimate before we start, and the No Surprises Act gives you the right to one. It lists what your care is likely to cost.
Free
Free Consultation
A relaxed, 15-minute talk about what you need and whether we fit. By phone, by video, or in person.
$185
Therapy Sessions
Weekly 53-minute sessions shaped around your needs, in Iowa City or by telehealth in Iowa and North Carolina.
FREE DOWNLOADNEWSLETTER06 / reach outA fifteen minute call, and no obligation afterwards
We talk about what has been going on, what you are hoping changes, and whether working together makes sense. If it does not, I will say so and point you somewhere better.