Christine Quynh Anh Nguyen LMFT #154204
“I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
Your life feels complicated, but you’re not sure how or what makes you so different. It’s hard to put your finger on it. You’ve read all the books on healthy attachment. Your algorithm regularly pops up with helpful videos on mental health. Maybe you’ve even gone to therapy about it. No one can say you didn’t do your due diligence.
And still... You just don’t quite fit the stereotype. Or you’re a minority, so the advice just doesn’t apply. It wouldn’t work if you tried it — you say this from experience.
“Maybe it’s just our culture,” you try to reason with yourself. “Everyone’s traumatized, I feel bad even comparing. Other people I know have had it worse.”
Except you still can’t relate, even to the people who grew up just like you. Same culture, same holidays, same neighborhood.
To make matters worse, it’s somehow it’s even harder to explain all this to the person you love most. Their background is complicated too. And of course it would be the exact opposite of yours in every way.
How many times have you tried talking about it, just for them to go quiet and say, “I’m sorry, I just don’t get it. It’s not like that for us.” How many times have you held your tongue at family parties because you didn’t know if it was your place — because what if that’s just their family?
You just want things to finally make sense.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of mental health conditions I’ve worked with:
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
C-PTSD - Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Phobias (elevators, so far)
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorder
AuDHD - comorbidity of both ADHD and ASD
MDD - Major Depression
BP-I and BP-II - Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2
PMDD - Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Here are a few of the real-life issues I have helped clients through:
Graduating from college and going into the working world
Low self esteem and self loathing
Healing from break-ups and identifying better partners
Interracial, interfaith, and LGBTQ+ relationships
Healing intergenerational patterns for first generation immigrants
Issues with gender identity, sexuality, and intimacy
High stress careers and workaholism
Body image issues and relationship with food (ARFID)
Navigating boundaries with NPD or BPD loved ones