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John

 

John Hendershot, Ph.D.

14502 N. Dale Mabry, Suite 200 | Tampa, FL 33618

(813) 265-4811 | docjohn@tampabay.rr.com

 

Welcome | Individual Therapy | Marriage/Couples | Child & Family | About John Hendershot | FAQs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Hendershot, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist

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FL License #: PY4314

14502 N. Dale Mabry, Suite 200

Tampa, FL 33618

(813) 265-4811

docjohn@tampabay.rr.com

 

 

Psychoeducational Links

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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Mental Health America

Helpguide.org

 

Support Group

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Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) Tampa Bay

 

Personal Interests

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Tampa Bay Sierra Club

Hiking, Kayaking, Biking

Tennis

 

WelcomeJohn Hendershot

Individual Therapy

Much of our emotional pain results from the way that we view ourselves, in the context of our situation and our relationships.  Much of that pain can be eliminated or reduced by understanding how our self-defeating attitudes and beliefs, expectations, behavioral choices, and communication with others contribute to that emotional pain, and then making the necessary changes in our thinking and behavior in order to eliminate that pain.

Individual therapy can help you enhance your awareness of how your unrealistic or negative beliefs and thinking patterns about yourself and others undermine the quality of your life. Therapy can help you change those dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs. These changes in thinking will go hand-in-hand with improvements in your moods, decisions, quality of your relationships, and the quality of your life. Therapy can help you overcome grief and loss, navigate major changes and life stages, enhance motivation, improve coping skills for dealing with stress, anxiety, and fear, and learn to deal with anger, rage, frustration, and disappointment more constructively.

 

DEPRESSION

Symptoms of depression include:

Depression and low self-esteem often go hand-in-hand.  Negative, distorted, dysfunctional beliefs about yourself can lead you to feel helpless, hopeless, and powerless in dealing with life.  Individual psychotherapy can help you identify and change those beliefs contributing to depression and its accompanying symptoms and enhance your sense of positive self-esteem and self-acceptance.

Depression can also result from (and cause) magnifying or exaggerating your negative qualities and behaviors in your mind, while minimizing or disregarding your positive qualities and accomplishments.  Therapy can help you achieve a healthier balance in your perspective on your positive vs. your negative qualities.  Therapy can also help you come up with a plan of action and strategies to break free of the paralysis and inability to act that often comes with depression.

Therapy can help you identify and work through thoughts and thought patterns involving guilt, shame, and self-blame.

In therapy, we may also explore lifestyle changes you might make in order to alleviate depression, such as habits related to sleep, diet, chemicals, and exercise.  We may also explore changes you might make in your physical, occupational, recreational, and social environment.  The choices you make regarding relationships (who you spend time with and your patterns in those relationships) may have a major impact on your moods.

 

GRIEF AND LOSS

Grief is an intense negative emotional reaction to the loss of something very important to you.  Your grief reaction may be caused by:

Some of your emotions when going through bereavement and mourning can be similar to those you experience when depressed. These feelings can include:

Common physical sensations may include:

Other symptoms may include:

Grief therapy can

It’s important not to make major, important decisions impulsively when working through grief.  For example, it’s often best to wait until you’ve mostly completed the mourning process before jumping into another relationship on the rebound.

 

ANXIETY, FEAR, STRESS

Anxiety comes in various forms and manifestations.  Much of anxiety is likely to be caused by mistaken or dysfunctional appraisal of a situation, usually in the form of automatic thoughts or images, often thoughts or images that we are not fully aware of.  The more you become aware of what you’re thinking or picturing in your head that’s scaring you, the less power it has over you, and the more you’re in a position to challenge those thoughts or images.

An automatic thought may either be a very specific belief about a certain issue or situation, or it can be a core belief that causes anxiety across a variety of situations.  The first step in dealing with anxiety is to identify the specific anxiety-provoking thought or the more general core belief.  Next, assess the validity of that belief.  Then come up with a more realistic, positive, functional belief to replace it with.

Anxiety is invariably accompanied by physical symptoms.  These symptoms vary from person to person but commonly include:

 There are a variety of anxiety disorders.  Some of these are:

In many cases, the best way to overcome your anxiety, especially phobias, is to gradually face whatever you’re afraid of, in smaller doses at first, then gradually increasing the dose as you’re able to handle it.  This is called systematic desensitization, which is often combined with relaxation training.  Total avoidance of what causes you anxiety can result in increasing paralysis, painting yourself into a corner.  Facing your anxiety in an overwhelming dose likely results in becoming more fearful, magnifying your sense of helplessness and your desire to avoid the source of your anxiety.  Facing your fear at first in small doses, and gradually increasing the dose, is likely to give you success experiences and gradually increase your confidence and sense of mastery, resulting in reduced fear.

Part of the key to recovering from anxiety is learning how you’re thinking and acting that causes the anxiety to increase or decrease – and learning to think and act differently.