What were New Yorkers worried about this year?
Loneliness, climate change, unemployment and housing were common concerns, according to eight mental health professionals interviewed for this article.
No wonder. This year, many New Yorkers have had to contend with soaring rents, bright orange skies in June, and layoffs across the industry.
The good news is that there are strategies for dealing with ever-changing cities.
Here are some ideas from eight local mental health experts to help New Yorkers live a little more peace in 2024.
Let's start by accepting all your feelings.
Elizabeth Green, a therapist on the Upper East Side, said she's seen people work through challenges like anxiety, unemployment and housing insecurity this year.
“Many people, especially Gen Z, are facing an impossible situation in New York as rents continue to rise,” she said. Meet basic expenses. ”
Green says one way to deal with anxiety of any kind is to create a system for every emotion you're feeling, whether it's a positive emotion like joy or a negative emotion like sadness. I said it's about having space.
Anxiety often stems from a desire to avoid deeper emotions that are difficult to deal with, so identifying these core emotions is actually the first step to reducing anxiety, says Green. says.
“I think one way to get over that impasse is to get in touch with the underlying emotions of whatever anxiety is happening, because something is fueling that anxiety,” she says.
Take chances in social situations.
Therapist Delta Hunter runs a private practice in Brooklyn and works primarily with people looking to form and deepen meaningful relationships.
Hunter said she tells people they need to be confident and put themselves in social situations that may seem difficult.
“Encourage your friends to organize social events, go out more, and be a little more courageous in approaching people, both men and women,” she says. “We really live in a time where gender roles are becoming more fluid, less defined and less restricted.”
Identify stressors and write down a plan to attack them.
Irina Popa Irwin is a life coach in Kips Bay. The main theme of her work this year was professional and financial advancement.
Irwin said that to achieve any goal, people first need to identify their stressors and create a 90-day plan to eliminate them.
Irwin said it's best to ask yourself what steps you're willing to take to change your behavior. It's also helpful to look at the person you want to be and research the habits that person would be able to implement over the next 90 days.
“Enjoy the process and don't give up,” she said. “This is what I always tell people: Don't give up on the bad days. Give up on the good days. If you still want to give up on the good days, that's okay. But even when you're down, don't give up. Please.”
She further says, “Start practicing a daily habit. And stick with it for 90 days. And you'll see a change.”
Do one thing that calms your mind every day.
Annie Lin is the founder of New York Life Coaching, with offices on the Upper West Side. Lin says most of her clients suffer from what she calls “evolutionary stress and anxiety,” meaning they know it's time in their lives to “level up” but have a hard time taking action. It's about being in the moment when you're not there.
“I feel like I'm limping, and I feel a lot of tension inside me, and I know it's time to move, but I don't move,” Lin says.
According to Lin, the best way to jump-start your goal-direction process is to do something calming each day to create a more “conscious mind.”
“It could be meditation, it could be writing in a journal, it could be long walks in nature,” she said. “In other words, don't keep thinking about your head or your head all day long. Take time to realize that you're a whole person. To experience more states, try mindful practices. Please cultivate.”
Ask yourself, “What do I wish I had done in the future?”
Stephanie West runs a group practice focused on intensive long-term therapy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
West said helping people feel fulfilled and find deeper connections with others is a major theme of her work this year.
She said one strategy for reducing anxiety involves thinking about how your future self would want to handle interactions.
“What would my future self wish I had eaten tonight? What would my future self wish I had given up on cocktails? What would my future self have done if I had responded to critical comments like my mother's? Do you think so?'' she said. “Putting it into that framework is very helpful for people in all kinds of situations who find they have more options than they thought.”
Check in regularly to see how you are interacting with yourself.
Jennifer Glass Ryan, a West Village-based therapist, says most of her clients seek help building romantic or platonic relationships while dealing with anxiety, self-esteem issues, and trauma.20 The woman is said to be in her 30s.
Ryan said he plans to ask customers questions to help them understand why they do certain things. For example, if someone is avoiding their mother, Ryan questions the nature of that relationship.
“That doesn’t mean you should keep avoiding your mom,” she said. “That means there's an understandable reason why I'm finding this difficult, and I'm not mad at the part of you that doesn't want to do this.”
Ryan said people can better handle their external relationships by first understanding how they interact with themselves better. Are you talking negatively about yourself? It is important to be aware of the “why”.
“When we slow down and consider it in a compassionate way, most of us realize that there are some things we have to learn, and maybe we can change the way we see ourselves and how we move through the world. I don’t think I can,” she said. she said.
Try to get involved in the community.
Manhattan-based therapist Elizabeth Lacy works with young people, older adults, and couples dealing with sexually compulsive behaviors, addictions, personality disorders, and loneliness.
Lacey said many people she met this year were struggling with extreme bouts of feeling like they were missing meaningful relationships.
“New York is an interesting place, surrounded by people, but at times you can feel deeply alone,” she said. “So people who are prone to addictive behaviors may turn to these behaviors to relieve some of their distress.”
Lacey said one big way to combat loneliness is to get involved, or stay involved, in some kind of community.
“Volunteer, even if it's just a few hours a week, for something that's important to you,” she said. “It connects you with other people who care about the things you care about.”
Document your feelings.
Andrew Joseph is based in the city and said his clients are typically professional men in their late 20s, 30s or 40s.
“A lot of men come up to me and say, 'I've worked hard to establish my career and my life, but none of it means anything to me. I don't really understand why I did that. .I don't know where it's going,'' he said.
If activities like walking or yoga aren't up to your speed, Joseph said it may be helpful to write about your feelings in a journal, whether it's on paper or digitally. Joseph said keeping his diary helps eliminate self-judgment.
“When you're sitting there thinking about your thoughts, it's easy to wonder what you're thinking. Whereas, when you're typing, you don't have time to ask questions. It's just flowing freely. only,” he said. “It's really about processing our emotions and how our emotions hold important wisdom.”
