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What can you come to us with?
Crises and emotional support
A crisis can arrive after a loss, after a diagnosis of chronic illness, after years of working beyond your strength, and sometimes with no clear cause at all - as a growing sense that life cannot go on like this. At the Unique practice in Warsaw we help you get through that difficult time and find something to lean on.
Book a visitA crisis is a reaction to a situation that exceeds your current capacity to cope. It affects strong, capable, well-functioning people - usually exactly those who have handled everything on their own for a long time.
Difficult moments in life have their own dynamic: they build, reach a peak and pass. Support will not shorten that process by force, but it can ease the suffering and its consequences. When you do not have to go through a crisis in isolation, it is easier to come out of it with more than just relief.
Reaching for help in a difficult moment is a sign of resourcefulness, not a lack of it.
What might you be going through now?
If things have been harder than usual for a long time, that is reason enough to look for support.
Talk to a psychologist- You feel you are not coping with what used to be within your reach.
- Your emotions change abruptly: from being overwhelmed to being completely cut off.
- You find it hard to make even simple decisions.
- You cannot rest, and sleep brings no recovery.
- You withdraw from contact, while loneliness weighs on you at the same time.
- Work that once brought satisfaction now brings reluctance or indifference.
- You wonder what the point of it all really is.
- You have the impression that others are moving on while your life has come to a standstill.
In which situations do we help?
Life crisis
What it is
An emotional crisis appears when an event or a combination of circumstances exceeds the ways of coping you have used so far. It can be sudden, for instance after a break-up or the loss of a job, but just as often it builds slowly: with a move, a change of life stage or a growing sense of loneliness.
How it may show up
Chronic stress and mental overload, difficulty making decisions, a sense of chaos, withdrawal from relationships. Loneliness often deepens a crisis and at the same time results from it, because in a difficult moment it is easiest to cut yourself off from people.
How therapy helps
We start by putting in order what is happening and separating the matters that require a decision from those that can wait. We look for support in whatever still works and for ways of rebuilding contact with people.
Career crisis and burnout
What it is
Burnout develops out of prolonged overload at work and gradually covers three areas: exhaustion, distance from your duties and a drop in your sense of effectiveness.
How it may show up
The symptoms include chronic fatigue, cynicism towards work and colleagues, trouble concentrating, physical complaints and the feeling that nothing you do matters.
How therapy helps
We look at what exactly is draining you: workload, lack of influence, a conflict of values or an inability to say no. Therapy for burnout consists of rebuilding your resources and working out boundaries that will hold the change once you return to work.
Grief and loss
What it is
Grief is a natural reaction to the loss of someone or something important: a death, a miscarriage, the end of a relationship, the loss of health. It is not a disorder and does not require treatment, but it can be an experience in which support is needed.
How it may show up
The stages of grief rarely follow a tidy order. Sadness alternates with anger, relief, guilt and moments of complete normality, after which longing returns. Trouble sleeping, loss of appetite and a sense of unreality are common.
How therapy helps
We do not hurry grief along or try to bring it to a close. We give space to live through the loss at your own pace and help when the process comes to a standstill or when guilt becomes too much to carry.
Crisis after a medical diagnosis
What it is
A serious diagnosis takes away a sense of safety and changes your plans and your image of yourself. This applies both to cancer and to chronic conditions such as autoimmune diseases, which require a lasting adjustment of the way you live.
How it may show up
Fear about the future, anger, a sense of injustice, withdrawal from relationships, difficulty talking about the illness with those close to you. Illness also has an adverse effect on the intimate sphere.
How therapy helps
We work on regaining a sense of influence where it is still possible and on coming to terms with what remains outside your control. We also address the relationships the illness has changed.
Loss of meaning and identity crisis
What it is
An existential crisis is the loss of the sense that life has a direction and a meaning. It can be tied to a particular moment, such as a midlife crisis, but it also appears in younger people, often after reaching goals that were supposed to bring fulfilment.
How it may show up
Questions about the point of what you do, the feeling of living out someone else's script, indifference towards former passions, a sense of emptiness despite an objectively good situation. An identity crisis also involves uncertainty about who you actually are beyond your roles.
How therapy helps
Instead of offering ready answers, we help you reach your real values and see where your life so far diverges from them. That is usually the beginning of concrete change.
Suicidal thoughts
What it is
Thoughts of death do not mean weakness or madness. Most often they signal pain that has crossed the limit of endurance and the absence of any visible way out. They can be a symptom of depression, but they also accompany crises, loss and chronic exhaustion.
How it may show up
The thought that everyone would be better off without you. Imagining that you cease to exist. The feeling that nothing will change, whatever you do. Such states usually do not stay at a constant level but intensify in waves.
How therapy helps
During the consultation we look at what brought you to this point and search for realistic ways of reducing the suffering. Although it is hard to believe in a crisis, the perspective changes as wellbeing improves.
What does support in a crisis look like?
When you are going through an exceptionally hard time, we do not start with far-reaching plans. First we deal with what will get you through the coming days, and only later with what comes next.
- 1
We give space to what you are going through
The first meeting serves above all to let you say out loud what has been stuck inside - without forcing it into order, without judgement.
- 2
We look for support in what is there
Together we check what still works - which relationships, habits and fixed points in daily life you can hold on to. They are most often what a way out of the crisis is built on.
- 3
We set a direction
When there is room to think about the future, we turn to the decisions and changes that earlier seemed out of reach.
You do not have to face this alone
If you have been handling everything by yourself for a long time and it is working less and less well, this is a good moment to hand over part of that weight. Book a consultation in Warsaw or online.
Pick a slot in our calendar here
The booking calendar is only available in Polish. Prefer to book in English? Call or write to us and we will arrange it.
The booking calendar is only available in Polish. Prefer to book in English? Call or write to us and we will arrange it.
Most frequent questions about psychological support in a crisis
How do I tell a crisis apart from depression?
A crisis is usually tied to a specific situation and normally eases gradually. Depression lasts longer, covers every area of life and often appears without a clear external cause. The line can be blurred, though, and an emotional crisis can turn into depression.
Is one consultation with a psychologist enough in a crisis?
Sometimes it is. Even a single conversation can help put the situation in order and bring relief. More often a few meetings within a short time help, with any decision about longer work coming only afterwards.
How do I recover from burnout?
A holiday usually brings temporary improvement, because it does not change the conditions that led to the exhaustion. Lasting change requires looking at your workload, your boundaries and how far the job matches your values. Sometimes that means changing position, sometimes changing the way you function in the one you have.
How long does grief last?
There is no single timeframe, and comparing yourself with others rarely helps. Usually after a few months the intensity of the emotions gradually decreases, though longing stays much longer. If after a year grief still makes daily life impossible, it is worth consulting a specialist.
I have suicidal thoughts. Can I say so in therapy?
Yes, and it is worth doing so at the very first meeting. Your therapist will not react with alarm or rejection, and speaking about these thoughts reduces their force. Together you will establish what support you need and whether a psychiatric consultation would also help.
How can I help someone with suicidal thoughts?
What matters most is asking directly and listening without panic and without arguing that they have plenty to live for. It helps to offer something concrete, for example booking an appointment with a specialist together. People close to them can also use a consultation.
Where can I look for psychological help in Warsaw?
You are welcome at the Unique Psychological Practice in Ursynow and for online consultations - you do not need a referral.