Common Issues Treated at Triad Counseling Centers
A plain-language reference to the concerns our therapists work with day to day in outpatient counseling in Clarkston, Michigan.
What Brings People Into Outpatient Therapy at Our Clarkston, Michigan Counseling Practice
Presenting to therapy can come in many forms, and many individuals often do not realize the multitude of things that have come up throughout their lives that have led them to seek therapy. Below are some things that are commonly presented at Triad Counseling Centers, things that our therapists are working at with clients each day.
While not all things that bring people into therapy are the same, an understanding of some of the things that our therapists work through on a day-to-day basis may help shed some light on the things you might be experiencing as well. Whatever is happening in your life today, Triad Counseling Centers wants you to know that we will take the time to tailor our therapy to meet your exact needs and promise to stay true to our mission — and our mission is you.
The definitions on this page are general descriptions written for people who are new to these terms. They are not diagnostic criteria, and reading a description that sounds familiar is not the same as having a condition. Formal diagnosis comes from a clinical evaluation with a licensed professional.
Mood, Anxiety, and Sleep-Related Concerns Commonly Addressed in Individual Therapy
Anxiety
Examples of anxiety disorders include panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms include stress that’s out of proportion to the impact of the event, inability to set aside a worry, and restlessness.
Depression
A serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant, and often is unable to live in a normal way.
Bipolar Disorder
Also known as manic-depressive illness, a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
An anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, or sensations (obsessions), or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions).
Sleep Problems and Insomnia
Habitual sleeplessness, or an ongoing inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Sleep disruption frequently travels alongside anxiety, depression, and stress, and is often one of the first things therapy addresses.
Stress and Emotional Disturbance
A general term for significant, persistent difficulty with mood, behavior, or emotional regulation that interferes with relationships, learning, or daily functioning over an extended period.
Substance Use, Addiction, and Compulsive Behavior Concerns Seen in Outpatient Counseling
Alcohol Abuse
A pattern of drinking that results in harm to one’s health, interpersonal relationships, or ability to work. Manifestations include failure to fulfill major responsibilities at work, school, or home.
Drug Abuse
The habitual taking of addictive or illegal drugs, including the misuse of prescription medication outside the way it was prescribed.
Substance Abuse
Overindulgence in, or dependence on, an addictive substance — most often alcohol or drugs.
Chronic Relapse
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because substances change the brain’s structure and how it works. Returning to use is common and is treated as part of the condition, not as a personal failure.
Dual Diagnosis
A term used to describe patients with both a serious mental health condition and problematic drug or alcohol use. Treating one while ignoring the other rarely holds, which is why the two are addressed together.
Internet Addiction
Any online-related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved ones, and one’s work environment.
Relationship, Marriage, and Family Concerns Addressed in Couples and Family Therapy
Relationship Issues and Problems
Situations and difficulties that have a negative effect on the short and long term success of an intimate relationship.
Infidelity
The action or state of being unfaithful to a spouse or other intimate partner, and the loss of trust that follows it.
Divorce
The legal ending of a marriage, along with the practical and emotional restructuring that comes with it for both partners and any children involved.
Family Conflict
Ongoing friction between family members, often driven by incompatible demands between a person’s work, family, and personal roles that make participating in all of them harder.
Parenting
The raising of children and all the responsibilities and activities that are involved, including discipline, co-parenting after separation, and managing a child’s behavior or diagnosis.
Domestic Abuse
A pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Abuse is not limited to physical violence.
Child, Adolescent, and Learning-Related Concerns Evaluated and Treated by Our Therapists
Behavioral Issues
Sometimes children who demonstrate significant behavioral issues are given a formal diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder. Often behavioral issues are identified alongside another diagnosis such as ADHD or an autism spectrum condition.
Learning Disabilities
A condition giving rise to difficulties in acquiring knowledge and skills to the level expected of those of the same age, especially when not associated with a physical disability.
IQ Testing for Children
Formal cognitive testing used to clarify a child’s learning profile, support school accommodation requests, or help distinguish a learning difficulty from an attention or behavioral concern.
Chronic Impulsivity
The tendency to act or speak based on current feelings rather than logical reasoning, often with consequences the person regrets afterward.
Trauma, Abuse, Loss, and Safety-Related Concerns Requiring Specialized Therapeutic Support
Sexual Abuse
Undesired sexual behavior by one person toward another. When the contact is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is generally described as sexual assault. Therapy focuses on safety, processing, and recovery at the survivor’s pace.
Grief and Bereavement
Deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone’s death. Grief has no fixed timeline, and support is appropriate at any point after a loss, not only in the first weeks.
Self-Harming Behavior
The act of deliberately injuring one’s own body. It is typically not meant as a suicide attempt, and it usually signals that a person is struggling to manage overwhelming feelings. It is treatable, and therapy works on replacing the behavior with skills that meet the same need.
Suicidal Ideation
Thoughts about, or an unusual preoccupation with, suicide. These thoughts exist on a wide range, from passing and fleeting to persistent and specific, and they are far more common than most people assume. They are a reason to talk to someone, not a reason to hide.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
A nondegenerative, noncongenital insult to the brain from an external mechanical force, possibly leading to permanent or temporary impairment of cognitive, physical, and psychosocial functions, with an associated diminished or altered state of consciousness.
Borderline Personality Disorder
A long-term pattern of difficulty characterized by unstable relationships with other people, an unstable sense of self, and unstable emotions. It responds well to structured, skills-based therapy.
If Thoughts of Suicide or Self-Harm Are Present Right Now
If there is an immediate risk to life, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day across the United States by call or text to 988. It is also the right number to use if you are worried about someone else. Oakland County residents can additionally reach urgent behavioral health screening through the Oakland Community Health Network crisis line outside office hours.
Identity, Self-Worth, and Life Direction Concerns Supported Through Outpatient Counseling
Self-Esteem
Confidence in one’s own worth or abilities, and self-respect. Low self-esteem often sits underneath other presenting concerns rather than being the reason someone first calls.
LGBTQ+ Concerns
Triad also helps with LGBTQ+ issues, including identity, coming out, family acceptance, and the stress that comes from discrimination or lack of support.
Spirituality
Has to do with the spirit — not as in ghosts, but as in the essence of being human: your soul, or your inner life. For many people it is a source of meaning that belongs in the room during therapy.
Career Counseling
A process that will help you know and understand yourself and the world of work in order to make career, educational, and life decisions.
Life Coaching
Support and encouragement on matters having to do with careers or personal challenges. Coaching is goal-focused and forward-looking, and it is distinct from clinical treatment for a diagnosed condition.
Physical Health Conditions With a Significant Behavioral Health Component
Chronic Pain
Any pain lasting more than twelve weeks. Long-term pain and mood affect each other in both directions, which is why pain management often involves a behavioral health provider alongside a physician.
Weight and Obesity
A medical condition involving excess body weight sufficient to affect health. Counseling addresses the behavioral and emotional side — eating patterns, motivation, body image, and the stigma many people encounter — rather than weight in isolation.
Coping With Serious or Ongoing Illness
Adjusting to a diagnosis, managing treatment fatigue, and handling the effect a long-term condition has on work, identity, and family roles.
How to Tell Whether a Concern Has Reached the Point Where Therapy Is Worth Considering
Almost everything on this page exists on a range. The useful question is not whether a feeling is normal, but whether it has started to cost you something. The table below is a rough guide to that difference.
| Area of life | Ordinary difficulty | Worth talking to someone about |
|---|---|---|
| Work or school | A stressful stretch that lifts once the deadline passes | Missed days, slipping performance, or dreading it every morning for weeks |
| Relationships | Arguments that get resolved | The same fight on repeat, withdrawal, or people close to you raising concerns |
| Sleep and appetite | A few rough nights around a specific event | Weeks of disrupted sleep or noticeable changes in eating |
| Coping habits | Occasional unwinding after a hard week | Needing more to get the same relief, or hiding how much you’re using |
| Interest and mood | A flat few days | Losing interest in things you used to care about, lasting most of the day for two weeks or more |
Which Therapy Format Tends to Fit Which Presenting Concern at Triad Counseling Centers
Concerns rarely arrive one at a time, and the format often shifts as treatment progresses. A teenager may start individually and bring parents in later; a couple may work jointly while one partner also sees a clinician alone.
| Presenting concern | Format commonly used first |
|---|---|
| Anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, self-esteem | Individual therapy |
| Infidelity, divorce, relationship problems, family conflict | Couples or family therapy |
| Child behavioral issues, parenting difficulty | Family therapy, often with individual sessions for the child |
| Substance use, chronic relapse, dual diagnosis | Individual therapy alongside group work |
| Isolation, social difficulty, a shared concern with peers | Group therapy |
Where Outpatient Counseling Fits Among Behavioral Health Levels of Care in Michigan
Everything described on this page is treated on an outpatient basis, which is the least restrictive level of behavioral health care and the level most people need. You live at home, keep your job or school schedule, and come in for scheduled sessions. Some situations call for more than that — acute safety concerns, medically supervised withdrawal, or a level of instability that scheduled sessions cannot hold. When that’s the case, the responsible thing for a counseling practice to do is say so plainly and help you get to the right place.
Triad Counseling Centers
5980 S. Main Street, Suite 101, Clarkston, MI 48346
Phone: (248) 625-2970
Email: [email protected]
Open Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
The descriptions on this page are general education about behavioral health concerns and are not a substitute for evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment by a licensed clinician. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or dial 911.