Dr. Lena Agree, JD, PsyD – Licensed Psychologist and AssociatesDr. Lena Agree, JD, PsyD – Licensed Psychologist and Associates

Psychology Articles & Therapy Services with Dr. Lena Agree

Schedule Your Appointment Today

Schedule Your Appointment Today

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Schedule Your Therapy Appointment Today in Birmingham MI for Personalized Mental Health Care Finding and scheduling the right therapy appointment can be overwhelming, but clear steps and practical expectations make the process far easier. This article explains how to schedule your therapy appointment in Birmingham MI, what to expect at your first session, which services you can book, and how costs and insurance typically factor into planning care. You will learn step-by-step booking instructions, a brief tour of common service types like individual and couples therapy, preparation guidance for intake, and how confidentiality and personalized treatment planning work. The guidance emphasizes practical outcomes—how therapy helps improve relationships, emotional regulation, and daily functioning—while pointing toward local options for personalized care. Read…

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The Difference Between Coping and Healing – and Why it Matters

The Difference Between Coping and Healing – and Why it Matters

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Many people come to therapy believing that if they can just cope better, they’ll feel better. But coping and healing are not the same. Coping helps you survive, but healing helps you change. Coping manages the symptoms of pain, while healing transforms the source of it. Both are valuable, but they function differently. In this post, we’ll explore the crucial difference between coping and healing, why it matters for your emotional growth, and how therapy can help you move beyond survival toward genuine, lasting well-being. What Is Coping? Coping strategies are the things we do to manage distress in the moment. They don’t necessarily change the root cause of our pain, but they make it more bearable and keep us afloat when…

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How Your Attachment Patterns Sabotage Your Happiness (and How to Break Free)

How Attachment Patterns Sabotage Your Happiness and How to Break FreeHow Your Attachment Patterns Sabotage Your Happiness (and How to Break Free)

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If you struggle with feelings of depression, flatness, anxiety, anger, or other unpleasant symptoms, you have your attachment system to blame. Attachment is an innate, unconscious system that tells you from infancy, that you must stay close to your your parents because you need them to protect you from physical danger, illness and overwhelming emotional distress (Bowlby 1988). This is what makes little kids cling to their moms in public places. They just know, “Mom keeps me alive.” This isn’t learned behavior; it’s more like an instinct. It gets “turned on” in response to real or perceived threats to your survival and well-being, such as when you’re tired, hungry, or frightened, or separated from your parents.  The problem is, it…

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How a Diagnosis Can Prevent You from Getting Better

How a Diagnosis Can Prevent You from Getting Better

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If you’ve been struggling with symptoms of anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns, you may have tried to diagnose yourself in an effort to understand what’s going on. This can be helpful, but it doesn’t help you understand why you feel this way. In the realm of mental health, a diagnosis fails to provide enough information and can even be misleading. Psychiatric diagnoses are labels determined by a list of symptoms that are mostly behavioral, meaning, they describe things you’re doing or not doing (like sleeping, or eating). Most diagnoses require a threshold number of symptoms, such as four out of nine. This means a single diagnosis can encompass many – even dozens – of different experiences (American Psychiatric…

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How to Talk to Your Teenagers So They’ll Actually Listen and Love You

How to Talk to Your Teenagers So They’ll Actually Listen and Love You

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Your child’s brain grows until about age 25. During the teenage years, the brain undergoes vast neurological changes. Parenting teenagers through this storm of dramatic mood swings and behavior shifts may sometimes seem impossible. The good news is you don’t have to be an expert. If you take an active interest in your teen’s mental experience, and seek to understand him with sensitivity and genuine curiosity, you will maintain access to his internal world while contributing to his emotional resilience. Engage, empathize, investigate Perhaps the most important step you can take when you notice distress in your child is to stop what you are doing, give her your full attention, and empathize with her feelings. (This does not require you to agree with the reasons, or even fully understand…

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