I'm so glad you are here! If you are feeling overwhelmed, and don't know where to start to improve yourself or your situation, I can help. You don't have to suffer alone. Professional counseling can provide an effective path to achieve your goals. I have a warm, engaging, supportive, gentle, encouraging, and interactive approach to counseling. I provide a comfortable atmosphere to have in-depth conversations about any topic that you would like to discuss. I have 25 years of experience providing therapy for a long list of life problems and mental health struggles. I believe that each person is unique and needs a personalized approach to achieving emotional wellness. I have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a Master's in Psychiatric Nursing. Send a secure message:
Telehealth, also known as video counseling, is an easy way to connect, even for busy schedules. Telehealth is done on a secure, HIPPA-compliant platform such as Google Meet. This office provides both in-office and video counseling with the flexibility to do either or a combination of both. Dr. Heselton can provide many forms of counseling via video, including EMDR and Revisioning Psychotherapy.
Dr. Lynn Heselton, PsyD, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, EMDR
Anxiety is the number one reason why people seek counseling worldwide. Anxiety is the experience of feeling tense, on edge, overwhelmed, stuck, worried, and fearful. Treatment for anxiety is recommended when it interferes with your ability to cope and accomplish what you want to do every day. There are many variations of anxiety with different severity levels and causes. High anxiety is often from the combination of many stressors such as employment, relationship conflict, life changes, traumatic experiences, and medical or mental health conditions. Panic Attacks are severe anxiety with physical symptoms such as a racing heart, chest pain, and fear of dying. Common phobias are fear of driving or public speaking. Phobias are often rooted in distressing or traumatic experiences. Generalized Anxiety is excessive worrying and feeling paralyzed by fear. Anxious Attachment stems from the childhood experience of neglect, abuse, and conflict with a parent. Psychotherapy can be a very effective treatment for anxiety. Dr. Heselton can help identify the source of your anxiety and address this with one or more types of therapy. For example, Supportive Psychotherapy can help you adjust and cope with work stress and relationship conflict. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) can help resolve panic attacks, phobias, grief and distressing or traumatic life experiences. Revisioning Therapy can help with Anxious Attachment Disorder.
Mood Disorders are very common and can be made worse by stressful life experiences. There are many types and degrees of mood disorders including Depression and Bipolar Disorder. Professional counseling can help you to get out of bed in the morning, improve coping with stressful life events, decrease suicidal thoughts, and regulate emotions.
Prolonged Grief Disorder is a newly recognized mental health diagnosis in the 2022 publication of the DSM-5-TR. This is a grief condition that can be identified in adults one year after the death of a loved one. Prolonged Grief is associated with intense yearning for the deceased person or pet and frequent thoughts about their death. In addition, the bereaved person experiences three of the following symptoms: a disruption in identity, shock and disbelief about the death, avoidance of reminders about the deceased person, intense emotional pain, problems connecting with people in one's life, intense emotional pain, emotional numbness, feeling that life is meaningless and intense loneliness. Psychotherapy for Prolonged Grief Disorder with Dr. Heselton can rapidly improve grief, sometimes in as little as one or two 2-hour sessions (following the initial evaluation). This psychotherapy consists of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) to address the upsetting memories associated with the person's death. This part of the treatment focuses on resolving the shock, disbelief and intense emotional distress surrounding the circumstances of the person's death. Revisioning Therapy is then used to restore the pre-trauma self along with positive memories of your deceased loved one.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the experience of reliving a past upsetting event over and over in your mind. Many people have experienced or witnessed a life-threatening event such as a car accident, cancer treatment, hospitalization of a loved one, physical or sexual assault, death of a friend or family member, childhood abuse or domestic violence. Some life events may not be life-threatening but can have a long-term distressing impact such as a loss of a job, separation or divorce, chronic illness or relocation. If you find yourself thinking about an upsetting event over and over, have intense emotions such as anger or sadness that don't resolve or repeated nightmares then you may be experiencing PTSD. I can provide psychotherapy to resolve childhood-onset or adult-onset trauma with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Supportive Therapy and Revisioning Therapy. I have specialized in the treatment of PTSD for over 25 years.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) often originates from repeated or prolonged childhood (developmental) abuse, neglect, and relationship trauma. Adults with C-PTSD often have more severe symptoms of PTSD such as flashbacks, nightmares, mood dysregulation, feelings of shame or guilt, relationship conflict, suicidal thoughts, and dissociation. Therapy for C-PTSD is more nuanced and typically takes longer to resolve than adult-onset PTSD. Often people have layers of trauma from the past and the present. C-PTSD healing is achievable with a combination of Revisioning and EMDR Therapies. I am very experienced with resolving C-PTSD.
Borderline Personality Disorder is a common psychiatric condition characterized by intense anxiety, sadness or anger in response to actual or perceived criticism, rejection or abandonment. Perceived rejection may also be accompanied by impulsive, self-harmful behavior, or suicidal gestures or attempts. During severe stress, there is an increase in paranoia and belief that others are being hostile. There is often a feeling of being empty on the inside with a lack of security about self-identity. Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder typically includes hospitalizations for suicidal behaviors followed by outpatient group therapy to learn coping skills. It often takes many years of counseling to achieve improvement in symptoms. I offer a new approach with Revisioning Psychotherapy that addresses core issues to bring about lasting changes in emotional regulation, relationships, self-identity, and decrease self-harmful and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Borderline Personality Disorder can be treated as a typically milder dissociative disorder, resulting from attachment/relationship wounds from the past. Inconsistent caregiving can result in anxiety about relationship abandonment due to unmet emotional needs. The goal of Revisioning Therapy is heal the attachment wound with the activation of the Mirror Neuron Network, which is the attachment and connection network of the brain. Mental imagery is then used to to build a comprehensive sense of the core self, stabilize emotions, and reduce or eliminate self-critical or self-harmful thoughts.
Do you have difficulty remembering upsetting conversations? Do you struggle with decisions because of contrasting ideas that feel like an internal argument with yourself? Do you remember your childhood? Have you ever had intrusive self-harm or suicidal thoughts during or after discussing an upsetting memory? You may be experiencing dissociation. Typically, the amount of dissociation is equivalent to the amount of trauma that a person. The greater the trauma, the greater is the dissociation. Dissociation is a psychological protection that prevents the person from fully remembering traumatic events. The purpose of this is to prevent traumatic memories from interfering with day-to-day functioning. Dissociation helps a child to survive the worst neglect, abuse and trauma. However, dissociation can be problematic as an adult. An adult with severe dissociation can experience daily memory gaps, internal conflicting thoughts and feelings or sudden changes in mood, personality, opinions and behaviors. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a condition with the highest level of dissociation. Many people experience milder levels of dissociation that are also important to treat in order to fully resolve PTSD. Dr. Lynn Heselton has created Revisioning Therapy to improve all forms of dissociation, including adult and childhood-onset PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder and DID. Revisioning Therapy involves activation of the Mirror Neuron Network (MNN), which is the connecting and empathy network of the brain. The activation of the MNN through drawings and a mirror is combined with mental imagery to heal the disconnection between ego states (alters) which were separated due to trauma. The first step in therapy is to understand the system of alters and promote co-consciousness, communication and cooperation with Revisioning Therapy. After the DID system has reached a high enough level of integration, many of the symptoms of dissociation will be resolved and the person will have a greater sense of internal balance and harmony. The last (and optional step) is to resolve developmental trauma. The last step can be achieved with a combination of Revisioning to maintain the integration, and very modified EMDR to maintain stability while making significant progress. This new treatment for dissociation that is gentle, and enjoyable with profound changes. If you are struggling with C-PTSD with dissociation, consider Revisioning Therapy.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is the most recommended, first-choice treatment in the world for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). EMDR is supported by 30 years of evidence-based research by The American Psychiatric Association (APA), the International Society for Traumatic Stress (ISTS), Veteran's Administration (VA), Department of Defense (DOD), the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the World Health Organization (WHO). EMDR uses bi-lateral tapping, sound and eye tracking to process emotions, physical sensations, thoughts and images (flashbacks) associated with the trauma. This allows the brain to think about the trauma as a past event, process intense emotions, and to learn new, healing insights. EMDR provides a rapid way to resolve symptoms of re-living the trauma including intrusive thoughts and images and associated distressing emotions. I was trained more than 20 years ago by Dr. Francine Shapiro, the creator of EMDR. I have many years of experience in the treatment of childhood-onset and adult-onset traumas with EMDR.
Revisioning Psychotherapy was created by Dr. Mark Rider and Dr. Lynn Heselton and introduced with the publication of Revisioning: Mirror Neuron Based Psychotherapy for Grief and Trauma (2016). Research was conducted by Dr. Heselton and Dr. Rider in conjunction with Sierra Tucson Treatment Center (Seymour, J., Drachman, C., Guilfoyle, S., Seek, T., Vose, S.) and presented to the World Psychiatric Association Conference in March, 2021. Revisioning Therapy utilizes drawings or photos, a Mirror, and guided mental imagery to activate the Mirror Neuron Network (MNN) and promote whole-brain connections. The MNN is the empathy and connecting bridge of the brain. The activation of the MNN can enhance empathy and understanding of one's self and others, which accelerates the healing process. Guided mental imagery, primed by the MNN, mends psychological and neurological networks that became severed or stunted in growth due to trauma. Revisioning is a gentle, enjoyable, rapid and profoundly impactful treatment for very complex psychological problems. Revisioning is an effective therapy for Prolonged Grief, childhood-onset trauma, and adult-onset trauma and all levels of dissociation.
Dr. Lynn Heselton, PsyD, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, EMDR
I am a very experienced Texas Licensed Psychotherapist with a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing. I began my career 25 years ago as a psychiatric nurse while attending graduate school at the University of Rochester Medical Center in NY. Since that time I have worked in a variety of psychiatric hospitals, treatment centers and outpatient settings as an Advanced Practice Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist. I was trained by Dr. Francine Shapiro, the creator of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy). I am the co-author of Revisioning: Rapid Mirror Neuron Psychotherapy for Grief and Trauma (2016). I am a developer and instructor for innovative therapy methods for grief, trauma, and dissociation. My research on Revisioning Psychotherapy, done in conjunction with Dr. Mark Rider and Sierra Tucson Treatment Center, entitled Mirror Neuron Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Inpatients with PTSD was presented to the World Psychiatric Association Virtual Conference in March of 2021. I completed a Doctorate in Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, from California Southern University. My doctoral research focused on recent neuropsychological discoveries in complex trauma and dissociation that impact psychotherapy.
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Dr. Lynn Heselton's office is a private practice in the building of Dr. John Naus, MD, PA (Psychiatrist).
Please contact "Dr. Lynn" Heselton for appointment requests by submitting Confidential Contact Form above. Office and Telehealth appointments are available.