Fermata Psychotherapy

10/07/2025

Shame doesn’t always begin with something we did — it often begins with how we were seen, treated, or misunderstood by others. Many people carry shame not as a reaction to a specific event, but as something inherited from early relationships: experiences of being dismissed, humiliated, or made to feel invisible. Sometimes we internalize a caregiver’s own unresolved shame, absorbing it as part of our identity before we have the words to understand it. This kind of shame shapes how we see ourselves, how we expect to be treated, and what we believe we deserve. It can feel like a quiet certainty that we are not enough, not good, not worthy. Over time, it may show up in perfectionism, self-doubt, or fear of being known. Therapy for shame invites us to trace these beliefs back to their origins, not to place blame, but to better understand how they formed and how they continue to shape our emotional lives.

Therapy for shame helps uncover how trauma and early relationships shape guilt, shame, and a sense of unworthiness.

07/07/2025

Why does someone else’s anxiety so often become our own? The answer lies not just in sensitivity or empathy, but in dynamics shaped by early relational experiences. When we’ve grown up needing to manage the emotions of others—whether due to chaos, fragility, or enmeshment—we may internalize a belief that our safety depends on regulating those around us.
Anxiety therapy can help us make sense of these reactions, tracing them back to the emotional roles and attachment patterns we’ve carried for years. By understanding these templates, we can begin to disentangle from reactive patterns and develop the capacity to stay emotionally present without being consumed.

Why do we become anxious around anxious people? Anxiety therapy can help unpack internalized patterns and develop emotional clarity and differentiation.

26/06/2025

Emotional numbness isn’t just an absence of emotion. It’s our mind’s way of managing what once felt unbearable. Often rooted in early relational trauma, numbness protects us from overwhelming affect by cutting off access to our internal world. In trauma therapy we don’t attempt to “break through” this defense, but try to listen to it. Over time, what was once hidden from ourselves begins to take shape: a flicker of feeling, a return of curiosity, a slow reconstitution of the self. Read our post about how therapy can help restore not just feeling, but the capacity to be in relationship with what once had to be pushed away.

Emotional numbness is a common response to trauma. Learn how trauma therapy helps restore emotions and rebuild our capacity to feel.

22/06/2025

We are excited to welcome Christine Castorino, MA, to Fermata Psychotherapy!
Christine works with people struggling with anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, and complex PTSD. She helps individuals and couples navigate difficult family dynamics, attachment and relationship issues, and women’s health and fertility concerns.
👉 In-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO plans
👉 Immediate daytime and evening availability
👉 Appointments in person in Downtown Chicago and virtually throughout Illinois.
Christine is originally from the East Coast, and a former rowing coach and behavioral health tech. She holds a Masters in Counseling from Northwestern University, was a volunteer with the Northwestern Prison Education Program, and will start the fellowship with the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis this fall.
In her own words:
"I believe in our capacities for personal agency, resiliency, and change. Within our unique space, we will be able to parse out your relationships to others, to yourself, and to the world around you. Together, we will try on different ideas, unify the different parts of your identity, and discover what feels most true to you.”
You can read more about Christine here:
http://fermatapsychotherapy.com/christine-castorino

Welcome, Christine!

06/06/2025

Depression doesn’t just affect how we feel within ourselves, it also shapes how we connect with others. It can make love feel distant, care feel suffocating, and closeness feel unsafe. Depression therapy offers more than symptom relief; it helps untangle the unconscious patterns that strain our relationships and open space for genuine connection. This post explores how therapy can repair what depression often disrupts: our capacity to feel close, understood, and loved.

Discover how depression therapy can improve your relationships by uncovering unconscious patterns, easing emotional withdrawal, and restoring connection.

04/06/2025

We are excited to welcome Griffin Halperin, MSW, to Fermata Psychotherapy!

Griffin works with individuals facing anxiety and depression, or struggling with patterns of codependency and conflict in their relationships. He helps people who feel disconnected from their bodies, their creativity, and their sexuality, and those navigating difficult life transitions, shame, trauma, and loss.

Griffin holds an MSW from Loyola University Chicago, has clinical experience in community settings, and works psychoanalytically. As part of his journey of becoming a psychodynamic therapist, he has completed year-long programs with both the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute.

In his own words:
"My style as a therapist is marked by openness, curiosity, and warmth. I sincerely believe in this work, and view therapy as a collaborative effort. With time and trust, we’ll explore the underlying feelings, beliefs, and conflicts which have made it challenging to live a meaningful and satisfying life. In turn, what once felt inescapable begins to shift, and something new emerges.”

Griffin accepts BCBS PPO plans, and has immediate openings for in-person appointments in Downtown Chicago and teletherapy (video) throughout Illinois.

You can read more about Griffin here:
http://fermatapsychotherapy.com/griffin-halperin

Welcome, Griffin!

29/05/2025

Anxiety doesn’t always look like worry. For many, it shows up as irritability, reactivity, or sudden bursts of anger. These moments are often misunderstood, not only by others but by ourselves. What if the anger is a mask for something more vulnerable? This post explores how anxiety and anger can be deeply connected, shaped by early emotional experiences and unconscious defenses. Therapy offers a space to slow down, trace these patterns, and relate to your emotional life with greater understanding. A thoughtful look at how anxiety therapy can help uncover what lies beneath the surface.

Explore how anxiety can manifest as irritability or anger—and how anxiety therapy can help uncover what’s beneath the reactivity.

13/05/2025

Why does vulnerability feel so hard—even with the person we love most? Often, we carry emotional patterns from the past that quietly shape how close we allow ourselves to get. In relationship therapy, we explore these unconscious dynamics, not to assign blame, but to understand what we’re protecting and what we’re still longing for. Vulnerability becomes possible when we stop treating it as a threat and begin to recognize it as a bridge toward others and within ourselves.

Learn how unconscious conflicts and internalized early relationships shape our capacity for vulnerability and how relationship therapy can help.

07/05/2025

After living a life defined by other people's needs, desires, expectations, and fears, it might take some time to find who we are, to become our own person and find our own voice.

06/05/2025

Some children are pulled into roles they were never meant to hold, becoming a parent’s emotional confidant, companion, or stabilizing force. When a child is treated as a surrogate partner, the cost isn’t always visible right away, but its impact often carries into adult life. Patterns of emotional over-responsibility, guilt around needs, and difficulty with intimacy can all stem from these early dynamics.

Read our new blog post on the impact of these patterns and how trauma therapy from a psychodynamic lens can help make sense of them, offering space to examine how early relationships shaped your sense of self—and how to begin relating differently to yourself and others.

Trauma therapy helps uncover and heal the hidden emotional toll of becoming a parent’s surrogate partner in childhood.

02/05/2025

We are excited to announce Fermata's new office!!
We are staying in the same beautiful, historical building in Downtown Chicago, but have consolidated our space into a single suite that will support our growth, enhance our sense of community, and sustain our mission to provide in-person psychodynamic psychotherapy to help people develop a renewed sense of agency and possibility. Take a look at our space, and feel free to stop by and say hello!

16/04/2025

Anxiety has a way of making uncertainty feel dangerous. A delayed response, a vague expression, or a brief silence can spiral into worry that something is wrong. To soothe this, we may seek and rely on reassurance. But while it might offer quick relief, reassurance can deepen the cycle, leaving us more anxious and less trusting of ourselves.

Reassurance-seeking isn’t just a habit. It’s often a defense against deeper fears shaped by early experiences where feelings may have been dismissed, misattuned, or made to feel unsafe. Over time, we learn to manage our inner world by relying on others to confirm that everything is okay. But the cost is high: a growing disconnection from our own capacity to self-soothe and self-trust.

Psychodynamic therapy for anxiety helps interrupt this pattern. It creates a space to explore the unconscious roots of anxiety and to experience a new kind of relationship — one that doesn’t require us to ask over and over to feel okay. With time, therapy can help us develop a steadier inner foundation, where trust begins to grow from within.

Learn how anxiety therapy can help you stop seeking constant reassurance and start building self-trust from within.