Empty Feelings

                                 

Few people come to therapy because they feel

empty inside. It's not a disorder in and of itself

like anxiety or depression. Nor is it experienced

by most people as a symptom that interferes 

with their lives. It's more a generic feeling of

discomfort, a lack of being filled up that may

come and go. Some people experience it physically,

as an empty space in their belly or chest.

Others experience it more as an emotional

numbness. You may have a general sense that 

you're missing something that everybody else

has, or that you're on the outside looking in.

Something just isn't right, but it's hard to name.

It makes you feel somehow set apart, disconnected, 

as if you're not enjoying life as you 

should.

    I have found that most emotionally neglected

people who come to therapy for anxiety, depression, 

or family- related problems, for example,

eventually express these empty feelings in some

way. Typically the emptiness it chronic, and has

ebbed and flowed over the course of their lives.

It may be difficult to imagine what would make

a person feel this way. The answer lies in emotional 

responses from parents during childhood.