People can become stuck for many reasons:

• They may be experiencing relationship difficulties with their partner or family members
• They may have difficulty creating change in their life
• There may be a loss of confidence or a loss of life direction
• Lifelong habits and learned behaviours can become negative and unproductive

Any one of the following symptoms can indicate that an individual has become stuck:

• you find yourself continually dealing with the same problem even though you have tried to deal with it previously
• you have managed to get to a certain point in dealing with a problem but cannot seem to fully resolve it
• you have underlying feelings of powerlessness
• you feel generally unfulfilled and unhappy with life
• you feel depressed and generally pessimistic
• you often berate yourself and wonder why life has given you such a raw deal
• you seem unable to have a successful relationship
• you feel restricted and trapped by feelings of obligation and responsibility
• you are experiencing prolonged difficulty getting over a hurtful event in your life

Counselling can provide insight into where the client is stuck. Strategies can then be created to help change thinking and perspective, enabling the problem to be viewed and dealt with in alternative ways. New possibilities and perspectives can emerge and the result sees the client freeing up and feeling less blocked.