Anthony McMahon, Ph.D.

Q: I notice myself struggling more and more in my relationships with others. I feel like

I am constantly having issues with others, feeling unable to get my point across without it being an argument, and overall, just not feeling good about many of my interactions. What can I do to try to improve this?

A: It’s difficult when we feel we don’t know how best to interact with the people in our life. By not having the proper skills to help us through difficult interpersonal situations, we end up having strains in our relationships with the people we care most about, when that is the last thing that we want to happen. It sounds like you could very much benefit from learning some effective interpersonal coping skills. These types of skills can assist you in setting and maintaining boundaries, improving/enhancing relationships, maintaining your self-respect, along with learning effective ways to ask for what we want from others along with saying no to things we are not comfortable with. These types of skills are crucial in allowing us to have healthy lasting relationships.

At Premier Behavioral Health Services, we utilize Dialectical Behavioral Therapy within all of our services. DBT is a specific type of therapy that impacts the way the clinician leads treatment and provides a variety of coping skills to be incorporated into the treatment. One of the skill modules within DBT is Interpersonal Effectiveness skills. These skills assist us in building and maintaining positive relationships with others. If you are interested in learning these interpersonal skills to help you improve your ability to interact with those in your life and overall improve your relationships, please reach out to us at Premier Behavioral Health Services to begin treatment.

Shannon Matsko, LPCC-S Premier Behavioral

Health Services 8701 Mentor Avenue Mentor, Ohio 44060

440.266.0770 www.pbhsohio.com