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- What are Adjustment Disorders?
- Patient Testimonial
- Symptoms of Adjustment Disorders
- Risk Factors for Adjustment Disorders
- Your Comprehensive Mental Health Assessment
- Treatment Options for Adjustment Disorders
- Care That Works with Your Other Providers
- Schedule a Consultation
- Dr. Colleen McGuire
- Schedule Consultation
- Therapy
- Medication
Dr. Colleen McGuire starts by looking at the whole picture: your history, your health, your current medications, and everything you have already tried. You leave understanding what is actually happening and what will help.
What are Adjustment Disorders?
An adjustment disorder is a mental health condition marked by an unusually strong emotional response to a stressful event or a period of upheaval. It typically involves persistent negative thoughts, intense emotions, and noticeable changes in behavior. The response goes well beyond what would ordinarily be expected, and it can start to interfere with work, school, and the relationships that matter most to you.
Almost any significant change can set it off: a layoff, the end of a marriage, a new diagnosis, a death in the family, a relocation, or a period when several of these arrive at once.
People living with an adjustment disorder may find themselves crying easily, acting impulsively, or feeling flattened by sadness or worry. Symptoms usually appear within three months of the event and often ease within six months, though that timeline varies from person to person.
The response is rarely limited to mood. Poor sleep, headaches, appetite changes, stomach trouble, and constant fatigue frequently show up alongside it. Those physical symptoms are easy to treat as separate problems, which is one reason people can spend months moving between providers without anyone naming what is driving all of it.
Patient
Testimonial
“I cannot recommend Dr. Colleen McGuire highly enough. She has been an incredible support in helping me manage my mental health, and her care has truly been life-changing. From the very beginning, she created a safe, welcoming, and non-judgmental space where I felt heard, valued, and understood.”
Symptoms of Adjustment Disorders
Symptoms differ depending on the type of adjustment disorder and the stressor behind it. The defining feature is a reaction that is markedly more intense or more prolonged than the situation would normally produce.
Other symptoms you may notice include:
- Feeling sad or hopeless
- Crying often
- Feeling anxious or nervous
- Trouble falling or staying asleep
- Eating less than usual
- Difficulty getting through ordinary daily tasks
- Pulling away from family and friends
- Letting important responsibilities go
- Thoughts of suicide
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at any hour.
Risk Factors for Adjustment Disorders
Adjustment disorders are common in children and adolescents and can continue into adulthood, but they can develop in anyone at any age.
Several factors influence whether a stressful period turns into an adjustment disorder. Multiple major changes at the same time raise the risk, as does living through a life-threatening event or a period of sustained instability.
Your temperament, your family history, and any other mental health conditions you are managing all play a role. So does your overall health. Chronic pain, thyroid conditions, and other ongoing medical issues change how the body absorbs stress, which is why Dr. McGuire reviews your medical history alongside your mental health history rather than treating them as separate files.
Your Comprehensive Mental Health Assessment
Care at Cottonwood Psychiatry begins with a full assessment, not a rushed medication check.
Dr. McGuire takes the time to go through your complete medical and mental health history, every medication you are currently taking, including those prescribed elsewhere, the treatments you have already tried, and what did or did not work about them. Then she looks for the connections between them.
That step matters more than it sounds. Low energy, poor sleep, and trouble concentrating can come from the adjustment disorder itself, from a medication you are already taking, or from an untreated medical issue running underneath both. Sorting out which is which is what keeps you from cycling through prescriptions that were never going to be the answer.
You leave the assessment with a clear explanation of what is happening and a treatment plan you actually understand.
Treatment Options for Adjustment Disorders
Therapy
Therapy is the primary treatment for adjustment disorders. Working with Dr. McGuire, you get steady emotional support, help rebuilding a routine, and a clearer understanding of why this particular event affected you the way it did. You also build practical stress management and coping skills you can use the next time life shifts unexpectedly.
Medication
Antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, and sleep medications can each help, and the right choice depends on which symptoms are most disruptive for you. Because Dr. McGuire has already reviewed your full medication list as part of your assessment, any recommendation accounts for what you are taking and why, rather than adding to a list nobody has looked at as a whole.
Medication is also rarely the entire plan. For adjustment disorders, medication paired with therapy is usually the most effective approach.
Care That Works with Your Other Providers
Most people arriving at Cottonwood Psychiatry have already seen someone. A primary care doctor who prescribed an antidepressant. A specialist treating the headaches or the stomach trouble. Each one is doing their part, but nobody is looking across all of it, and you end up carrying the job of translating between them.
This tends to matter most if you are:
- Taking several medications and no longer sure which ones are helping
- Caught between providers who have recommended different things
- Managing a mental health condition alongside chronic pain or another ongoing medical issue
- Tired of hearing that your symptoms are not that provider’s specialty
With your permission, Dr. McGuire coordinates directly with the other providers on your care team so everyone is working from the same understanding of your treatment. You get clarity about what is happening and why. Your providers get a plan that fits together.
For referring providers: if you have a patient whose presentation crosses into territory outside your specialty, or who has not responded the way you expected, Dr. McGuire welcomes the conversation. Contact the office to discuss a referral.
Schedule a Consultation
You do not have to keep managing this on your own, and you do not have to keep guessing which piece to address first. Dr. McGuire can help you understand what you are dealing with and build a plan for moving through it.
To get started, schedule a consultation today. Call our office or send us a message through our online contact form.
Dr. Colleen McGuire
Dr. Colleen McGuire, DO, is a Board-Certified Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine specializing in Psychiatry with a background in Anthropology and Music from the University of New Mexico, pre-med studies in Denver, and a medical degree from Touro University in California. She completed her residency at the University of Colorado, serving as Chief Resident, and has held key roles such as Attending Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor at Denver Health, as well as working in various inpatient, outpatient, and telepsychiatry settings. Dr. McGuire specializes in trauma, midlife hormonal issues, and alternatives to medication, utilizing therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Known for her empathetic, client-centered approach and strong collaborative relationships, she is licensed in multiple states and enjoys mentoring nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Outside of work, she is a classical pianist, swimmer, and animal lover who values personal growth and creativity.
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Start your journey toward the life you’ve always wanted with the help of Dr. McGuire at Cottonwood Psychiatry, and contact us today. Fill out our contact form below.
Dr. Colleen McGuire, DO, is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist with a holistic approach to mental health. She completed her medical training at Touro University and residency at the University of Colorado, where she served as Chief Resident. Specializing in trauma, midlife hormonal issues, and alternatives to medication, Dr. McGuire integrates therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Licensed in multiple states, she is known for her empathetic, client-centered care and dedication to mentoring. Outside work, she enjoys piano, swimming, and spending time with animals.