Depth Therapy and Clinical Hypnosis for Compulsive Patterns, Social Anxiety, and Adult ADHD

You’re Not Weak. You’re Stuck.

Licensed in Minneapolis–St. Paul and online throughout Minnesota

You might be here because…

  • You've tried to stop a behavior - scrolling, social media, gaming, betting, shopping, porn, AI use - and keep going back

  • Social situations drain you, and you replay them for hours afterward

  • Your attention slips from what matters, and follow-through feels impossible

  • You feel anxious, ashamed, or stuck in your own head

  • You've tried to push through with willpower, and it isn't working

Common issues I work with…

  • Compulsive behaviors

  • Social Anxiety and avoidance

  • Adult ADHD and executive function challenges

  • Shame, low self-worth, and self-criticism

  • Habits and patterns that resist willpower

How Patterns Take Hold

Most stuck patterns begin as coping. A difficult day, emotional overload, boredom, loneliness, overwhelm. The response, whether it's a behavior, an avoidance, or a mental escape, offers immediate relief or stimulation.

The brain remembers relief. It builds a shortcut.

Over time, the pattern becomes less about choice and more about regulation. A compulsive behavior soothes. Avoiding a social situation brings calm. Switching tabs quiets restlessness. The more shame or frustration you feel afterward, the more likely the pattern is to repeat.

Whether the pattern is compulsive, avoidant, or distracted, the mechanism is the same.

This isn’t weakness. It’s a reinforced loop.

Working Together

headshot ryan peterson therapist

I'm Ryan, a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist with more than a decade of clinical experience. I work directly and without judgment. We won't minimize what you're dealing with, and we won't dramatize it either. We'll slow the pattern down and examine it carefully, what triggers it, what it provides, and what it costs.

My approach blends insight, practical strategy, and deeper experiential work that helps shift patterns at their roots. I have a deep respect for the courage it takes to speak honestly about the things that are hard to say out loud, whether they feel taboo, embarrassing, or simply exhausting to explain one more time. You won't have to censor yourself here.

"When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools, dig a way out through the bottom to the ocean. There is a secret medicine given only to those who hurt so hard they can't hope."

—Rumi

tree mountain representing breaking addiction

How Change Happens

01

02

Identify the triggers and emotional drivers beneath the pattern. We slow the pattern down and examine what precedes it: stress, loneliness, overwhelm, anxiety, boredom. Understanding what the pattern regulates is the first step toward shifting it.


Lower the emotional charge that keeps the loop running. Shame, self-criticism, and frustration reinforce repetition. When patterns are approached calmly and directly, the nervous system settles and the urgency to escape begins to soften.


Integrate insight with deeper experiential work.
We address both the conscious narrative and the automatic processes operating beneath awareness, the learned responses that keep the pattern in place. This is where Clinical Hypnosis often comes in, helping shift what conscious effort alone can't reach.

03


Create structural change rather than temporary control.
The aim is not suppression through willpower alone, but strengthening internal regulation so the pattern no longer feels inevitable.

04

Shorter-Term Hypnosis Work

In addition to my primary specialties, I offer Clinical Hypnosis (Hypnotherapy) for focused, shorter-term work, including smoking/vaping cessation, sleep, and performance-related concerns. These are often brief engagements of just a few sessions.

Learn more about Clinical Hypnosis

mountains representing calm healing growth

Ready to get started?

This work is grounded, focused, and confidential.

Reach out to schedule a free 20 minute consultation.