Therapy for People-Pleasing & Self-Abandonment

There’s a version of you that takes up space without apology.

Use this before or during your intake session. Mark what resonates, write in your own words, and bring it with you. Goals are shaped with your therapist — this is a collaborative starting point, not a commitment or a diagnosis.

What may sound familiar

Check anything that feels true right now — not as a diagnosis, just as a starting place for conversation.

I’ve gotten good at reading the room and managing others’ reactions
I shrink to keep the peace and lose myself in the process
I wonder who I am when I’m not performing for someone else

The work

Mark what you’d like therapy to help with. These become draft goals you can refine with your therapist.

Trace how people-pleasing developed and what it protected
Separate genuine care from managing others’ reactions
Build ground to stay present without disappearing into others
Recover the Self beneath the roles I’ve carried
Move through relationships with more intention and less reactivity
Build agency beyond performing or keeping peace

My own goal

Start here

In your own words

What would need to shift for therapy to feel worth it?

In a few months, what would “better” look or feel like in daily life?

Anything else you want your therapist to know going into intake?