Nan Karl
MSW, LCSW
Clinical Social Worker/Therapist
Clayton, Missouri, USA
Answers questions in Anxiety · Counseling · Depression
What I do
I am a licensed clinical social worker with twenty plus years of experience working in the field of sexual assault and chronic mental illness. I have worked with adolescent and adult sexual perpetrators and have a private practice in Clayton, MO.
My story
I am a past president with ten years of experience on a national organization for sexual abuse survivors and supporters. I have spoken on national television about sexual abuse and have given countless workshops, including a keynote address at a conference. I am extremely client-centered and unique in my approach. A professor once told me, "You are so far outside the box you don't even know there is a box." True :-)
Why life is worth living
I choose it to be.
Treatment Offered
Specialties
Therapy approaches
Patient population
Modalities
Answered Questions(4)
Once Bitten, Twice Careful!
My 8 year old son was attacked last week by my neighbor’s German Shepard dog. I don’t know what provoked the attack because my son said it just came at him and started biting. He was in the backyard with my neighbor who is a friend and he knows the dog well and the dog knows him. If the owner hadn’t been only a few steps away I am sure the dog could have killed him. As it was, he suffered serious bites to the side of his face and to his hands and had to spend 2 days in the hospital while they cleaned and dressed his wounds. He is home now but he will very likely have scarring on the side of his face for life. He was lucky I guess that the front of his face was not very affected so he will still be a handsome person I think. The dog has been put down and my neighbor is very distraught. I believe it was an accident and so I am not looking to pursue anything against her. My son has been having nightmares and seems very upset and scared still about what has happened. He will not go to sleep in his own bed and he is just not his usual happy go lucky self. His best friend has a golden retriever who is the sweetest dog you’d ever meet but my son does not want to go over to his friend’s house to play anymore. I am worried that this might have lasting psychological implications. Does he need to get some therapy as a preemptive against problems or should I just keep my eye on him to see if he continues to have problems. What should I be looking for as warning signs that he is struggling emotional and mentally from the attack?
Read answer →Trauma and Memory Issues
I was swarmed and mugged and beaten while walking through a park I was stupid to have been walking through very late at night. I was quite drunk at the time and honestly there is a lot about the incident that I don’t even remember. I remember these guys sort of coming up behind me and I kind of remember being circled and having someone hit me and then my swinging at someone but after that it’s all pretty hazy and I am not even sure how I got home. I woke up in the bathroom the next morning and I didn’t know why I was there. It took me a minute to figure out why my face was covered in blood after I saw myself in the mirror. I thought I was dealing with it ok. It wasn’t too traumatic really since I could barely even remember what had happened, but the next day (Monday) I was at work and I just started shaking uncontrollably. I couldn’t figure out why and I went to the hospital and they gave me some valium and said it was a delayed physiological response to the trauma. The whole week too I have just been so irritated with the people around me. I just feel like I don’t want to be with anyone, which is unusual for me because I am usually a very social person who goes out most nights of the week. At the hospital the doctor who treated me said that if I continued to feel disturbed I should consider getting some trauma counseling, and I have to admit that even now, a week later, I still don’t feel quite right. But what I want to know is if trauma counseling will be effective if I can’t even remember the incident that is supposedly so traumatic to me?
Read answer →How Do I Find A Therapist?
I am dealing with a lot of stress and turmoil right now. I separated from my wife a few months ago and we are in the process of getting a divorce. It is she who is initiating all of this. I am really having a hard time coping with the sudden loss of my family and it is affecting my abilities at work and I am worried that I am getting depressed. I think it would be helpful if I talked with a therapist, but I do not really know what kind of therapy I need or how I am supposed to pick one. Am I just supposed to open the phone book and pick at random…I don’t want to waste a lot of time or money making mistakes on this.
Read answer →Time Heals All Wounds (especially with therapy and patience)
I feel really awful to be writing this, but it’s been on my mind a lot lately and I think I need to reach out to try to get some answers and I am just not really sure where to go or to ask to get them. I have been with my girlfriend for 2 years. I am 23 and she is 21. I really love her. She’s smart and funny and she is someone I can imagine spending the rest of my life with. Unfortunately, she was raped when she was 17. That is how she lost her virginity. I was getting really frustrated in the early days by how slowly our relationship was developing sexually and eventually she told me of her traumatic experience and that she had never been with another person other than the man who raped her. She eventually decided about a year ago that she was ready to try having sex and we did, but it was hard for her and we have only done it a handful of times since then. I feel really low to be thinking this, but I am not sure that I can stay in this relationship if this is the only kind of physical relationship we are ever going to be able to have. I thought I could overlook this but it is really becoming a problem for me to have sex only once every couple of months or less. I want to be supportive for her but I need to know that this is going to get better if I am going to continue to get more serious with her. Do rape victims usually become able to have normal sex lives after enough time passes?
Read answer →