PRACTICE
I am a very fortunate person in that I love my work. It gives me great satisfaction to use my knowledge and experience to engage with people in ways that help them to develop themselves and to achieve greater insight, aliveness, and contentment.
Perhaps the best way for me to explain what I do as a therapist is to try to answer some questions you might have.
Where do we start?
Every person who asks me for help is a unique individual. My first job is to get to know you well through a mutual examination of your past and present experience. We focus on your strengths and goals as well as your difficulties.
Why do people seek my help?
I teach my students that people come for treatment when their usual ways of coping no longer work. You've become "stuck" in your development, while suffering a variety of symptoms, which may include intense frustration, anxiety, depressed mood, poor self-esteem, loneliness, apathy and conflicted relationships.
What can we aim to achieve in psychotherapy? Our immediate concern is to help relieve you of your most acute and painful symptoms. Second, we work on overcoming psychological barriers to successful pursuit of your personal goals, e.g. having an intimate relationship or starting on a career path. Finally, at the widest and deepest level we seek to foster the emergence of your creative self so that you can weather with strength and flexibility the challenges life brings and fully experience opportunities for joy and contentment.
What kind of psychotherapy do I practice?
I practice what is called psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy. This type of treatment is based on the establishment of a dependable therapeutic relationship marked by trust and empathic understanding. This relationship provides new and important experience of yourself as well as deep going insight you can use to substantially change maladaptive patterns of thought, feeling and behavior.
Why the emphasis on feelings?
Working with feelings is an important part of psychodynamic therapy. Some people have difficulty experiencing feelings and need help mobilizing them. Others are overwhelmed by feelings and need help moderating them so they can better control their behavior. Most of us need help sorting out our feelings and understanding them. When our feelings are effectively utilized they help us make sense of our experience, connect with ourselves and with others, and have a safer, richer and more meaningful experience of life.
What misconceptions create doubts about psychoanalytic psychotherapy?
Misconceptions about dynamic therapy abound. Many people think that the psychoanalytic therapist is passive and leaves you on your own to figure things out. Nothing could be further from the truth. My colleagues and I are active, supportive and flexible. When practical advice is needed, we offer it. We suggest things to think about and things to do. We work together to create a safe and lively experience adapted to your needs and goals.
Psychoanalytic therapy is all about my childhood, isn’t it?
Therapy focuses on the “here and now” rather than the past. As we explore your adult experience we identify patterns of thought, feeling and behavior that originated in childhood. These discoveries help us understand and “bring up-to-date” ways of responding that may have been useful or necessary in childhood but are now maladaptive.
Is psychoanalytic therapy effective?
The vast majority of my patients find their therapy to be a unique, emotionally moving and practically useful experience. Many would describe it as profound and life changing. My colleagues and their patients report much the same. The effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy is supported by a substantial number of research studies. “Graduates” of this kind of treatment tend to maintain therapeutic gains and to progress further after regularly scheduled sessions end.
What about medication?
If your problem involves a significant biological component, medication may be combined with psychotherapy to achieve a successful result. I do not see patients for medication treatment alone.
Perhaps the best way for me to explain what I do as a therapist is to try to answer some questions you might have.
Where do we start?
Every person who asks me for help is a unique individual. My first job is to get to know you well through a mutual examination of your past and present experience. We focus on your strengths and goals as well as your difficulties.
Why do people seek my help?
I teach my students that people come for treatment when their usual ways of coping no longer work. You've become "stuck" in your development, while suffering a variety of symptoms, which may include intense frustration, anxiety, depressed mood, poor self-esteem, loneliness, apathy and conflicted relationships.
What can we aim to achieve in psychotherapy? Our immediate concern is to help relieve you of your most acute and painful symptoms. Second, we work on overcoming psychological barriers to successful pursuit of your personal goals, e.g. having an intimate relationship or starting on a career path. Finally, at the widest and deepest level we seek to foster the emergence of your creative self so that you can weather with strength and flexibility the challenges life brings and fully experience opportunities for joy and contentment.
What kind of psychotherapy do I practice?
I practice what is called psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy. This type of treatment is based on the establishment of a dependable therapeutic relationship marked by trust and empathic understanding. This relationship provides new and important experience of yourself as well as deep going insight you can use to substantially change maladaptive patterns of thought, feeling and behavior.
Why the emphasis on feelings?
Working with feelings is an important part of psychodynamic therapy. Some people have difficulty experiencing feelings and need help mobilizing them. Others are overwhelmed by feelings and need help moderating them so they can better control their behavior. Most of us need help sorting out our feelings and understanding them. When our feelings are effectively utilized they help us make sense of our experience, connect with ourselves and with others, and have a safer, richer and more meaningful experience of life.
What misconceptions create doubts about psychoanalytic psychotherapy?
Misconceptions about dynamic therapy abound. Many people think that the psychoanalytic therapist is passive and leaves you on your own to figure things out. Nothing could be further from the truth. My colleagues and I are active, supportive and flexible. When practical advice is needed, we offer it. We suggest things to think about and things to do. We work together to create a safe and lively experience adapted to your needs and goals.
Psychoanalytic therapy is all about my childhood, isn’t it?
Therapy focuses on the “here and now” rather than the past. As we explore your adult experience we identify patterns of thought, feeling and behavior that originated in childhood. These discoveries help us understand and “bring up-to-date” ways of responding that may have been useful or necessary in childhood but are now maladaptive.
Is psychoanalytic therapy effective?
The vast majority of my patients find their therapy to be a unique, emotionally moving and practically useful experience. Many would describe it as profound and life changing. My colleagues and their patients report much the same. The effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy is supported by a substantial number of research studies. “Graduates” of this kind of treatment tend to maintain therapeutic gains and to progress further after regularly scheduled sessions end.
What about medication?
If your problem involves a significant biological component, medication may be combined with psychotherapy to achieve a successful result. I do not see patients for medication treatment alone.
ABOUT MY PRACTICE WITH CHILDREN
Psychodynamic therapy is a very effective treatment for children and adolescents with a variety of difficulties. The principles of adult treatment described above are by and large applicable to child treatment as well. Here are some questions and answers to give you a better idea how it works:
How does child treatment begin?
As with adults, an assessment comes first. I usually see parents for the first session so that you can “set the stage” and talk freely without your child having to listen to a discussion of his difficulties. Next I see your child once or twice alone. We finish the assessment with another parent meeting to discuss my findings and recommendations.
How is child treatment structured?
If we move ahead with therapy for your child, I’ll see him alone once a week or more. We will have parent meetings regularly about once a month. During these meetings we share observations, discuss parenting issues and re-calibrate our treatment approach. Why does your child have his own sessions? We respect your child as a person in his own right. Given a private place and relationship, he is much more likely to open up and work productively with the feelings and conflicts that give rise to his suffering and maladaptive behavior.
Our child is using her sessions to play!?
In play children communicate naturally thoughts and feelings they may be unable to express in words. In my roles as a co-player and commentator I can help a child understand how he responds to his environment and how he influences it. As he gains insight into the how and why in the context of a supportive relationship, his experience and behavior become more mature and flexible. We use whatever materials and modes of interaction allow your child to communicate and learn best, including toys, games, drawing tools and computers.
What about treatment of adolescents?
The developmental challenges of adolescence are unique as the child moves toward greater independence and responsibility while coping with biological changes and social demands. With the provision of appropriate guidance, adolescents can often take advantage of talk therapy much as adults do. Parents are usually seen periodically with their teenage child rather than separately, respecting the adolescent’s greater need for autonomy and providing a forum for discussion of family issues and dynamics.
How does child treatment begin?
As with adults, an assessment comes first. I usually see parents for the first session so that you can “set the stage” and talk freely without your child having to listen to a discussion of his difficulties. Next I see your child once or twice alone. We finish the assessment with another parent meeting to discuss my findings and recommendations.
How is child treatment structured?
If we move ahead with therapy for your child, I’ll see him alone once a week or more. We will have parent meetings regularly about once a month. During these meetings we share observations, discuss parenting issues and re-calibrate our treatment approach. Why does your child have his own sessions? We respect your child as a person in his own right. Given a private place and relationship, he is much more likely to open up and work productively with the feelings and conflicts that give rise to his suffering and maladaptive behavior.
Our child is using her sessions to play!?
In play children communicate naturally thoughts and feelings they may be unable to express in words. In my roles as a co-player and commentator I can help a child understand how he responds to his environment and how he influences it. As he gains insight into the how and why in the context of a supportive relationship, his experience and behavior become more mature and flexible. We use whatever materials and modes of interaction allow your child to communicate and learn best, including toys, games, drawing tools and computers.
What about treatment of adolescents?
The developmental challenges of adolescence are unique as the child moves toward greater independence and responsibility while coping with biological changes and social demands. With the provision of appropriate guidance, adolescents can often take advantage of talk therapy much as adults do. Parents are usually seen periodically with their teenage child rather than separately, respecting the adolescent’s greater need for autonomy and providing a forum for discussion of family issues and dynamics.