SERVICES

I provide individual psychotherapy for adults and older adolescents. My approach is psychoanalytic, and am trained as a contemporary psychoanalyst. Psychoanalysts are licensed mental health professionals who have had substantial training and experience as therapists before beginning their psychoanalytic training. Psychoanalytic training consists of several years of coursework, a personal analysis, and experience providing psychoanalysis under the supervision of experienced analyst.

Contemporary psychoanalysis is a relational approach in which therapist and patient are working collaboratively to make sense of and illuminate recurring patterns of thought and behavior that may be out of awareness but contributing to emotional distress and general feelings of being stuck. In a more traditional approach, the therapist is considered an authority of what is true for the patient; in a contemporary approach, the emphasis is more on the meanings of each person's experience.

A psychoanalytic approach views a person’s history and past experiences as relevant to their current way of being in the world. While the focus is in part on the past, it is simultaneously on the present, as both contribute to a person’s current dilemmas and conflicts. In this type of therapy, the therapist listens carefully to understand the various patterns, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that are impinging on life satisfaction or creating psychic pain, to ultimately bring into awareness what is not necessarily known by the client. A great deal of transformation and healing occurs vis a vis the relationship the client has with the therapist, and this is considered central.

Typically, this type of therapy occurs on a weekly and sometimes even more frequently. The exact session frequency and duration of treatment depends on each client’s needs and desires. This approach is for those who are not just seeking symptom relief but are curious about themselves, and wish to know themselves on a deeper level. Therapist and client work in close collaboration to carefully track and fully explore the client's narrative. People seek psychoanalytic therapy for various reasons including, but not limited to, a desire to deepen self-understanding; to feel more personal fulfillment; and to change distressing patterns that prevent improved relationships with others.

The benefits of psychoanalytic therapy are numerous and often include a better capacity, overall, to manage one’s emotional life and improve connection in intimate relationships. Additional and typical outcomes include reduced anxiety, depression, obsessiveness, and a capacity to experience life with more playfulness, freedom, creativity, and less restriction. In order to avoid emotional pain and keep difficult feelings at bay, we as people develop certain coping styles and while these necessary ‘protections’ develop for good reasons, they do not always serve us as adults in navigating our relationships and the world at large. An analytic process helps to identify these coping styles and re-work them so that a fuller, more satisfying emotional and relationship life can be experienced.