Psychodynamic Therapy

During situations of extreme stress, our mind creates beliefs and patterns that then impact how we behave moving forward. Psychodynamic therapy helps us identify and unpack those beliefs and file them in our brains in healthy ways.

In psychodynamic therapy, I emphasize self-reflection: when you get to know and understand yourself with insight and compassion, you can better change the patterns that you want to and set yourself up for the life you want. There's an exciting freedom in therapy: we can talk about what's going on for you in therapy, in real time. By examining your relationship with me, we can learn about your "real" life as well, and bring the changes you make in therapy to your every day life.

Through over two decades of practicing psychotherapy, I have found that the pain we carry with us from childhood profoundly impacts the rest of our lives unless we take stock and actively process the past so that it doesn't continue to weigh us down. Everyone has "baggage." I help my clients access their inner strength (coming to therapy is a huge strength) to face their pain, work through it, and free themselves to live a life of self-kindness.

I utilize psychodynamic therapy to help both couples and individuals uncover the unconscious patterns and unresolved conflicts that influence their current behaviors and relationships. For individuals, this approach delves into early experiences and emotional wounds, fostering self-awareness and personal growth. For couples, psychodynamic therapy explores the underlying dynamics and attachment histories that impact their interactions, promoting deeper understanding and emotional intimacy.

I approach therapy from an object-relations perspective, in particular noting how our past experiences of interpersonal relationships from a very young age impacts how we continue to live our lives. We may find difficult patterns in our lives relate to past patterns that served to assist us in emotionally surviving or coping with past stressors. I understand human contact and our innate need to form relationships as a prime motive for much of our behavior and personality development.

As a marriage and family therapist that works solely with individuals (not couples or families), I approach therapy through a relational lens. In order to fully understand someone's current mental health struggles I believe I must also understand their experiences with the other people in their life, both past and present. Taking a psychodynamic approach to therapy means I consider and help clients gain insight into the way their childhood has influenced their current coping and patterns.

I was trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the University of Chicago. Psychodynamic therapy, combined with other approaches, such as energy therapy techniques can be very effective in treating a number of conditions. That said, I don't get stuck on one or two approaches. That would be like a medical doctor who only prescibes penicillin. A good therapist needs a lot of tools in his or her toolbox.

A psychodynamic approach looks at emotional and relational patterns that develop from early childhood experiences and traumas. Processing these original experiences can be healing in and of itself. By understanding the origin of the issue and how it is related to your current life problems, you increase your ability to develop new ways of being.

My goal is to provide an unstructured and open-ended space in which to safely explore -- with acceptance, humor, and compassion -- my clients' inner world. I believe by talking about our past as well as our present, we are able to make sense of the patterns and behaviors that don't serve us.

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person's present behavior. The goals of this type of therapy are client self-awareness and an understanding of the influence of the past on their present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are, acknowledgment of emotions, identifying patterns, improving interpersonal relationships and recognizing and addressing avoidance.

Through the therapeutic journey, it offers the space to feel seen and emotionally held. I utilize a psychodynamic approach that is based in Attachment Theory as our childhood impacts our adulthood relationships. Part of the therapeutic journey is building a trust-based relationship. This is achieved through another perspective developed by Irvin Yalom, utilizing the here-and-now within the therapeutic relationship.

Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies: One Year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Certificate Student Society Member Volunteer Committee Member

In my clinical work with co-occurring disorder populations, I have drawn from a psychodynamic framework to great success. This simply means exploring one's struggles and how they tend to repeat or consistently present in a variety of contexts. It is often deeply rooted patterns that one is not even aware of that may be the cause of struggles and dissatisfaction in life. In my work, I seek to deconstruct these repetitive experiences and replace them with healthy patterns of behavior and coping.

Why psychodynamic/analytic therapy? The here and now psychotherapy relationship opens a stunning window into past, present, and future; into the deep wisdom of the unconscious; and into a creative flexibility that brings more and more wholesomeness, freedom, intimacy, and flourishing of the soul. I have doctoral and postdoctoral training in various contemporary analytic approaches, and I practice from a liberatory, feminist, relational stance.