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Psychotherapy aims to improve our well-being and relationships by impacting those thoughts, emotions, behaviors, beliefs, and realities that get in the way.
Psychotherapy can be helpful in treating most mental health problems, including:
- Anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, panic disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder
- Mood disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder
- Personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder or dependent personality disorder
- Thought disorders or other disorders that cause detachment from reality
However, a large proportion of people who benefit from psychotherapy are not diagnosed with a mental illness. Psychotherapy can help with a number of life's stresses and conflicts that affect anyone. For example, it may help you:
- Resolve conflicts with your partner, family, or someone else in your life
- Relieve anxiety or stress due to work or other situations
- Cope with major life changes, such as divorce, the death of a loved one or the loss of a job
- Learn to manage unhealthy reactions, such as road rage or passive-aggressive behavior
- Come to terms with an ongoing or serious physical health problem, such as diabetes, cancer or long-term pain
- Recover from physical or sexual abuse or witnessing violence
- Cope with sexual problems, whether they're due to a physical or psychological cause
- Sleep better, if you have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep
- Make better choices in romantic relationships, friendships, and work environments
- Effectively parent your unique children or special needs children
- Help kids and teens cope with overwhelming pressures academically, socially, and emotionally. Therapy provides a place for kids to talk to someone who is not in their every day lives who can help them make better choices, increase confidence, and build self-esteem.
In some cases, psychotherapy can be as effective as medications, such as antidepressants. However, depending on your specific situation, psychotherapy alone may not be enough to ease the symptoms of a mental health condition. You may also need medications or other treatments.
my approach
What you can expect
At the first psychotherapy session, I will gather information about you and your needs. It may take a few sessions for me to fully understand your situation and concerns and to determine the best course of action. However, during the first session I will discuss my general approach to therapy and how it may be helpful to you. The first session is also an opportunity for you to interview me to see if my personality is a good fit for you. Don't hesitate to ask questions anytime during your appointment. Having a good fit with a therapist is critical for psychotherapy to be effective.
My approach and style
I typically meet with people once a week for a 45 minute session, which I find provides the continuity necessary to understand problems and start to make changes. Psychotherapy is a collaborative treatment based on the relationship between an individual and a psychologist. This is a dialogue; it provides a supportive environment that allows you to talk openly with someone who’s objective, neutral and nonjudgmental.
There are many different types of psychotherapy; I will consider your particular situation and preferences and tailor an approach that will best fit you, your child, or your family. Like most therapists, I tend to use a combination of techniques.
Key components to my style include a focus upon addressing problems with current relationships with other people to improve interpersonal skills. I find that increasing awareness and developing insight into one’s motivations, sources of dissatisfaction, and difficulties in making changes is very useful. I try to help people identify unhealthy and negative beliefs and behaviors, and I challenge them with healthier, more positives ones. I work with people to understand their reactions to stress, and help them develop more adaptive means to handle their emotions and responses to stress. And very importantly, I work to support the development of one's self-worth and self-image to be consistent with who a person wants to be.
Take steps to get the most out of therapy
- Approach therapy as a partnership. Therapy is most effective when you're an active participant and share in decision-making. Make sure we agree about the major issues and how to tackle them. Together, we can set goals and measure progress over time
- Be open and honest. Success depends on willingness to share your thoughts, feelings and experiences, and to consider new insights, ideas and ways of doing things. If you're reluctant to talk about certain issues because of painful emotions, embarrassment or fears, let’s talk about them.
- Stick it out. If you feel down or lack motivation, it may be tempting to skip psychotherapy sessions. Doing so can disrupt your progress. Try to attend all sessions and to give some thought to what you want to discuss.
- Don't expect instant results. Working on emotional issues can be painful and may require hard work. It may time quite some time before you begin to see improvement.
- If psychotherapy isn't helping, talk to me about it. If you don't feel that you're benefiting from therapy after several sessions, we may decide to make some changes or try a different approach that may be more effective.
Confidentiality
Our conversations are confidential. However, confidentiality may be broken in rare and specific situations, such as, if there is an immediate threat to safety (yours or someone else's) or when required by state or federal law to report concerns to authorities. I can answer questions about confidentiality at any time.
Length of psychotherapy
It may take only weeks to help you cope with a short-term situation. Or, treatment may last a year or longer if you have a long-term mental illness or other long-term concerns. The number of psychotherapy sessions — as well as the frequency of visits – depends such factors as:
- Your particular mental illness or situation
- Severity of your symptoms
- How long you've had symptoms or have been dealing with your situation
- How quickly you make progress
- How much stress you're experiencing
- How much your mental health concerns interfere with day-to-day life
- How much support you receive from family members and others
- Cost and financial limitations