I like to create a safe and warm setting where you can talk about whatever is on your mind. Then together you and I can listen for the underlying dilemmas and conflicts that are consciously and unconsciously holding you back from a fuller life.

 

Often, when we have been badly hurt in the past, we have decided that we will never be hurt like that again. We may then avoid pain in many different ways. We may shut out awareness of our longings (which can come roaring back when we are tired or in an altered state). We may avoid new ideas and new types of relationships. We may turn to addictions for comfort. We may find we lose touch with our emotional life or we might lose touch with our ability to think and to learn well. All of these internal solutions to pain can result in depression or anxiety.

 

These early decisions get us through some hard times, but are limiting once we are out of that painful or traumatic situation. Paradoxically, trying to control our experience this much can result in repeating difficult relationship patterns over and over.

 

By finding and naming these internal dilemmas and decisions, you can bring your adult mind to address these internal strategies. This active reflection increases strength and flexibility in your mind for solving the challenges you face and freeing you from past trauma. I believe that psychotherapy and especially psychoanalysis can be transformative and lead to a richer and more rewarding life. It can take you on an adventure to places that are different than where you have been before.

 

Over the past 35 years, I have helped people with depression, anxiety, overwhelming emotions, difficulty with thinking, relationship and work challenges, love and sexuality, attachment difficulties, and post-traumatic stress disorders.