Talking with a therapist can help a person grow in many ways. Individuals have their own goals for therapy, but they usually have to do with feeling better, healthier relationships, and improving performance in various areas of life. I use contemporary and traditional methods in psychoanalytic therapy that focus on mental and emotional development. Each patient’s strengths and talents are used to develop tools for positive change. Individual therapy consists of regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings in a private, comfortable setting.
Each person’s mind develops in relation to complex circumstances in life. Discussion of your concerns comes together with my professional training to clarify ways you can find improvement. Personal growth occurs through the use of methods in psychoanalytic therapy that help you understand and change problematic mental and emotional tendencies.
I am a licensed psychologist. I guarantee confidentiality and I maintain the highest ethical standards of mental health practice.
Therapy for Teenagers
Psychotherapy with people in their teens is virtually the same as it is with adults. The main exception is in the laws concerning confidentiality. I believe that a person’s privacy in therapy is critical for good treatment, whether with teens or adults. Still, parents have the legal right to access to their child’s mental health records if they are under the age of 18. Parents often want to be involved in a helpful way, particularly if their teen is in distress. Sometimes parents want teens to work on certain issues in therapy when the teen feels that other issues are more important. To navigate this dilemma I set up a confidentiality agreement at the beginning of treatment in collaboration with teens and their parents. We define the teen’s rights to their privacy, and clearly explain how parents may be involved. Each family situation is unique, so these agreements are made to serve each family’s needs.
A Proactive Approach to Mental Health
One common misconception is that therapy is for 'sick' people. The current health care system leads us to believe that you must have diagnosable mental illness to receive therapy. I disagree with this approach.
Psychoanalytic therapy is as much for performance enhancement and personal development as it is for mental health treatment. People can grow and improve at any stage of life. One doesn't have to be 'sick' to want to change.
One of the primary ways our minds mature is from our responses to distress. Signs of mental and emotional distress can tell us a lot about our limitations, and point the way to improvement. Ultimately it is personal development that relieves most of life's dissatisfactions, including psychiatric symptoms.
