Anxiety Treatment
If fear or worry is persistent enough, accompanied by associated symptoms, it can interfere with quality of life and involve significant distress, e.g. social phobia, panic, generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or obsessive-compulsive tendencies. I offer evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy strategies to help clients identify automatic thoughts and beliefs that are causing or derived from pain, ways to reframe a thought or assumption, and new behavioral practices like mindfulness, deep breathing and self-compassion. Through self-observation, understanding context or triggers, and practicing coping skills, anxiety can significantly improve. I also work with clients to examine losses and opportunities in any life transition. Support is fostered to process emotions and needs as well as find real-life solutions.
I may recommend a medication evaluation with a psychiatrist for possible combined treatment for anxiety or depression.
Depression Treatment
I treat a wide range of depressive symptoms. Depression may show up as a loss of interest in, or inability to enjoy, things you used to enjoy, or a down, low mood. Therapy does not eliminate natural feelings of sadness and sorrow. It alleviates the sense of being paralyzed by feeling down. Depression has a genetic and biological component, and it's also associated with stressful life events. Even when circumstances "explain a lot," interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) helps treat depression by normalizing feelings and facilitating awareness of needs and options in a particular situation. Both IPT and cognitive-behavioral strategies help to interrupt self-reproach and guide clients toward improved mood and making changes, no matter how small. It's never too late to receive help to experience relief and vitality.
Relationship Issues
The therapy that I provide hones in on details of communication with significant people in your life and helps you to notice the link between your mood and a particular interaction. The work includes clarifying (and possibly adjusting) your expectations and reflecting on your objectives and options in a situation, e.g. at work with your boss. I offer the tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) which involve naming and having compassion for one's needs and expanding on strategies to meet them. New communication is often tried between sessions, and what worked and didn't work reviewed together. With support and validation, aspects of the self are integrated, creating more ease and authenticity in relationships.
Some (not all) of the specific issues I work with include:​
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Adults in their 20's or 30's having conflicts with a parent or significant other
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Recurring patterns in friendships, romantic or workplace relationships
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Grief Counseling
Grief after someone close has died unfolds in unique ways, often involving waves of intense sadness. If you feel stuck or depressed, you may be struggling with common grief stumbling blocks, such as guilt or disbelief, or conflicts with a family member since the death. Naming strong feelings is often therapeutic, as is reviewing the course of your relationship. If the death of a loved one was sudden or involved the effects of a devastating illness, grief can have elements of reaction to a trauma. A common sign of traumatic or complicated grief is avoidance of certain reminders of the loved one. The therapy that I provide helps clients to recognize where grieving may have stalled and find ways to move through it. This counseling focuses on your aspirations at the same time, in order to restore balance with new possibilities and purpose.
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Adjustment to Life Changes
Do you have a sense of being between two or more different identities or realities? I work experientially with many clients in their 20's and 30's dealing with personal or career development issues. Even a positive change can be stressful. Societal factors, like climate change, violence, and world events are increasingly impacting mental health. Signs of stress may be numbness, feelings of isolation, alienation or overwhelm. I facilitate processing the grief or anger that may be tied to a recent event or a loss of expectations, and work with you on identifying needs and synthesizing emotions in order to generate new feelings, a sense of meaning, and new ways to adapt to your current situation.
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Some of the issues I work with include:
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Coping with a new medical diagnosis in oneself or a close family member
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Medical/graduate school or job stress
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Having a first or second child; perinatal stress
Therapy for Low Self-Esteem
We can all have self-doubt or lack confidence sometimes. If you're feeling like this regularly or all the time, therapy can help to understand the underlying factors that influence self-esteem and then offer strategies that best address those factors. Naming and challenging unhelpful thoughts and core beliefs is a cognitive-behavioral therapy technique that helps you to develop more balanced beliefs about yourself. Mindfulness practices include nonjudgmental awareness and self-talk that is kind to yourself. Psychodynamic therapy techniques explore how early life events influence current patterns of thought, emotion and behavior. Interpersonal therapy focuses on ways to assert yourself in relationships and, if you think you're not living up to your values, helps you to explore goals and move toward them.
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Contact
Office Location
160 East 89th Street
Suite #1B
New York, NY 10128