Sean Breidenthal
Over the past 16 years, I've worked in clinical and educational settings. My approach is draws primarily on psychodynamic and somatic modalities and is informed by current neuroscience research on emotion, memory, and attachment. I tailor my approach to what each client needs.
Much of what troubles us are patterns that once made sense — ways of coping or protecting ourselves that developed for good reason, often early in life — that now run automatically, but don't meet our needs.
I seek to help clients explore their lives with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment.
First session
In our first session, I'll focus on understanding your concerns and goals, and answering any questions you have about how I work. Beyond that first meeting, therapy with me involves listening and speaking a bit differently than you might expect — developing comfort with tracking present moment experience, rather than repeating what you already know about your situation in familiar terms. Change is more likely to come from speaking from within the emotional experience, rather than from analyzing a problem from the outside.
Strengths
My focus is on building present-moment awareness of beliefs, emotions, and bodily sensations. Much of what troubles us are patterns that once made sense — ways of coping or protecting ourselves that developed for good reason, often early in life — that now run automatically, but don't meet our needs. Rather than "fixing" a problem or giving advice, my work aims to help clients recognize these patterns as they arise and, over time, build new, more satisfying ways of responding.
Ideal clients
I work best with people who are ready to look at the patterns that have kept them stuck with both compassion and honesty — and who are curious about what it might feel like to try a different approach. One thing worth noting: my somatic and psychodynamic approach asks clients to engage in a different kind of communication than discussion, intellectualization, or venting. The goal isn't just to talk about problems, but to work with implicit beliefs and bodily sensation, follow associations and memories, and notice how automatic emotional patterns show up in the present.
Origin story
I came to this work partly through navigating difficult experiences in my own life. I've always been interested in how the mind works, and have come to understand that the mind and body are deeply connected— which is why I take the approach I do. I enjoy the practice of noticing patterns, staying curious, and being a steady, supportive presence for people doing that work in their own lives.
Ongoing work together
Ongoing work together tends to deepen as we bring unconscious patterns to light. You'll notice progress less as "solving" a problem and more as small, concrete shifts: catching an old reaction before it fully takes over, feeling more settled in your body during moments that used to overwhelm you, or noticing a pattern in real time that you used to only see in hindsight. Over time, many clients describe feeling steadier, more able to stay present with difficult emotions instead of shutting down or getting swept up in them, and more genuinely connected — to themselves and to the people in their lives.
Treatment methods
Psychodynamic
My training is rooted in psychodynamic theory. I'm particularly influenced by Mark Solms' neuropsychoanalytic approach, which holds that psychological distress often stems from outdated "action plans" — automatic patterns formed in childhood to meet emotional needs that went unmet at the time. Because these patterns operate largely outside conscious awareness, therapy focuses on bringing them into the room as they happen — through free association, somatic tracking, and enactments in daily life — so the client can gradually build, test, and find more satisfying ways of meeting those needs.
Somatic
I am certified in Level 1 training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), a framework well-suited to trauma and attachment work. SP challenges purely "top-down," talk-based approaches to symptoms by reintegrating the lived experience of the body. Present-moment sensation in the body often becomes a way of reaching memories and emotions that are otherwise hard to access directly. Additionally, I have found the process of memory reconsolidation via Coherence Therapy to be very effective for my clients. This experiential approach utilizes somatic awareness, but focuses more on developing awareness of implicit beliefs about self and the world.
Location
Virtual sessions
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Licensed in
- CaliforniaLicense 72984