3 therapists in California matching your needs

I am Dr. William A. Lambos. I am dedicated to providing quality care that emphasizes treating you as a whole person. In my treatment model, medication is a last resort and utilized only after other options have been fully explored. My approach differs in that I recognize the role of the brain in mental health. I recognize that problems in one area of a client's life impact other areas, and so my philosophy is designed to integrate all aspects of functioning. I am committed to helping you achieve balance and harmony in every area of your life by reducing stress and teaching independent self-regulation. What makes me different is that my approach "Leads with The Brain," and finishes with how you achieve balance and self-awareness. Many behavioral health issues have brain-based components that are usually ignored. Once these are identified and handled, therapy can do its job as it was always meant to work. In today's hectic, busy world, the keys to a peaceful and prosperous existence include the ability to manage stress caused by demands on our time and energy. Our unique selection of resources combine effective traditional approaches with innovative methods of treating the brain and body.

I am a licensed marriage and family therapist with over 23 years of clinical experience. I also have my Ph.D. in International psychology with Organization and Systems specialty. Throughout my career, I have worked with individuals, families, couples, children, and adolescents from diverse multicultural, socioeconomic, and international backgrounds. I have the expertise and a passion for diversity and global and cross-cultural issues. My specialties include working with immigrants and refugees and addressing acculturation, adjustment, and traumatic experiences. I also specialize in working with military service members and their family members, humanitarians, and ex-pats. My other areas of interest, skills, knowledge, and competence include assisting individuals, families, and couples to cope with racism and microaggressions. I assist individuals with mood disorders, anxiety, relational issues, substance abuse and addictions, and post-traumatic stress disorder, amongst others. I believe in each individual's strength and resilience and in helping to promote resiliency to facilitate healing and growth. I believe in working collaboratively with individuals, couples, and families to identify meaningful goals and services. I incorporate cultural factors and life experiences that shape everyone. I also try to include a holistic perspective on health and address underlying relational and familial issues that impact clients. I am trained in Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET), and Family Systems, and use mindfulness and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) interventions. Other modalities I use include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Brief Therapy, and Solution Focused Therapy. In addition to traditional therapy modalities, other key frameworks that inform my therapeutic approach and beliefs include Trauma Informed Care, Critical Psychology, Global Psychology, and Liberation Psychology.

Areas of Expertise: PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Psychosomatic Disorders, Addiction, Relational Issues, Stress Management, Family Issues, Couple's Issues, Personal Growth, East/West Psychotherapy, Eating Disorders, Bipolar Disorders and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. 7 years ago I created Psychosomatic Psychotherapy, a novel and highly effective treatment that integrates mind, body and emotion. This method targets blocked emotion and inflammation. Most Western therapies are essentially mind-oriented, but we are so much more than our thoughts. My approach includes elements of Emotion Focused Therapy, Short Term Psychodynamic Therapy, Somatic Therapy and Zen Buddhism. Psychosomatic Psychotherapy treats all mental health conditions, many chronic medical conditions and is quickly effective at helping people and their problems. We begin by telling our story. We go at a slower pace than usual and we pay special attention to the emotionally important parts of the story, e.g., talking to our mother, worrying about work, conflict in a relationship, etc. Here we pause and direct our attention to our abdomen and ask, “How do/did I feel about this or that or him or her?” Then we wait. We don’t rush to answer the question with our heads, we wait for an answer to slowly arise from our bodies. We are bypassing our intellectual defenses and asking our bodies what’s really going on. When discover our feelings we express them in a full-throated and wholehearted way! Then we just feel (not analyze!) that feeling in our bodies until the feeling dissolves or almost completely dissolves, usually within a few minutes. Last, we scan our bodies for any lingering areas of tightness or tension in places like the stomach, chest, throat, head, jaw, neck, or face. When we discover where we’re holding stress and somaticized emotions, we feel these areas until the tension/tightness/emotion dissolves, usually within a few minutes. Developing a greater capacity to feel also provides critical and deeper insight into our issues. The overall goal is to unblock emotions and reduce dangerous inflammation by metabolizing and processing emotions and somatic constrictions in the body. Along the way, we are also challenging old, disempowering stories and replacing them with more accurate, empowering narratives. When treatment integrates the cognitive, emotional, and somatic dimensions of our conditions, mental and physical symptoms are significantly reduced.