2 therapists in California matching your needs

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.

If someone asked you not to think for 10 minutes how hard would that be? Is overthinking about the “What Ifs” driving you to relentlessly check things over and over again? Are you determined to find certainty in an uncertain world? Do you frequently ask others repeatedly if something or someone is going to be OK? No matter how much you do a task or say a particular thing does peace of mind elude you? Does the compulsion to handwash, re-read, double check, pray, or re-arrange items never provide lasting relief? Do you find yourself burdened by intrusive thoughts that strike against your will and preoccupy your mind for hours a day? OCD is characterized by unabating obsessions matched with intense mental or behavioral rituals to relieve the anxiety provoked. It is not treated by “talk therapy” but with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). Through customized gradual exposures, ERP is an evidence-based method of intervention to reduce the severity of OCD symptoms. ERP is a collaborative and creative approach to learning new skills and strategies to become comfortable with uncertainty and more confident in your ability to handle life’s unexpected challenges. My style is compassionate, client centered, and culturally sensitive. What to do if you’re nervous about sharing your thoughts with me in therapy? If you're too embarrassed to share something, you can write it down, you can use visuals, you can type it. We can work around this to find other ways that you can deliver the communication. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Virginia. Registered Out-of-State Telehealth Provider in Florida, South Carolina, and Vermont. My treatment focus is on neurodivergent issues, gifted learners, managing life transitions, women’s mental health issues around shifting roles in family and career, and immigration/re-entry adjustment stressors.