Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is focused on exploring how your past has impacted your present and future.

I have a strong background in psychodynamic approaches including psychological research in attachment theories. In my current practice, I recognize that we all have a past that may influence how we interact in the world today. Through therapy, clients can gain insight into how unaddressed past pains may be affecting their current quality of life and important relationships.

Using a psychodynamic approach in therapy, I will listen for how your developmental experiences inform the person you are today. We'll explore how this insight can make way for behavioral change, as well as how we can acknowledge your inherent strengths and gifts.

During situations of extreme stress, our mind creates beliefs and patterns that then impact how we behave moving forward. Psychodynamic therapy helps us identify and unpack those beliefs and file them in our brains in healthy ways.

Psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, and attachment-oriented therapy are all different words for essentially the same thing. This kind of therapy is a depth-oriented therapy in which we follow the "red thread" of emotion to learn about who you are. We explore your past AND your present. We are curious about what you may be avoiding or hiding from yourself. We focus on your relational world, including the relationship between the two of us. We take a deep dive into your inner life.

Through over two decades of practicing psychotherapy, I have found that the pain we carry with us from childhood profoundly impacts the rest of our lives unless we take stock and actively process the past so that it doesn't continue to weigh us down. Everyone has "baggage." I help my clients access their inner strength (coming to therapy is a huge strength) to face their pain, work through it, and free themselves to live a life of self-kindness.

While exploring current stressors and worries, I will invite you to go deeper and seek to better understand how past experiences are shaping current concerns, explore patterns that keep repeating, and work to better understand your own inner experiences and how they are continuing to shape your experience within the world. By better understanding our roles within our life, many people start to feel less stuck, and more in control.

Psychodynamic therapy emphasizes understanding and expressing feelings that you may not be consciously aware of in order to improve your relationships and experience of the world. Common themes in psychodynamic therapy sessions include exploring your childhood experiences and attachment style, unpacking self-esteem issues, understanding how you function in relationships with others, and identifying the ways in which you defend yourself against uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

Most of my formative academic training was grounded in the principles of psychodynamic therapy which pays attention to processes as they impact current day behaviors. I use the treatment orientation in daily practice to help provide a holistic approach to the helping process.

Why is it so hard to feel good in our daily lives, even when nothing particularly bad is happening to us? Why do some situations fill us with dread? Why are we so hard on ourselves? Psychodynamic therapy is an unparalleled evidence-based treatment that helps us explore where our painful thoughts and feelings are coming from. It supports us to look at things we have been taught to avoid that are making us feel unwell. It leads to freedom.

There is no resolution without understanding the "why" below the surface. This approach is part of a combination of therapeutic interventions that ensure that we examine the root of your systems to make a path forward. Our therapy sessions together will unearth and discuss deep seeded issues that may plague you daily. We can make a plan for improvement together and learn better techniques and ways of coping. Struggling for a long time doesn't mean that you can't find a way forward.

Understanding of attachment theory and how ingrained trauma from the past effects us in the present.

As a psychodynamic therapist, my primary focus is to help gain insight into emotional and relational patterns that lay as the foundation of mental health, rather than treating individual symptoms. I act as a guide to explore unconscious processes and the influence that past experiences have on current ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

I have received training and supervision in psychodynamic approaches. I enjoy working with clients to get to the root of certain problems and recurring issues by identifying certain formative relationships, experiences, and beliefs where certain narratives and emotions originated and working to cultivate new ways or relating to those things.

Working with unconscious themes, looking at relational patterns

My primary orientation and lens through which I conceptualize cases is psychodynamic. I took advanced Object Relations courses in my Master's program, was a teacher's assistant to guide beginning students learning psychodynamic skills, and have participated in a weekly psychodynamic consultation group since 2017. I utilized psychodynamic approaches with success throughout my training. I have done extensive reading on the power of psychodynamic work.

This form of therapy encourages clients to gain insight into their feelings, thoughts, and relationships by examining unresolved conflicts and emotional struggles. It can help clients uncover hidden motivations and patterns that influence their lives.

Psychodynamic therapy allows clients to gain necessary self-awareness towards understanding how earlier experiences influence present behaviors. By implementing this therapeutic practice, I help clients make peace with and heal from their pasts while facilitating growth in the present.