Psychodynamic Therapy

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.

Psychodynamic theory explains human behavior and personality by focusing on the interplay of unconscious mental forces, particularly early childhood experiences, that significantly influence our thoughts, feelings, and actions, often without our conscious awareness.

In psychodynamic therapy, I help you explore the underlying causes of your emotional struggles by delving into your unconscious mind. We'll uncover hidden patterns and unresolved conflicts from your past that influence your current behavior and feelings. Through this process, you’ll gain deeper self-awareness and understanding, allowing you to address the root of your issues. This approach fosters emotional growth, helping you develop healthier relationships and improve your overall well-being.

Psychodynamic therapy explores the patterns and cycles that have repeated in your life, including patterns of thoughts and feelings. Together, we work to understand these cycles that you may feel trapped by. With that understanding, a path to peace and freedom opens up through self-reflection and self-compassion.

Psychodynamic therapy involves facilitation a deeper understanding of one's emotions and behaviors. It increases a client’s self-awareness and grows their understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior. It allows clients to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms that arise from past experiences and explore how they are manifesting themselves in current events, relationships, and behaviors.

I was trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the University of Chicago. Psychodynamic therapy, combined with other approaches, such as energy therapy techniques can be very effective in treating a number of conditions. That said, I don't get stuck on one or two approaches. That would be like a medical doctor who only prescibes penicillin. A good therapist needs a lot of tools in his or her toolbox.

Some parts of ourselves are hidden from our own awareness and become apparent only in the ways we relate to others: the impact we have on them, how we engage them, what seems to come up again and again. Because of this, I use the relationship we build as a window into your world–and as an agent of change in your life. With greater awareness of the underlying habits, patterns, and motivations that direct our lives, the greater your agency, choice, and freedom.

My primary training modality while studying at Columbia University was in psychodynamic techniques.

I employ a somatic oriented, parts-work focused, psychodynamic style. We work with the body and its emotions to access the past, with an emphasis on how the past affects the present moment experience.

My psychodynamic approach is inspired by the works of Nancy McWilliams, John Bowlby, Peter Fonagy, and Otto Kernberg. I focus on uncovering unconscious patterns rooted in early experiences, attachment dynamics, and internalized conflicts. By bringing these to awareness, I help clients gain insight into their behaviors and relationships, fostering deeper self-understanding, emotional growth, and more authentic connections with others.

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in the client’s present behavior. These unconscious processes can often drive maladaptive behavior and psychodynamic therapy aims to help the person discover unconscious thoughts and motivators so that they can change their behaviors. In psychodynamic therapy, this is done by increasing a person’s self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior.

En route to licensure, I trained at psychodynamic-oriented Airport Marina Counseling Service. For more than a decade, I have received weekly mentorship from renown Los Angeles-area psychologist Dr. Gary Penn.

This looks like us exploring your past and present at a deeper level, taking into account your family and relationship history and seeing ways those early experiences impact your current life.

What happens between us as we relate is often a microcosm of the outside world. How important to understand this with clarity and compassion. My expertise here, again, is in the lifelong practice towards authentic relationally.