areas of focus

I see adolescents and adults who face many different challenges, including anxiety and depression, feeling disconnected from one’s self, disruptive anger, difficulties resting, obsessions and repetitive behaviors, prolonged sorrow, problems with attention, impediments at school or work, and low self-esteem. I also specialize in working with individuals who suffer from chronic pain and illness and separation anxiety during adolescence and adulthood.

Chronic Pain & Illness

The body and the mind have a beautiful and complex relationship. Sometimes psychological treatment for people experiencing bodily pain and illness, however, can wrongly leave them with the impression that physical symptoms are “all in their heads.” 

In contrast, my approach follows the research of neuroscientist AD Craig that recognizes pain and other bodily symptoms have integrity—a real basis in dysfunction in tissues and organs, whether medical causes are known or not. Such symptoms also have emotional valence; like emotions such as anger or sadness, bodily symptoms and pain are clues to underlying homeostatic needs. From this perspective, pain and bodily symptoms are vital aspects of whole-person harmony and regulation. 

The aim of psychotherapy is to render such physical symptoms clearly with words in a manner that is internally coherent, meaningful and useful and that enhances connection with others and the external world. This can help make life more livable even when symptoms are present, and it can also help to bring relief from pain and some physical symptoms over time. I also help people to develop skills for managing symptoms in the here and now and work in concert with other medical and body-work professionals to support holistic healing.

Separation Anxiety in Adolescents & Adults

In teenagers and adults, separation anxiety may at first be difficult to detect, but it can profoundly structure everyday life. It often appears as difficulties being alone and as sorrow or anger in the face of separation from a partner, parent, or other loved one. Because separation is a fact of life, relationships may thus be characterized by turbulence and strain. Separation anxiety may also manifest as a chronic sense of deprivation—an “always wanting more”—in relationships. That is, a sense that desire for connection is only flowing outward from oneself, and not inward from others. 

Psychotherapy for separation anxiety aims to uncover its origin, whether in childhood or later life, and to facilitate healing from recent or past relational traumas, as well as to help one build a stronger sense of self. This can increase one’s capacity to tolerate, and even enjoy, time alone. Solitude that was once painful becomes a wellspring for creativity and a source of vitality. Psychotherapy also helps one to make changes, as needed, to one’s interpersonal landscape to include relationships that are safer and more satisfying, mutual, and predictable.