How does therapy begin?

Consultation is used initially prior to deciding on whether my practice is a good fit for your needs, or whether another modality would be more helpful to you. Consultations may also be used to decide collaboratively what frequency of psychotherapy and what duration would be most beneficial. 

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Where are psychotherapy sessions held?

Sessions are held either through teletherapy or in-person  at my office in Midtown Manhattan or in east Williamsburg (Brooklyn). 

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How long is the duration of psychotherapy treatment?

Psychotherapy can be short- and long-term. Short-term treatment offers benefits when seeking help with a specific issue or problem-solving. However, most individuals who come to therapy for problem solving discover deeper layers of unresolved issues that they choose to work on in long-term treatment. 

Long-term psychotherapy may extend over a period of time, in many cases several years, depending on the client’s goals and circumstances. 

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How long is the duration of each session?

Individual (adult and child) sessions are 45-60 minutes

Family and Couple sessions are 60-90 minutes

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How does psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy differ from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?

Psychoanalytic or psychodynamic therapy is an open-ended form of talk therapy. Emotional conflicts stemming from current and early experiences that are not in our conscious awareness or only partly in our awareness lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression and other forms of distress. Psychoanalytic theory deals with our conscious and unconscious desires: forces propelling our feelings (emotional and physical) and behaviors (actions). Negative feelings and behaviors that once worked as defensive or adaptive strategies may no longer work and instead cause more distress (symptoms). For example, when an event such as a loss or a rejection is experienced early on, the individual may feel shock or trauma with little understanding of what this event means in the scheme of their life. A defense or adaptive strategy is a way to help the individual cope so as to incorporate the experience, make meaning of it.  The defense also functions to protect from similar future experiences so that they are not experienced as threatening. The meaning or interpretations of these traumas may be maladaptive, and talk therapy provides space for re-interpretation and relief from the related symptoms.

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CBT is structured and uses homework or action plans. The notion of negative automatic thoughts or cognitive distortions and core beliefs are central to CBT therapy. Core beliefs are formed by early experiences and more crystalized forms of thought that drive negative automatic thoughts (thought distortions).  CBT is a directive manualized form of psychotherapy in contrast to the open-ended form of psychodynamic psychotherapy. 

 

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