What usually brings someone into your practice?
I work with people who face personal and professional roadblocks in their lives. These obstacles may be relationships, symptoms such as depression or anxiety, a difficult loss, a traumatic childhood, discontent with mid-life, or any issue that calls for a renewed search for meaning.
Do you offer phone consults?
We can begin our relationship by scheduling a 15-minute phone consultation so that we have some time to talk together and determine whether my practice is a good fit for you. This preliminary time will provide you with an opportunity to ask questions and tell me about your concerns. It is free of charge, and, if you wish, can be followed by scheduling your first session.
What should I expect from the initial session?
Your first session will allow us the opportunity to explore in detail your reasons for seeking therapy, your goals and any questions that may have occurred to you since our initial phone conversation. This will also be a time to gather more information that will help me better understand you and your current life situation.
Are sessions confidential?
Confidentiality is a critical ingredient in achieving a sense of mutual trust in a therapeutic relationship. Strict confidentiality between therapist and client changes only when it is determined that someone’s personal safety is at risk.
How are psychotherapy and psychoanalysis different?
People are often confused by the differences among these types of therapy. I have training in both areas. I am currently pursuing Certification to become a Jungian Analyst at the C.G. Jung Study Center of Southern California.
Psychotherapy is an approach that often probes more deeply into the history and causes of a problem. In psychotherapy, specific symptoms such as depression, anxiety or obsessive behaviors are addressed.
Psychoanalysis or analysis (these terms are often used interchangeably) is a longer-term process that provides time to heal, change and grow. The end result is that we get to know ourselves more fully and often develop a deeper acceptance of ourselves. While this approach may seem to run counter to the “quick-fix” mindset of today’s fast-paced world, taking time for this work can lead to a sense of satisfaction and meaning in uncovering unknown aspects of our personalities. Psychoanalysis and analysis have evolved respectively out of the work of Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung.
What payments do you accept?
Most of my clients pay privately and then seek insurance reimbursement. It is my goal to do what I can to assist you in this process. I provide you with the billing documentation and receipts that insurance companies typically require to reimburse you for your out-of-pocket expenses for therapy. Specific information about your coverage is described under the mental health out-of-network section in your health plan information.
I support these educational websites:
Theses are links you may find interesting:
- The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism
- Encyclopedia Mythica
- Sur LaLune Fairytales
- Psychoanalytic blog
- The Way of the Dream – Video 1
These sites contain information concerning specific issues:
- Relationships: Four Negative Patterns that Predict Divorce
- Depression Center
- Depression from a Jungian Point of View
Who is Carl Jung?
Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist. His interest in the inner world of the psyche began at an early age, and when he chose a career in medicine he specialized in psychiatry. He began his work at the famed Burgholzi Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich, revolutionary in its day for its approach to the treatment of mental illnesses.
Jung went on to study in Paris with the illustrious Pierre Janet, whose work on dissociation would later influence the development of Jung’s theory of complexes. Jung thought of complexes as splinter psyches in that they often seemed to have a life and energy of their own, functioning outside the intention of the ego.
Jung and Freud: Jung’s friendship with Sigmund Freud, beginning in 1906, began a mutual exploration of the unconscious and its significance in life. Freud named his method psychoanalysis, and in order to distinguish his method from Freud’s, Jung called his analytical psychology. Their views began to diverge, eventually causing a rift that became permanent in 1914. Jung’s split from Freud led to a personal crisis and period of great introversion that Jung came to call his “confrontation with the unconscious.”
Confrontation with the unconscious: Jung chronicled this period in the recently published “Red Book,” a large illustrated volume created between 1914 and 1930. During these years, he developed the concept of active imagination, a method of actively engaging with images from the unconscious in a non-judgmental dialogue. Jung’s confrontation with his own unconscious set the foundation for a lifetime of work that included a study of myth, world religions, cultures and fairy tales.
Key Jungian concepts: The influence of Jung’s work reaches far beyond the domain of psychology into mainstream society. In addition to complexes (core patterns of unconscious emotions, memories, perceptions and wishes relating to a common theme), his best known concepts include archetypes (universal patterns of behavior), the psyche (the center of conscious and unconscious thought and emotion in every person), the collective unconscious (the inherited layer of the psyche), individuation (the ongoing process that moves us towards wholeness), the Self (a center and centering aspect of the psyche), the persona (the mask that allows us to adapt to society), the shadow (the disowned aspects of the psyche) and many others.
“The psyche is the starting point of all human experience, and all the knowledge we have gained eventually leads back to it.” — Carl Jung