Psychodynamically-oriented therapist specializing in attachment, depression, gender, self-esteem, and spiritual and existential issues.
Clinical Social Worker in Needham Heights, MA
Supervised by Marcia Weissman LICSW
I serve a population of mostly adults, many of whom struggle with long-standing depression and questions of meaning.
My approach is mostly psychodynamic, meaning that I try to approach clients not as malfunctioning machines to be fixed, but as beings of deep complexity to be understood. I help my clients understand the origins of the patterns that cause them pain, with the goal of changing those patterns in ways that make sense to them.
I see depression as a painful symptom to be alleviated, but also as an important communication from our deepest selves: what is our depression trying to tell us? What is misaligned in our lives? How can we get in closer touch with our own sources of joy and meaning, without abolishing our experience of sadness?
I have worked with clients of various faiths -- Islam, Christianity, Judaism -- as well as those who don't identify with a particular tradition. For me, spirituality is often intertwined with ultimate questions of meaning, as well as a client's day-to-day experience of the world and themselves. My goal as a spiritually-oriented clinician is to help clients live a life that is aligned with the values they identify as central for themselves.
Although "codependency" is not an officially-recognized diagnosis, I find that the concept ties together a constellation of important, painful topics -- how we relate to others, the beliefs we hold about ourselves, our ability and inability to express our needs and feelings in appropriate ways, and how we handle the demands placed on us by others.
I find psychodynamic treatment to be a good approach for patients with long-standing or complex difficulties, patients whose difficulties with an existential or spiritual dimension, and patients with pervasive relationship challenges.
I find Internal Family Systems (IFS) to be a good way to access deep feeling and tie it to personal history. I also appreciate the mentality that "all parts are welcome" -- the goal is to understand where our reactions and feelings are coming from, not to dismiss or squash them.
