Vuthy Ou (he/him)

Historical trauma, its transmission, and its manifestation across multiple generations were both an area of academic concentration and a personal interest, given my background as a child of people who experienced war and genocide. Many of the people I have work with have found that relief, more fulfilling relationships, and aliveness have coincided with an increasing ability to place their present-day problems against a backdrop of wider social and historic forces.

The stress of life transitions, both expected and unexpected, present an opportunity. They can make us aware of important and powerful forces that had been roiling underneath the surface for years. As painful as they can be, these times can catalyze transformations into a more authentic, fulfilling, and vital way of being in the world.

Depression, being one of the most common reasons people seek therapy, can look so many different ways. For example, depression can look like the confusing inability to accomplish important career or school tasks. For others, it can manifest as a sunken self-esteem and the desire to "hide" from the world, even from close friends and family. I take care to listen carefully and not assume any particular set of symptoms or causes in order to work with people effectively and respectfully.

Depression, being one of the most common reasons people seek therapy, can look so many different ways. For example, depression can look like the confusing inability to accomplish important career or school tasks. For others, it can manifest as a sunken self-esteem and the desire to "hide" from the world, even from close friends and family. I take care to listen carefully and not assume any particular set of symptoms or causes in order to work with people effectively and respectfully.

Instead of thinking of "mental health problems" as being located "inside" someone, I find it much more useful to think of experiences like depression, anxiety, and trauma as manifestations of the way people relate to the world, to other people, and to the various sides or parts of themselves. Perceiving and understanding these dynamics as they play out in real time between patient and clinician can be a powerfully experiential means of inducing change that goes beyond intellectual insight.

Compared to psychoanalytic psychotherapy, psychodynamic therapy tends to shorter term and focuses on specific areas or problems. That said, there is a great deal of overlap in both theory and practice between these two therapeutic orientations.

I work from a social and relational psychoanalytic perspective. I pay close attention to how past and present sociopolitical forces, family dynamics, and personal history shape the way we experience our lives and relate to ourselves, others, and the wider world. From this perspective, I function much less as an authority, but as a partner in trying to make sense of my patients' thoroughly unique experience.

I work with different kinds of depression. Some might describe it as characterized by shame, guilt, and harsh self-criticism. Others might use words like regret, isolation, and being misunderstood. Some folks - an emptiness, lack of joy, as if something critical was lost or missing. I work with people to help clarify the experience and causes of these experiences so that new, creative, and enlivening ways of being become more accessible.