Dr. Therese, Psy.D., is a highly experienced psychoanalytic psychologist who offers exploratory psychotherapy to teens, adults and couples who feel depressed, defeated, anxious, angry, confused, conflicted, suffer from obsessive-compulsive or self-sabotaging behaviors or have struggles in their relational lives. It is not uncommon for moments or periods in one's life to not understand ourselves, who we are, what we desire, and to not know what the "fix" is.
It is only human to need another, and when we wish to end needless suffering, it is wise to seek a psychologist, a tour guide of sorts, who will be responsive to our need.
The formal education of a psychoanalytic psychologist requires that they themselves have been patients empowered by becoming aware of their own complicated and contradictory fully-human selves. The formal education of a psychoanalytic psychologist also demands mastery of theories of human development, an ability to differentiate between the types and causes of depression and anxiety, and an ability to decode the meanings of symptoms, feelings or dreams (eg. panic attacks have their roots in separation anxiety or anxious attachments.)
With warmth, wisdom, humility, a sense of humor and refreshing honesty, Dr. Therese works collaboratively with those who desire a life more consistent with their goals. She has successfully worked with those who have been disappointed in their previous treatment with other therapists.
Following an initial appointment, Dr. Therese will offer explanations and thoughts that may offer clarity. There are always environmental, relational, socio-cultural, technological and temperamental variables that likely explain psychological states or, as St. Augustine described, "disordered" lives. Exhaustive evidence now rules out reductionistic "biochemical imbalances" as a cause or a cure.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is the type of therapy medical doctors, psychologists and therapists seek out when they need greater awareness and control of their own emotional lives. Feel free to contact Dr. Therese if you have questions that can be addressed in a brief telephone consultation.
There is nothing automatic about access to one’s interior life. Really knowing one’s self or really knowing another demands time and thinking that must be disciplined and practiced. We often, very often, think we ”know,” but the reality can be that we are “unknowing!” Dr. Therese thinks with you and thereby helps train you to think in a more deliberate, intentional, or expanded way about yourself or others and to more accurately assess how one should proceed. The ability to accurately process feelings, experiences or beliefs in the present may be colored by narratives developed or experiences we had while we were younger. Said beliefs are often automatic and may pose a threat to one’s ability to accurately assess and strategize about how our most evolved or healthy self wishes to conduct our emotional and relational lives in the present.
