About
Therapy in two parts
Psychotherapy as we know it today started back in the late 1800s with Sigmund Freud. His approach involved what is known as the “talking cure.” Freud began to realize that the emotional and psychological symptoms of some of his patients were connected to their early experiences. Therefore, he encouraged them to talk about their early experiences: positive, negative, and neutral.
More importantly, Freud encouraged his patients to talk about their relationship with their significant caregivers: mothers, fathers, and others. These experiences were used to develop an understanding of the way the past was connected to the present, thus providing insight.
While the first half of this therapy paradigm involves using the past to inform the present in order to develop insight, the second half involves using the future to inform the present. This is about behavioral change, such as doing things differently to get different results.
Taken together these two halves make up the whole of what good therapy provides.
Gaining insight and making a change
Am I feeling happy? Sad? Angry? Frightened?
Experiences shape or mold us and inform us about how we came to be who we are in the present.
This is insight, which is the awareness of where we come from and how we came to be who we are. It’s an understanding of how we’ve been shaped by our life experiences and by our relationships.
Without insight, we would not be aware of how we feel or how to identify our emotions. However, insight alone rarely results in change.
Many of the questions we ask ourselves involve using the future to inform the present. Who do I want to be? What do I want my life to look like? What do I want my relationships to look like?
Developing a vision of the self that we want to become dictates behaviors that move us in those directions. At the same time, some behaviors and actions are incompatible with who we want to become and move us away from the direction we want go.
My Story
My experience in the mental health field started over 40 years ago as a new college graduate with a BA in psychology. Four years working in a psychiatric hospital convinced me that I wanted a career in the field. It became clear that this was a life mission.
Graduate school was followed by several more years working in both inpatient and outpatient settings. I’ve been in full-time private practice since 1989 and have been helpful to hundreds of clients.
Over this time, I’ve engaged in years of my own personal therapy and personal growth work. These personal and professional life experiences enable me to be of assistance to others in their work in overcoming the obstacles that keep them from living the lives they desire.
My passions
I’m very passionate about my work and deeply committed to helping clients achieve their goals, whether it’s eliminating anxiety or depression, improving their relationships, or maximizing their health and wellness.
Other passions include travel, listening to music and playing guitar, motorcycling, practicing and teaching yoga, and practicing and teaching meditation.
I also lead weekend retreats for men with the not-for-profit organization Victories for Men www.victoriesformen.org, which helps men get into their hearts and enrich their relationships with themselves and with the important people in their lives.
Happily married for 39 years, my wife and I have successfully raised two sons.