Therapy Philosophy

Over the course of my 30-plus years in private practice as a psychologist, my universal treatment goals for my patients–regardless of their specific presenting problems and personal background–can be summed up as helping people to:

• Build more core self-worth
• Cut down on the ways you sabotage yourself (e.g., in “beating up” on yourself too much, in your self-defeating compulsive or addictive patterns, and/or in doing the things that can undermine the important relationships in your life);
• Build more courage, to face and do the things you may be reluctant or hesitant to do but need to make yourself do them anyway because it’s in your best interest to do so;
• Learn to forgive yourself for your self-defined “failures” and bad decisions; and
• Learn to give yourself permission to feel good about yourself (especially regarding your likable personal traits, as well as your accomplishments, little or big), and to believe you deserve to be happy and get what you want in your life.
• Learning to view coming for professional help not in stereotypical judgmental terms like a sign of “weakness” or “abnormality”, but rather, only as a statement on COURAGE, as well as making the commitment to build self-respect and self-worth through hard work on resolving your problems.
• Last but not least, address feelings of betrayal–my definition of betrayal is: “any significant feeling of letdown, by someone important to you, based on what you believed you had the right to believe they would never do to you.” Whether they consciously realize it or not, many people who seek professional help are dealing in part with feeling betrayed. Help is needed to deal especially with the deep hurt and anger that a significant betrayal can trigger.