Psychoanalytic Therapists in Berkeley, CA

You are hurting, or anxious, are considering psychotherapy and whether to trust me to facilitate your healing. My experience with adults, couples and children will support your inner journey and that of loved ones. We will create space for you to contemplate internal, external and relationship challenges. Through an attuned therapeutic relationship, I will help you address internal challenges - depression, anxiety and trauma. Empathically, I help you face external challenges - discrimination, immigration and life transitions. I also support you in navigating relationships, in which your internal worlds connect with those of others.

I've been in practice for over 25 years, helping people who are struggling with depression, anxiety, relationship issues, and a range of other difficulties. I work from an integrative psychoanalytic perspective. This means that we work together to understand in a deep way the painful patterns that hold you back and where efforts to shield yourself from pain create more problems. We attend to your thoughts and feelings in the moment, which is in many ways like a mindfulness practice, aimed at enlarging acceptance of the known and as yet unknown parts of yourself.

I have been in private practice as a psychotherapist in Berkeley since 1994. I work with adults and teens individually and also with couples and groups, on recovering from relationship and betrayal trauma. This trauma may manifest as recurring intrusive reminders of overwhelming and unresolved past experiences and as emotional / somatic distress in your present life. Or it may result from inadequate nurture and protection in childhood (attachment trauma). Often, both contribute to the desire for relief and a better life beyond trauma. Individualized trauma therapy addresses the need for a new relationship with this

Creativity can be foundational to positive and longstanding change. We come into the world with an innate skill to solve the many problems that arise during development. Sometimes these solutions bring up new challenges or get in the way of our relationships and our ability to enjoy life. I work with children, adults, elders, and couples who are struggling to adapt to a stressful world. By developing a trusting relationship where exploration is welcomed and analyzed, we are able to find new ways of functioning, new solutions to our interpersonal conflicts, and improve our ability to flexibly adapt to our changing world.

I believe that insecure relationships (of many forms!) are the root of most suffering. As a result, my work is focused on those who wish to improve their relational lives. This includes single people who aspire to having a romantic relationship, but who seem to encounter difficulties in securing one; those who are already in a romantic relationship, but are facing challenges; people contending with struggles with friends or family; or people who aren't so sure about how they relate to, well, themselves. I also work with those who aren't even necessarily sure what has them down or anxious, but who hope to learn and to get unstuck!

You may be suffering from inexplicable sadness or anxiety, or problems focusing. You might feel blocked in achieving your creative or work goals and want to figure out what is getting in your way. You might be having health problems and need help sorting out how what is truly out of your control or what might be stress related. I have specialized training in psychodynamic psychotherapy which allows me to listen with special attention to unconscious processes. I am also a graduate of the Psychoanalytic Couples Psychotherapy Group and help many couples navigate difficult patches in their relationships.

My work is informed by years of practice and research in evidence-based methods and interventions aimed at helping people change. I create strong collaborative relationships with a goal of helping to improve personal and interpersonal effectiveness, and to bringing about one's best, most authentic self. By working on problematic relationship patterns, changing patterns of thought and behavior, and by learning to become more flexible and integrated, my aim is to increase my patients' overall effectiveness and help them lead happier, more fulfilling lives. I expect changes made in therapy will lead to systemic improvements in my patients' lives.

I believe that as human beings, we are hard-wired with the need to get our emotional experience into the mind of a trusted other. My work as a psychotherapist is to find emotional resonance with my clients' life experiences, deriving both from their family of origin and from present-day situations and relationships. Whether a client is depressed, anxious, struggling with relationship problems, trying to overcome traumatic experiences, or trying to find their own unique, personal voice in a complex world, talking in psychotherapy can help to expand your capacity for growth and happiness.

I am a bilingual, bicultural (English and Spanish-speaking) psychologist who provides psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to young adults and adults. I support patients in fostering resilience and in building more meaningful, connected relationships.

Whether or not they say it, most of the people that I see want to live a life that is worth living. They want to feel empowered-- to be active participants in their lives. You may feel a void, emptiness, and that something is missing. Often people feel stuck in their lives because they have lost connection with a vital part of themselves and with their hopes and desires. This vitality is the source of our imagination and creativity. This internal source and "knowing" of what we need and want becomes disconnected, covered over by past disappointments, losses and fears.

CURRENT OPENINGS Hello! I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who utilizes an integrative and collaborative approach to create a strong alliance with each individual. I provide a holding space that fosters healing through self-awareness and building insight. My style is respectful, compassionate, and direct. I have extensive experience with goal-oriented approaches, as well as a deep understanding for how social and cultural contexts impact our lives. In addition, my work is influenced by psychoanalytic theory and attachment theory, and is informed by an awareness of trauma, including complex and inter-generational trauma.

Sometimes it seems life asks us to bear the unbearable. A heartbreaking loss, difficult transition, illness of yourself or loved one, the lack of anything that might make your life meaningful and pleasurable—these are some of the issues I respond to and can help with. If you’re suffering or your life lacks purpose look at my website and, if you feel a connection, please reach out. I work from a generous and flexible sliding scale and am committed to providing accessible treatment. Whatever you’re facing, you don’t have to do this alone. Psychoanalytic therapy, especially as practiced by Lacanian analysts, can be transformative.

I work collaboratively with clients to find a unique and personal path through the difficulties they are seeking help with and in their efforts to live fully. This involves creating a space where you feel recognized, understood, and safe enough to explore the depths and complexity of your emotional experiences as well as the forces (internal and external to you) impacting the areas of life most concerning to you now.

I consider it a privilege to work with you to explore aspects of your life experience which have diminished your satisfaction with life or otherwise left you feeling lost or alone. Challenges around loss, aging, illness, trauma or relationships can feel too frightening to tackle alone. As a seasoned and compassionate psychotherapist, I can help you bear and work with what may feel unbearable. Together, we will create a protected space that fosters the trust, aliveness and self-expression that are essential to growth and success in love and work, where you can ultimately reclaim your life and joie-de-vivre.

I believe that the most effective route to change and healing is through self awareness, I strive to work towards that end in all the therapy I do, both with couples and with individuals. I have found that there is no more powerful tool for breaking old patterns and affecting real change than self knowledge. With people who are curious and willing to look inward, I can help them do deep work and find out who they are and why they do the things they do..

I work with adults, adolescents, children and couples / families. If you are anxious, depressed, or lonely; in a troubled relationship, grieving, haunted by childhood trauma, or painful, confusing feelings; it can be hard to make headway alone. There are times when the reason for coming to therapy is clear (a loss, a crisis), other times a feeling that something is holding you back, or keeping you from your self.

I believe patients come to us because they feel grief, anxiety, depression and traumatized or alienated from themselves and others. The suffering you experience comes in many forms and you do not always have the words to say what you feel. I specialize in working with adults and adolescents whom have experienced trauma, depression, anxiety, creative blocks, ADHD, chronic somatic pains and/or are experiencing grief and loss. I also work with couples and families. I have a specialization in expressive arts therapy and sandtray for those who may have difficulty expressing their feelings, memories and experiences through verbal means.

You have been struggling and know that something isn't quite right. Though you may have been professionally or personally successful, inside you feel unhappy, stressed or dissatisfied. With over 30 years of experience, I have the expertise to help you understand and resolve the difficulties that may be standing in the way of leading a more rewarding life or having more satisfying relationships. I can help you with creative/professional blocks, health/body issues, resolving trauma and life transitions, like: separation/divorce, career change, relocation, deciding whether or not to have children, or adjusting to an empty nest.

I work with adults, couples, and adolescents. My work is grounded in contemporary and relational psychoanalytic theory, with particular attention paid to multicultural context. My psychotherapy practice serves people who feel blocked by certain behaviors or patterns of relating with people, who seek to improve individual well-being and personal relationships, and/or who have experienced trauma within their families or elsewhere, including survivors of war or other conflict. I also work directly with elders and adults with mental health and chronic health conditions, and with caregivers of family/community members.