Psychoanalytic

With extensive post-graduate training in psychoanalysis, I specialize in deep, insight-driven therapy that goes beyond symptom management. Psychoanalysis is an investment in lasting transformation—helping you uncover unconscious patterns, heal at the root, and create real change. If you feel stuck despite past therapy, this approach offers the depth needed for true self-discovery and emotional freedom.

I integrate psychoanalytic principles to explore how unconscious processes, early experiences, and relational patterns shape current thoughts and behaviors. By fostering deep self-awareness, I help clients uncover underlying conflicts, emotional patterns, and core beliefs that influence their psychological well-being. My approach facilitates meaningful personal growth, improved relationships, and long-term emotional resilience.

I am trained in Freudian drive theory and psychosexual development, ego psychology, object-relational theory, and relational theory.

I call myself a psychoanalytic therapist because this kind of therapy draws on the entire lineage of psychology theory but has well adapted to the issues and concerns of our times. Contemporary psychoanalytic scholars and clinicians are actively engaged with issues of race, gender, social and political inequality, and substance use. This approach is less focused on quick-fixes and more focused on lasting change and overall wellbeing. However, solutions arise naturally in the process.

I completed a 5-year post-graduate program in psychoanalysis at Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and awaiting licensure as a psychoanalyst.

Under this umbrella falls many theories and approaches such as : object relations and modern psychoanalysis. Object relations is in a nutshell you relate to others including partners how your caregiver related to you. We all strive for perfection but it is really about being "good enough". Modern psychoanalysis is focusing on protecting from self attacks and self-sabotage. (cue Bestie Boys music). The therapist job is to have the client "say everything."

I worked at Valley Community Counseling Clinic, which provided extensive clinical guidance in classical and contemporary psychoanalytic theory and therapy techniques. At the Los Angeles Institute and Society of Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS) I completed the Altered States of Body and Mind program, examining eating disorders, addictions and compulsions through a contemporary psychoanalytic lens.

Modern psychoanalysts recognize the individuality of each person. We aim to understand the unconscious forces that may interfere with living fulfilling lives. By creating a non-judgmental space, the analyst helps people talk about feelings, thoughts and fantasies they may not have known they had. By accepting all these thoughts and feelings as valuable information, the analyst helps people learn to tolerate painful feelings and accept the disturbing and sometimes intriguing parts of themselves.

We approach therapy through a contemporary psychoanalytic lens to understand what is being communicated through one's behaviors and understand how past experiences are influencing current relationships. As we form our relationships we have found that individuals develop deeper insight, aiding with a deeper understanding of themselves, and experiencing more lasting and sustainable relief.

I am trained in psychodynamic (also called psychoanalytic) approaches, which focus on deep listening to help you understand what is really going on behind your symptoms. Psychoanalytic therapy is one of the longest-enduring forms of therapy and its effectiveness has been empirically verified.

I have four years of focused training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy through the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. In fall 2021, I was selected to train with the Palo Alto Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program (PAPPTP) Two-Year Program at the Stanford University Psychiatry Building. In this certificate program, I underwent two years of weekly consultations with psychoanalysts, Drs. Schneider and Birkhofer. I completed training with the PAPPTP- Fellowship Year in 2024.

I am a psychodynamic psychotherapist and a Clinical Fellow of the Neuropsychoanalysis Association.

I work psychoanalytically with patients in order to more deeply explore and understand their internal world. Together we can create language for hidden, blocked, 'unthinkable' thoughts; name and reflect on unconscious conflicts; work through dreams; and build resilience.

Psychoanalysis gives us the chance to assess and process through the events in our lives the shape the way we look at the world, specifically events that have happened during our childhood and adolescent years. It takes time to unravel the yarn, but as we peel away the layers, we begin to get a better understanding of how strengths, our weaknesses and our defense mechanisms. Doing this provides the opportunity to change the way we show up and will have immediate effects on our personal lives.

My training is grounded in relational psychodynamic therapy, an integrative approach that emphasizes the therapeutic relationship as the foundation for meaningful change. By exploring past and present relational patterns, we create a space for deeper self-awareness, healing, and growth.

Psychoanalysis gives us the chance to assess and process through the events in our lives the shape the way we look at the world, specifically events that have happened during our childhood and adolescent years. It takes time to unravel the yarn, but as we peel away the layers, we begin to get a better understanding of how strengths, our weaknesses and our defense mechanisms. Doing this provides the opportunity to change the way we show up and will have immediate effects on our personal lives.