Individual Psychotherapy In-Person and Online
“You do not have to be fearless. Doing it afraid is just as brave.”
Morgan Harper Nichols
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt – it can substantially impact many areas of life, such as work, relationships, self-identity, and your connection with your body. I believe that your pain is real and that it can get better. I have experience working with individuals with a variety of chronic pain conditions, such as chronic pelvic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and more.
Using evidence-based therapy techniques, we will identify and address root cognitive, behavioral, and emotional factors contributing to or causing your pain to improve your quality of life. In addition to individual therapy, I also offer an 8-week group chronic pain therapy program,
Anxiety and Panic
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health condition in the U.S. Anxiety can happen in our minds – “overthinking,” trying to plan for the worst-case scenario, imagining all the things that could go wrong, assuming others are thinking the worst about you – and it can also be very physical. People who struggle with panic attacks, for example, experience symptoms such as heart racing, chest pain/tightness, dizziness, or shortness of breath.
The good news is that anxiety and panic are highly treatable conditions, which means you can learn skills that substantially reduce your anxiety and improve your quality of life. In addition to individual therapy for anxiety, I also offer therapy intensives for a variety of anxiety-related conditions.
Health Anxiety
If you find yourself constantly Googling symptoms, repeatedly checking your body for signs of illness, or avoiding any reminders of illness (hospitals, doctors, etc.) – you may have health anxiety. Health anxiety can be incredibly impairing and can catch you in a cycle of fear and reassurance-seeking that keeps you from living a full life. It’s hard and sometimes scary work, but we can interrupt that cycle by changing the way you think about physical sensations, learning skills for focusing attention, and facing feared situations.
Women’s Reproductive and Sexual Health
If you find yourself constantly Googling symptoms, repeatedly checking your body for signs of illness, or avoiding any reminders of illness (hospitals, doctors, etc.) – you may have health anxiety. Health anxiety can be incredibly impairing and can catch you in a cycle of fear and reassurance-seeking that keeps you from living a full life. It’s hard and sometimes scary work, but we can interrupt that cycle by changing the way you think about physical sensations, learning skills for focusing attention, and facing feared situations.
Trauma
Many people will experience some type of traumatic event in their lives, such as a life-threatening illness or accident, physical or sexual violence, or abuse. For some of those people, that trauma will continue to cause a variety of symptoms such as nightmares, repeated memories of the trauma, avoidance of any reminders of the trauma, or anger, sadness, or other mood concerns. If several months or more have passed since you experienced a very distressing event and it continues to impact you in a negative way, or you find that you’re troubled with repeated thoughts about a past trauma despite your best attempts to forget, you may have PTSD.
There is good news here too – we have excellent evidence that treatment can substantially improve PTSD symptoms and help you get back to living a full life.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that occurs when a person gets stuck in a cycle of obsessions (recurrent, intrusive, unwanted thoughts) and compulsions (behaviors the person performs to get rid of the thoughts or reduce anxiety). Obsessions have several common themes, such as contamination, unwanted sexual thoughts, religious obsessions, fear of losing control or causing harm to oneself or others, or symmetry. Compulsions can include washing or cleaning, checking, repeating, or they can even be mental – for example praying, replacing or “canceling” thoughts, or mentally reviewing things.
If you’re experiencing obsessions and compulsions, you know how incredibly distressing and impairing they can be. Evidence-based treatments such as Exposure and Response Prevention can help.
Treatment Approaches
Each person is unique, so every treatment plan is different. Treatment is carefully tailored to each client’s needs and preferences, always drawing from techniques and approaches that are supported by research.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
CBT is a collection of techniques for addressing unhelpful thought and behavior patterns. This might include challenging distorted thoughts, identifying and evaluating your beliefs about yourself and the world, or facing fears (using exposure techniques).
There are many variations of CBT for specific concerns, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure for PTSD, Behavioral Activation for Depression, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy for borderline personality disorder (and many other concerns), and Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
ACT is similar to CBT in some ways, in that you will spend time addressing thoughts and behaviors. ACT, however, does not aim to change uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, but rather to accept and “unhook” from them in order to free up time and energy to engage in values-based actions. Mindfulness – nonjudgmental awareness and acceptance of the present moment – is a key component of ACT.
Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy
EAET is a relatively new evidence-based treatment for chronic pain. the goal of EAET is to help you identify and resolve conflicts, stress, and trauma (often of an interpersonal nature) that may be causing or exacerbating physical symptoms. I had the privilege to learn this therapy under the supervision of one of its creators, Dr. Mark Lumley, and I was involved in research studies evaluating this approach in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and chronic pelvic pain.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy
PRT is an evidence-based approach designed to address chronic pain by altering patients’ perceptions and emotional responses to their pain. Through a combination of education, guided imagery, and cognitive restructuring, PRT empowers individuals to reframe their experiences, helping them to disconnect fear and anxiety from their pain. PRT aims to reduce pain levels significantly (or even eliminate pain) and improve overall quality of life.
Therapy Intensives
Therapy intensives are structured, extended-length sessions designed to provide focused and immersive therapeutic experiences for individuals dealing with anxiety disorders, phobias, and other psychological challenges. Therapy intensives offer significant benefits for those seeking to make meaningful progress in a condensed timeframe. With sessions spanning 1 to 4 days, individuals can immerse themselves in focused therapeutic work, addressing challenges like phobias and anxiety disorders more rapidly than traditional weekly sessions.
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is an innovative therapeutic approach that immerses patients in a controlled virtual environment to confront and process their fears and anxieties safely. By simulating real-life situations—such as flying, public speaking, or encountering specific phobias—VRET allows individuals to experience gradual exposure to the feared object or situation, even if it would be difficult or impossible to access in-person. I use virtual reality to assist in creating tailored, gradual exposures for anxiety disorders, OCD, and trauma, when clinically indicated.
Session Fees
Individual Therapy
My current rate for a ~55-minute individual therapy session is $200. I am in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna. I am also happy to provide clients with the necessary paperwork to submit for out-of-network reimbursement from their insurance company.
Therapy Intensives
Intensives are available as a self-pay service and are available sooner than individual weekly therapy, because they can be scheduled on only one day (or a handful of days). This allows me to take advantage of short-term periods of availability when I’m not teaching during the academic semester. They are also very convenient for busy students, parents, or professionals who find it difficult to add another weekly appointment to their calendar.