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.

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.

Throughout the lifespan, women experience unique changes and challenges. Pregnancy, for example, involves not only physical changes but also big social and emotional transitions. While many women experience some normal, short-term “baby blues” after delivery, a smaller number of women develop more severe or long-lasting symptoms of depression and anxiety, and treatment can help. Some women (and their partners) also face the challenge of infertility and/or pregnancy loss, which can cause a range of emotions such as sadness, anger, and guilt. If you are facing one of these difficulties related to pregnancy, I would be honored to walk alongside you as you navigate this. In addition to reproductive events, I also enjoy helping women address sexual challenges such as low sexual desire or difficulty with sexual arousal or orgasm, especially when these difficulties are related to chronic illness, chronic pain, and/or pregnancy.

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.

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 (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.