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Welcome! This page will introduce my psychology practice and counseling services located in New York City and White Plains. I am a licensed clinical psychologist and counselor with over 20 years of professional experience. I provide individual psychotherapy, couples therapy, family and marital counseling. I also provide executive and life coaching. My practice locations are accessible from all over the New York metropolitan area, including Long Island, Rockland and Fairfield counties, and New Jersey.
Finding and choosing the best cognitive behavioral therapist, couples therapist or family and marriage counselor can be daunting. My goal for this website is to provide help to you in understanding problems we face as human beings, and also to help you in choosing a good psychologist, psychotherapist or other mental health professional for your needs.
Therapy can change your life. Problems can be solved, but only by facing and actively engaging them can we really understand and resolve them. At some time in your life, you may need objective and professional help from a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist in order to get results.
You may be confronting neurotic or compulsive behavior or coping with high stress levels. You may need help with anger management. You may have problems controlling anxiety, or perhaps you are struggling with depression, trauma, or other psychological symptoms of emotional upset. Marriage issues or relationship problems with family, children, teens, friends or coworkers can also affect your sense of well being, self-confidence, motivation, or direction in life.
You may feel lost or stuck, or perhaps aren't progressing and developing your potential. Perhaps you aren't growing or moving forward in some important area like personal, intimate, or family relationships.It may be that your career is stagnating or you are wrestling with difficult life changes or long standing psychological or developmental problems such as shyness, insecurity or feelings of inadequacy.
One can feel more and more frustrated, alone or stuck as time goes by. As a professionally trained and certified psychoanalyst, I bring a depth of understanding and experience for overcoming life's problems. As a clinical psychologist, I bring objective, impartial, compassionate and unconditional support, help, coaching and advice, beyond what friends or family can offer. I provide solutions and strategies for coping with and treating common mental health issues, using traditional professionalism and modern cognitive behavioral tools.
This website aims to present and clarify, in plain language, some common psychological roadblocks, issues and obstacles to mental health and personal growth. It discusses problems and challenges many of us face at one time or another, along with symptoms, diagnosis and self-help.
It describes traditional and modern treatment approaches. It will provide a foundation of information and advice for choosing a psychologist, marriage counselor, cognitive behavioral therapist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or life coach to work with.
It will also introduce my qualifications, my experience, and my results-oriented, eclectic approach to counseling and psychotherapy.
An additional goal is to help a couple or an individual find the best treatment and choose the most effective psychology services. Major sections discuss stress and anger management. Advice and information about specific psychological issues and the process of choosing a therapist can be useful, regardless of whether you live in Manhattan, the greater New York City metro area, or elsewhere. Please see the section on how to find and choose the best psychotherapy for jargon busting tips, recommendations and evaluation criteria.
As you read through the site, I will introduce you to the professional therapeutic services that I provide in my practice as a licensed clinical psychologist in Westchester County and NYC. My services also include brief therapy for individuals, counseling for couples, and marital therapy. I am goal oriented and use a solution focused approach to counseling and treatment as a goal directed psychoanalyst and life coach.
My purpose is to inform you above all else. I encourage you to contact me as soon as you feel confident that you are ready to seek professional help from a qualified psychotherapist.
How I Work with You as a New York Licensed Psychologist, Counselor and Life Coach
I provide psychotherapy in New York City and Westchester, NY to clients with issues that get in the way of living as well as they can and achieving their full potential. As a licensed psychologist, I find it natural and helpful to use a variety of psychological approaches and methods for diagnosis and treatment. This multimodal approach allows me to gain a depth of insight and to tailor personal strategies to fit my client's particular issues, needs and goals. I provide specific techniques and cognitive behavioral tools, coaching my clients to apply insights to the problems we have identified. I strive to provide clear direction, candid insight and useful tools for achieving tangible results.
As a humanistic psychologist and life coach, I am down to earth, collaborative, and interactive. I enjoy my work and relate in a naturally responsive and straightforward manner. I am fully engaged in promoting my clients' progress and success, and my clients are actively involved in analysis and implementation. I listen carefully, giving you the attention, patience, understanding, and candid feedback that are so necessary to the process of true psychoanalysis and effective behavioral change.
I recognize the importance of my clients' need to communicate comfortably and in their own way, to set goals and make changes that they choose. I appreciate my clients' personal beliefs and spiritual needs in therapy and treat them with the respect they deserve as unique individuals.
Please see the solution oriented psychotherapy approach page to learn more about my treatment philosophy and style as an analyst and as a coach.
Individual Psychotherapy and Counseling for Psychological Issues
I work with individuals, couples and families to treat clinical symptoms, psychological disorders, or problems adjusting to stressful or traumatic conditions. I help people who want to overcome obstacles such as phobic or compulsive behavior that interferes with their personal, relationship, professional and career growth, including:
- Treating Clinical Depression and Depressive Disorders
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders
- Panic and Anxiety Attacks (Panic Disorders)
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD)
- Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (AADD)
- Dealing with Loss, Bereavement and Grief
- Overcoming Fear of Intimacy and Separation
- Recovery from Physical, Mental and Sexual Abuse
- Self Actualization, Well Being, and Fulfillment
- Stage of Life and Adjustment Issues
Psychotherapy Practice and Services
My psychology practice areas and typical problems addressed though coaching, counseling and psychotherapy include:
- Interpersonal and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Managing and Controlling Anger
- Stress Management Counseling
- Anxiety, Neurosis, Obsession and Compulsion
- Character and Personality Disorders
- Clinical Depression
- Family, Marital and Couples therapy
- Divorce, Grief and Bereavement
- Trauma and Recovery
- Personal and Professional Coaching
Anger Management Counseling
When we think about anger management problems, the most overtly aggressive, abusive, violent, and destructive behaviors come to mind. However, verbal abuse, destructive emotional outbursts, self-injuring actions, and covert aggression (passive aggressive) behaviors are quite common and also unacceptably harmful. A marriage, family, or career may become undermined if these issues are not effectively addressed.
Anger management issues may be due to a variety of factors like misjudging the intentions of others, or psychological issues like poor self esteem, or impulse problems, or a shortage of resources with which to cope with problems and demands. Anger management counseling can help you cope with problems that may accompany depression, severe anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and even adults. Chronic irritability or hostility is often evoked in the New York metro area, due to environmental factors that are taken for granted and may go unnoticed after a while.
I use cognitive behavioral treatment techniques that are especially effective in heading off rage reactions and aggressive behaviors just before they are getting started. CBT methods are also useful in preventing the buildup of anger due to resentment or stress. In some circumstances, a psychiatrist may prescribe medication to support anger management therapy and psychological counseling. Please see the anger management page for help and information about coping with stress, anger and aggression.
Stress Management Counseling
Elevated stress levels can leave us vulnerable to a variety of psychological conditions like anxiety disorders, depression, and depressive disorders, as well as potentially dangerous physical conditions that require medical attention. As an NYC native, psychologist, husband and father, I understand the unique environment we live in and our cultural zeitgeist. I help many clients manage and cope with situational and environmental stressors at my practice locations in Manhattan and Westchester.
I also find that stress management counseling methods work well in combination with components of cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic and interpersonal psychotherapy methods, to accelerate treatment. Please see my dedicated page on stress management for details of common stressors, their consequences and techniques for managing and improving your overall well being.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Phobias and other Anxiety Disorders
My services as a psychologist and counselor for anxiety disorders is understandably in demand in the New York metropolitan area, especially since 9/11. I find cognitive behavioral therapy for panic attacks or panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and phobias to be an especially successful treatment approach. I also choose cognitive therapy as the best treatment methods for trauma, chronic stress and related medical illnesses. I coach my clients through traumatic, painful and even paralyzing situations that make them anxious or fearful. Together, we work through trauma, grief, stress and anger management issues surround personal loss, abuse, and divorce in a supportive therapeutic environment. In many cases we uncover unaddressed family of origin and experiential issues. We get to the underlying, unconscious or subconscious psychological drives and issues which create anxiety, including repression and compulsion.
Diagnosing and Treating Clinical Depression and Depressive Disorder
Being depressed can create a downward spiral. Symptoms of clinical depression can interfere with with one's relationships, career, and health. These consequences can lead to a downward spiral.
A person suffering from depression is often too demoralized to understand and overcome the disorder on his or her own, overcome with feelings of helplessness and desperation. Antidepressant medications may help with the overt clinical symptoms without addressing the underlying emotional problems and subconscious roots. Good psychotherapy and counseling from a professional psychologist can diagnose and treat depression effectively.
I find a solution focused approach in psychotherapy and counseling for clinical depression to be very helpful and stimulating in empowering people to deal with their key issues. For each person, I tailor the best combination of interpersonal, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic and humanistic techniques, to provide personalized treatment and restore full mental health and a greater sense of well being.
ADD, ADHD Hyperactivity in Children and Adolescents, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (AADD)
Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) appears in childhood. Inconsistency is typical in children and adults with AD/HD. Although ADHD looks different for each individual, it is generally characterized by inattentiveness and distractibility, or by impulsivity, restlessness and hyperactivity. These symptoms frequently present in combination to some degree. Attention deficit and hyperactivity interfere with achievement, social development, self-concept and self-esteem.
I have personal experience with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as clinical experience providing psychotherapy and coaching for attention deficit disorder in children and adults.
Couples Therapy, Marital and Marriage Counseling
As a licensed psychologist, I provide couples therapy, family and marriage counseling, as well as parent coaching on family issues. As a husband and father who works and lives in the New York City, Westchester and Greenwich/Fairfield county Connecticut metropolitan area, I understand the environment and the issues we all face in relationships, careers, and families. Marriage counseling helps couples to understand and work to resolve their marital issues, improve their sex life and find the love that brought them together in their relationships. I can also help parents improve their coping and relationship skills with their children. I use practical coaching methods and a blend of couples, individual and family counseling approaches. I actively focus on improving communication, establishing functional rules of engagement and better understanding to increase harmony, feelings of love and mutual respect. Together we find solutions and get tangible results.
Grief and Bereavement Therapy
Grief and bereavement are natural psychological processes. However, the loss of someone (or something) important can be traumatic or demoralizing. Grief therapy and bereavement counseling can help you to express, release, and work through painful feelings in order to move forward in your life. Loss is a natural, inevitable part of life. Depending upon how we react, life's losses can present opportunities for personal growth or for being stuck in despair and lifelessness. First, we must feel what we feel and allow ourselves to grieve. Sharing with a counselor can help relieve repressed feelings of guilt or anger and help release trapped emotional potential needed to move on.
Divorce Counseling
Coping with divorce can be more stressful and painful than dealing with the death of a loved one. It is easy to get stuck in harrowing emotions like fear, resentment, anger, regret, shame, and guilt, or in escapist behaviors. We may be too distracted by practical, psychological or family problems and ignore our legitimate needs for emotional support. strategic advice, during a time of confusing transition and stress.
Every marriage and every divorce is different. Friends, family, and lawyers have own particular perspectives and opinions. In my solution oriented approach to divorce counseling, I work with you as a divorce therapist to help you understand the relationship and marital problems that led to the end of the marriage and help you to cope with your emotions during this life changing event. As a divorce coach, I partner with you in success, to help you get through the process of divorce, to keep you focused on the issues, people and goals that matter most, and help you to move to on in the best way possible.
Executive Coaching and Life Coaching
Who you are inside, your self image and world view powerfully influences how you perceive others and what they think of you. It is wise to acknowledge and shore up one's "blind spots" and to develop one's potential strengths. This is where an executive coach and life coaching can really help.
I adapt my experience, skills and training as a practical psychoanalyst and behavioral coach to provide executive and life coaching. I offer a breadth of perspectives and a flexible combination of practical psychology, career development guidance, communications coaching, and results oriented psychological counseling to help executives and professionals to maximize career success, and satisfaction at work and in business.
I also help individuals gain a greater level of mastery over life's little challenges so they feel empowered, capable, organized, and in control of their personal environment. My clients achieve greater creativity, improved self expression, heightened self awareness and increasingly successful relationships on every level.
How a Goal Oriented Psychology Approach Can Help
My approach to psychotherapy as a mental health counselor focuses on understanding the nature of the problem, formulating viable alternatives and pursuing tangible solutions. I act as psychologist, therapist, analyst, and coach to help you better understand yourself, your subconscious motivations, needs and desires so you can achieve your goal and solve your problems. Based upon your particular needs, we create and implement an action plan for tangible results.
I have learned from experience that it is wise to draw upon a variety of psychological treatment methods in order to promote change more effectively. My eclectic and holistic approach takes the whole person into account. My methods include cognitive behavioral therapy, rational emotive and humanistic psychotherapy, existential psychology, family systems psychology, and others as applicable.
This practical approach in therapy focuses on doing something about problems, not simply talking about them. As a professional counselor, I have found that meaningful change is achieved through understanding and doing.
How to Find the Best Psychologist, Marriage Counselor, or Psychotherapist for Your Needs
The effectiveness of psychotherapy, life coaching or counseling mainly depends upon the fit between client and therapist. It's also important to know how professionals obtain qualifications and specifically use their knowledge to understand and treat problems.
Consider qualifications, training and experience when choosing a mental health professional, coach or mentor. Are they licensed psychologists, or certified psychotherapists who are well educated in general psychiatry, clinical psychology or another professional counseling discipline? Do they have advanced professional training such as postdoctoral certificates or up to date board certifications in psychiatry? How long have they been practicing? Where do they practice psychology? Do they offer services that are within the scope of their training and qualifications or do they fly entirely by the seat of their pants? What level of success have they had with clients who share issues and problems similar to your own?
During the first meeting with a psychologist, marital counselor, or cognitive behavioral psychotherapist, pay close attention to your comfort level and whether their style feels right for you. For example, do they communicate personal detachment or appropriate professional support? Do they seem comfortable when answering your questions?
Many people ask who is the top therapist or the best psychologist and how can I find and choose the right one for me? The reality is that no one can tell you because this is a personal decision based on fit, but you must do careful research and trust your own experience. You can find good advice for how to choose the best psychology and counseling services for your particular needs, from a qualified professional, in the How to Find and Choose the Best Therapy section.
New York Psychotherapy Practice in Midtown Manhattan and White Plains
Convenient appointments and psychology practice locations allow residents of New York, Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey and Rockland County to visit me routinely. I've been an interpersonal-humanistic psychoanalyst and a results oriented therapist for over 20 years, helping individuals, families and couples through counseling, therapy and coaching. Please give yourself time to explore this website. You can call or email me at any time to find out more about how my expertise as a psychologist and counselor can help you. I would be happy to demonstrate how my results oriented approach can enable you to solve problems and live life to your fullest potential.
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