During our first session, the better prepared you are, the more time we can spend on issues and concerns that bring you and/or your family in for therapy.
What Information should I bring to my first session?
I. Insurance Information: Please write down the contact person at your insurance company, their phone and fax number, address, co-pay amount and number of sessions available as well as approved. (I will need a signed release of information if I need to contact an insurance company on your behalf.)
II. Personal Information: Please write down your home address and phone number. I will also need to know your age, date of birth, medical problems, type and amount of medications, physician's name and number, emergency contacts, number and age of children. If you are bringing a child or adolescent in for treatment, list their school and teachers names. Be prepared to sign releases of information for your children as well.
When can I expect the beneficial effects of therapy to occur?
It all depends on the problems you bring in to work on. If you spent decades relating and experiencing life in a certain manner, how long do you think it might take to change? Is it reasonable to expect change in your mood and how you may relate to yourself or others after a quick visit or will it take a period of commitment and hard work? Some people find therapy so beneficial they may resolve one problem only to stay in treatment to address other issues and concerns. Others come in not wanting to change themselves but to just learn ways to cope with a difficult situation or be couched in how to embrace professional goals. Fundamental change in how you experience and relate to others can take time. Adjusting to a specific problem or finding a way to cope with a very specific situation might be resolved in a briefer period of time.
How would I know if we have a good therapeutic match?
To know if the therapist and patient is a good match, both will need to rely on their intuition. Usually you and I will know by the end of the first and certainly by the second session if the fit between us is right. Understand that as therapy progresses, uncomfortable feelings may arise. This is a natural part of the process. So its important to attend to your intuition right from the start. If our therapeutic relationship feels right, good, and if you have any concerns bring them up.
If we have not shared the same experiences in life, how can you, as my therapist, give me advice?
Advice may be an appetizer but therapy is the main course. Advice can be sought and sometimes given but the emphasis on our relationship is the uncovering of unconscious material, in particular, habitual relationship patterns and unresolved conflicts. I do not, as a therapist, need to have shared the same experience that you have had in order to serve you and your loved ones. My role is to be able to observe how you have coped in past situations, with others in your life right now, and in our present relationship. And, as far as advice is concerned, while I like to dole it out, more often than not, you will have already heard or read about it. What you should expect from therapy, is a safe place to explore conflicting feelings, memories about relationships and unconscious wishes. We will do this in order to create new meaning and learn different options in how you experience your past and enhance your present and future relationships.
Do you have a specialty?
The focus of treatment aims to uncover unconscious conflicts and wishes. Underlying needs, aims and wishes often have an impact on how a child may function in school, how a spouse relates to another, or how a parent may cope with being laid off from work. Resolving unconscious conflicts may help relieve the very symptoms you are struggling with, whether it is depression, an eating disorder, a traumatic past experience, or a troubled marriage. So yes, I specialize in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. This technique has proven to be effective in alleviating a host of psychological symptoms and relationship problems.