Specialties

 

General Anxiety

If you feel that something is awry inside you and worry excessively, sometimes about specific problems and sometimes about a myriad of  different worries, psychotherapy can provide relief. I work with people who live seemingly full lives yet need someone to confide in for any number of reasons.

Eating Disorders

I treat food and body image disorders, including bulimia and compulsive overeating.  In our sessions, clients identify how the destructive behavior once served them, and establish new ways of coping with difficulties.

AIDS/HIV

In the past twenty years, I have helped people live with the AIDS virus. Some HIV-positive people are able to continue working and living their lives because of current medications. For others, the prescribed treatment may no longer be effective, and they must abandon their regular activities. Some people find themselves losing loved ones, friends and life partners. Together, we find ways of easing the transition.

“The end is none, the road is all.”
Willa Cather

Creativity

As the writer and psychologist Amy Bloom writes, “My own interest in creativity in all its forms, gives me an intimate understanding of what it’s like to find meaning and fulfillment in this world of mystery.” Sometimes I work with clients as they make a change from one career to another. Sometimes creative energy runs dry, and together we try to get the wheels of inspiration moving again.

Depression

Depression often runs in families; there is no single known cause of depression, although experts believe a genetic vulnerability, combined with environmental factors such as stress or physical illness may trigger an imbalance in brain chemicals called neurotransmitters.  Scientists don’t fully understand how imbalances in neurotransmitters cause signs and symptoms of depression, nor is it clear whether changes in neurotransmitters are a cause or a result of depression, but imbalances in three neurotransmitters — serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine — seem to be linked to depression.

• Heredity. Although researchers have identified several genes that may be responsible for bipolar disorder, and they’re looking for genes linked to other kinds of depression, not everyone with a family history of depression develops the disorder. Conversely, people with no family history of the disorder can become depressed.
  
  
• Stress. Stressful life events, particularly a loss or threatened loss of a loved one or a job, can trigger depression.
  
  
• Medications. Long-term use of certain drugs, such as birth control pills and medications used to control high blood pressure and alleviate sleep disorders, can cause symptoms of depression in some people.
  
  
• Illnesses. Having a chronic illness, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, puts you at higher risk of developing depression. Having even a mildly under-active thyroid (a condition known as hypothyroidism), can cause depression.
  
  
• Personality. Certain personality traits, such as having low self-esteem and being overly dependent, self-critical, pessimistic and easily overwhelmed by stress, can make you more vulnerable to depression.
  
  
• Postpartum depression. New mothers often experience a mild form of distress in the days and weeks following a birth.  During this time you may have feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety, irritability and incompetence. Postpartum depression, a more severe form of the baby blues, can also affect new mothers.
  
  
• Hormones. Women experience depression about twice as frequently as men do, which leads researchers to believe hormonal factors may play a role in the development of depression.
  
  
• Alcohol, nicotine and drug abuse. Experts once thought people with depression used alcohol, nicotine and mood-altering drugs as a way easing depression, but research has shown that chronic use of these substances may actually contribute to depression and anxiety disorders.

Click here for an article titled "Depression, It's Not What You Think".

Home ~ My Approach ~ Specialties ~ Your First Visit ~ Articles ~ Bio ~ Contact