MY APPROACH

The purpose of therapy, I believe, is to enhance one’s freedom of thought and action, by bringing to light the internal and external powers acting upon him. With this, therapy is also aimed at learning to tolerate pain and discomfort in the mental realm, in shaping healthy psychological habits of dealing with thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. I believe that these allow one to grow into a place of more acceptance, authenticity and creativity, and a greater capacity to be in intimacy with oneself and with others.

My approach to treatment stems from several schools of thought within the psychoanalytic tradition. Primarily, I derive my approach from dynamic psychoanalysis, attachment theory and object relations, and existential psychology **. 

With the years of my training, I have found that incorporating more recent developments, derived from the cognitive sciences, philosophy and eastern cultures, is extremely valuable in therapy. Today, I enjoy working within a combined framework, making use in my work of tools from “third generation" cognitive-behavioral therapies, such as MBCT (Mindfulness based cognitive therapy), and ACT (Acceptance and commitment therapy). These treatments help us understand and reshape how we think and feel in different situations, or our reflections on our thoughts, feelings and physical reactions (meta-cognition), in a manner which efficiently changes our quality of life. Moreover, today it is well accepted that these tools play a central role in the relief of certain anxiety and depression disorders.

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Finally, I hold that culture, social roles and social expectations have vast influences on us, which we should learn to identify and take into account in our own self-interpretation. This will allow us more freedom in choosing our paths and preferred environments, so that they are consistent with our authentic beliefs.

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** I will hereby shortly describe some of their contributions. The first, psycho-dynamic psychoanalysis, is acknowledged, among many contributions, for the description of the unconscious and the defense mechanisms of the ego, with their various effects on human behavior, and to the curing effects of interpretations in psychotherapy. The second, object relations and attachment theory, have contributed to the understanding of the effects of early relationship patterns on the self and the personality and have began to set a developmental theory of mental growth. The third, existential psychology, analyses our basic anxiety as an existential one, stemming from our confrontation with the basic facts of life, and it sees the person as a free subject responsible for his own fate, and constantly in search of meaning and authentic existence.