I am always learning from people who come to me for help. I feel my job as a therapist has two components. I want to help people analyze and understand the reasons they feel and act the way they do, but I also want to work with them to change behaviors that they cannot modify by insight alone. Patients sometimes remark that I am “practical”, and I feel OK about that; I understand they aren’t expecting it from a psychodynamic therapist.
I realized early on that my psychoanalytic psychotherapy training had not addressed sexual issues other than the Oedipal complex, and I felt frustrated and unprepared when patients expected me to help them overcome their inability to have an orgasm or to sustain an erection. When I heard about the groundbreaking work Masters and Johnson were doing in understanding and treating people with erectile and orgasmic dysfunctions I arranged to join them in St. Louis for advanced training. Similarly, I realized I didn’t know how to help people overcome addictions, and that led to advanced training and work in rehabs, teaching, and clinical supervision with a focus on sex addiction and survivors of sexual abuse.
I am committed to helping people make changes and learn to feel good about themselves so they can enjoy life and make every effort to attain their goals.