What kind of therapy do you use?

I am pretty passionate about the kind of therapy I practice! I, like everyone else, want to believe that my methods genuinely work. I have a strong academic background, so scientific research matters to me. My legal background also makes me very analytical and discerning in my choice of professional training. In the end I do the kind of work that fits my temperament and intellect. 

I primarily work in the evidence-based science of memory reconsolidation (Bruce Ecker, Coherence Therapy). If indicated, I may use psychodynamic techniques (John Watkins, Ego State Therapy). My overall philosophical thinking aligns with existentialism (Irvin Yalom). I further have advanced trainings in DBT, EMDR, IFS and Clinical Hypnosis. 

The field of psychotherapy is very fragmented, and there are hundreds of kinds of therapy. This has to be very worrisome for the client! All creators of therapy want to believe that their method is the one. However, most of us simply don’t know whether our chosen method is actually better or worse than any other.  Please take a moment to read the comments by Scott Miller, a therapist who has done important research on this issue:

After all, the research showed that clinicians believe that their skill in selecting therapeutic techniques and applying them to the individual client is responsible for outcome. Unfortunately, the data indicate otherwise. At this point, we’ve collected client feedback on some 12,000 cases—significantly more when our data is combined with that of other researchers following a similar line of inquiry using different measures. Consistent with the results from previous studies, we’ve found that the particular approach a clinician employs makes no difference in terms of outcome, including medication. 

Rather than being dedicated to a single model or approach, we argue that therapists could avail themselves of any technique, strategy, or theory as long as it empowered one or more of common factors and, importantly, made sense to the client. With regard to the latter, the research was clear: therapy was much more likely to be successful when it was congruent with the client’s goals for treatment, the client's ideas about how change occurs, and  the client's view of and hopes for the therapeutic relationship. (Losing Faith: Arguing for a New Way to Think about Therapy, 2004)

I primarily focus my practice on the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. That means I see clients with BPD or other personality disorders, or those who have/have had close encounters with BPD or other personality disorders. My clients struggle with identity development, emotion regulation, suicidality, high-conflict marriages, behavioral issues, dissociative disorders and developmental and attachment trauma.