About Me

Qualifications

I have been a licensed in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist since 1993. I have been a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists since before then. I have been licensed as a Clinical Psychologist since 2007. I am trained in EMDR and in Hypnotherapy. I primarily work with people who have anxiety or depression. I have been trained to provide treatment to problem gamblers, and am in the California Office of Problem Gambling referral network. One specialization that I am developing involves the effects of trauma and dysfunction on sexuality. I enjoy working with adult children of possessive parents. I am also able to provide single consultations to professionals and others seeking to improve their memory retrieval for optimal daily functioning. I take CIGNA, Humana, MHN, UBH, Aetna, Blue Shield, and Tri-Care insurance coverage, various EAP’s, and MediCare.

My story

I have psychotherapy in my blood. My parents, may they rest in peace, were interested in the teachings of Carl Jung as far back as the 1930s. In my youth, I had the privilege of meeting two analysts trained by Jung himself. They had come to California after fleeing Nazism. One was Kate Marcus, a vivacious, older woman when I knew her. My mother told me that Dr. Marcus would walk around West LA looking over her shoulder, for the first few years that she was here. They did not have EMDR then. The other was Dr. Max Zeller, who chipped away at my youthful naiveté by granting that "the anti-Semitism in London was different from Germany ..."   

A day in my life: Nowadays, I am happy to consider myself a member of the human potential movement. I wake up and may Gestalt my own dream. I do a grounding meditation. I may run laps or ride my bike. My wife makes me a healthy smoothie. I take supplements to promote my health. As the day progresses, if I can't remember something, I use autosuggestion, or eye movements, either of which can enhance memory retrieval. I see clients. I try to take a break between each one. If a client does not show up, I read more about how to treat people with multiple personality disorders, an exciting subfield and a growing edge for me and my practice. I believe that working with extremes of human behavior provides a foundation for clinical work that nothing else can. As the day wears on, if I feel "off," I use auto-suggestion to get to the root of it quickly. If I experience anxiety, I use the same self-soothing techniques that I teach my clients. I will probably cry during the course of the day, which I see as a good thing. To practice gratitude, I tell my wife how thankful I am that she is with me. I worry about current events. But in terms of my own life, more and more, I am quite distinctly happy.