Psychodynamic & Insight-Oriented Therapy Online and in San Diego
Understanding what keeps happening—and finding room for something different
You may be able to explain your difficulties clearly and still feel caught in them.
You know you take on too much responsibility in relationships, but saying no leaves you feeling guilty. You want to be understood, yet hold back the things you most want someone to know. You feel hurt by someone, then find yourself questioning whether you had any right to feel hurt at all.
But sometimes there isn’t an obvious pattern. You may feel dissatisfied, disconnected, or unsure what you want, even when your life looks good from the outside.
Psychodynamic and insight-oriented therapy offers space to explore these experiences more deeply: what you feel, what you expect from others, and what becomes difficult to acknowledge or express.
Sometimes talking with someone leads to being surprised by yourself, whether an opinion, or a belief or a need.
Sometimes people feel a longing to just be able to express themselves to someone who will listen without judgment, or an agenda, to just see where you go. This process can feel like taking a trip to somewhere you’ve never been, and somehow creatively expressing yourself as you go.
What is psychodynamic therapy?
Psychodynamic therapy explores how your emotional life and relationship experiences influence the way you live now—including influences you may not fully recognize.
We all develop expectations about what happens when we need someone, disagree, succeed, make mistakes, or let ourselves be seen. We also learn ways to manage feelings that once felt overwhelming or unwelcome.
You may have learned to stay useful, keep your distance, hide anger, or anticipate what everyone else needs. Over time, these responses can become so familiar that they feel like who you are.
In psychodynamic therapy, we may explore how these patterns developed, what they do for you, and where they limit your choices today. But we may not have to do it directly, in a structured way. Sometimes bringing deep curiosity and tolerating uncertainty in an encouraging, supportive way can be transformative. Feeling like you’re really being heard can be revolutionary.
What does “insight-oriented” mean?
Insight involves more than finding an explanation for your behavior. It can mean recognizing something as it happens and beginning to experience it differently.
For example, you might already know that you avoid conflict. In therapy, you may begin to notice the moment disagreement starts to feel dangerous: your chest tightens, your own opinion becomes harder to hold onto, and agreeing suddenly feels necessary.
As we explore that experience, you may discover that you expect disagreement to cost you the relationship—or that expressing anger makes you feel like someone you never wanted to become.
That understanding gives us something specific to work with. We can make room for the feelings involved, examine your expectations, and gradually explore what it is like to speak more openly.
What might bring you to this kind of therapy?
This approach may resonate if you find yourself:
Repeating relationship patterns you understand but struggle to change.
Feeling responsible for keeping other people comfortable.
Wanting closeness while feeling uneasy about depending on anyone.
Struggling to know what you feel, need, or want.
Feeling ashamed of anger, vulnerability, ambition, or the wish to be cared for.
Questioning your worth despite being capable and accomplished.
Feeling emotionally distant from your own life.
Reaching a point where familiar ways of coping no longer feel sustainable.
You don’t need a clear explanation for what is wrong before starting. A sense that something important needs attention is enough to begin.
What happens in sessions?
You can bring whatever feels important: a recent interaction, a difficult feeling, a memory, a dream, or something you find yourself reluctant to say.
My role is to listen closely, ask questions, and help us notice connections. We might explore why a small disappointment feels devastating, why you lose interest when someone becomes available, or why rest brings guilt instead of relief.
We also pay attention to what happens between us. You might worry that I’m disappointed in you, feel pressure to be a “good client,” or hesitate to tell me that something I said didn’t help.
Those moments can give us a chance to understand a familiar experience together while it is happening. They also offer opportunities to speak honestly, work through misunderstandings, and discover how it feels to have your perspective taken seriously.
I’ll share my thinking and invite yours. We’ll develop an understanding together, with room for uncertainty and for you to tell me when I’ve misunderstood.
How does understanding become change?
Knowing where a pattern comes from can be useful, but it doesn’t necessarily make the pattern loosen.
The work also involves experiencing feelings you usually move away from, recognizing needs you tend to dismiss, and trying different ways of relating. That might mean allowing yourself to feel disappointed without immediately blaming yourself, asking for support, or staying present through a disagreement.
We return to important patterns as they appear in different situations. Over time, the aim is for you to have more room to respond thoughtfully, express yourself, and make choices that reflect what matters to you.
How this fits into my approach
Psychodynamic thinking informs my attention to emotional experience, protective patterns, and the relationship we build in therapy.
I draw on this perspective alongside IFS, Mentalization-Based Therapy, EMDR, and attachment-focused work. Depending on what you need, we may spend time exploring a recurring relationship pattern, working with conflicting parts of yourself, or addressing a specific traumatic experience.
I bring decades of study and personal experience with psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy to my work. My background includes ten years in my own analysis in New York City, study of contemporary Freudian and object relations psychoanalysis at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, and study of Lacanian psychoanalysis with Après-Coup Psychoanalytic Association. I also completed two hundred hours of clinical supervision with senior psychoanalysts. These experiences continue to shape how I listen and how I understand the complexity of a person’s inner life.
Throughout, we’ll stay connected to what brought you to therapy and whether our work is helping you in your life.
Questions about psychodynamic therapy
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They share a history and an interest in experiences outside immediate awareness. Psychodynamic psychotherapy can take place in regular, face-to-face sessions, including online. We’ll discuss a frequency that fits your needs and circumstances.
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Earlier experiences may help us understand what is happening now. We’ll also focus on your present relationships, feelings, and choices. You don’t need to reconstruct your entire childhood to do meaningful work.
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Yes. I take an active, collaborative role. I’ll ask questions, share observations, and help us think through what emerges. There will also be room to slow down and hear what you’re experiencing without rushing toward an explanation.
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We can discuss what you hope to work on and revisit the scope of therapy as we go. You don’t need to make an open-ended commitment before we’ve had a chance to understand your needs.
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I offer online therapy to adults in California, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Florida, as well as in-person sessions in San Diego.
A place to hear yourself more clearly
Therapy can offer room for experiences you usually explain away, keep private, or struggle to put into words.
We can begin with what is happening now and get curious together about what you need, what gets in the way, and what you want to become possible.