Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Buddhist Psychology, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a long term therapy that focuses on understanding and making conscious our unconscious desires, fears, and wishes that inform deeply ingrained frameworks we use to understand and exist in the world. Psychodynamic psychotherapy grew out of pscyhoanalysis, however differs in that psychodynamic therapy includes our relational motivations, not only drives, at work in our psyche. More on Relational Psychodynamic therapy here.

Buddhist Psychology uses Buddhist principles such as non-duality, mindfulness, and impermanence to frame our experiences of suffering, including how we may be participating in creating the conditions that lead to our own suffering. Buddhist principles are helpful in the cultivation of wise mind, or, our ability to view suffering with both wisdom (reason) and compassion (emotion). Mindfulness practices including meditation are useful in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and for strengthening the neurological conditions ideal for healthy introspection as well as increasing our capacity to change old patterns. More on the efficacy of mindfulness and meditation here.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a theoretic framework that posits that it is the nature of the mind to be divided into many separate parts. As we develop through life, our parts take on specific roles and interact with each other much like members of a family. In IFS therapy, we work with these parts allowing them to unburden themselves from protective roles they have had to take on, and allowing them to return to their non-extreme role, creating space for our parts and our Self to experience greater harmony in the system, less suffering, and allowing ourselves to become more of who we are when we are no longer burdened by carrying outdated roles. More on IFS here.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a brief trauma therapy that allows patients to heal from traumatic experiences without having to recount the trauma in great detail. Systematic bilateral stimulation, usually in the form of eye movements or bilateral tapping, engages both hemispheres of the brain aiding integration of traumatic memories, and allowing post-traumatic symptoms to lessen and cease. I will begin offering EMDR treatment Summer 2026. More on EMDR here.