Frequently Asked Questions

The most important factor is whether you feel the therapist can actually help you with what you're dealing with. Your therapist should be able to describe his understanding of your problem in a way that feels satisfactory to you, and explain how working together can help address your concerns. You do not need to feel comfortable immediately, but you should feel that the therapist is engaged, receptive to your feedback, and working in your interest.

Email me here or schedule an appointment directly through my scheduling portal. I don’t offer free consultations, though I’m happy to answer brief questions to help determine if working together might be a fit.

I have experience working with a range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, and couples and relationship difficulties.

I work with those who feel stuck, whether from emotional distress, overwhelming anxiety and persistent worry, or relational patterns that impede meaningful connections. I also help couples who wish to repair prior injury to the relationship, navigate conflict and address issues of disconnection.

Psychodynamic therapy is a form of talk therapy rooted in the idea that much of our mental life operates outside conscious awareness. In other words, this approach theorizes that the thoughts, feelings, and relational patterns that shape how we experience ourselves, others, and the world around us are often not fully known to us. That hidden layer can be a significant source of suffering, but because it remains out of view, we have no way of responding to it.

In our work together, we look beyond the presenting symptoms to achieve insights that lead to lasting change through informed action. When a person understands what contributes to their difficulties, they can choose to respond differently rather than simply get better at enduring their problems.

To learn more about where psychodynamic therapy comes from and how it works, you can read my article on the origins of the talking cure.

Anxiety exists for reasons, both conscious and unconscious, and those reasons carry important meaning. Someone who avoids social situations is not simply a shy person or "wired" that way. Their avoidance protects them from something, often from unwanted thoughts or emotions. Understanding what purpose anxiety is serving is part of the therapeutic process.

Through careful examination, psychotherapy can help anxiety loosen its grip so individuals can find more room to think, feel, and act without their lives being organized around it.

I am an out-of-network provider and collect my full fee at the time of service. Clients who have out-of-network benefits may be eligible for reimbursement depending on their plan's benefits. For details on how reimbursement works, visit my insurance reimbursement page here.

Payment can be made via credit, debit, or HSA/FSA card through a secure online payment system. Cash is also accepted for in-person sessions.

It helps to think of depression the way you'd think about a fever. A fever isn't an illness in itself, but the body's way of signaling that something isn't right. That something can range from the flu to sepsis. Depression works in a similar way because it is a non-specific psychological response stemming from an incalculable number of factors.

Therapeutic work focused primarily on symptom reduction can provide relief, but in-depth psychotherapy aimed at uncovering the underlying causes of depression usually produces more lasting results.

The goal of psychotherapy is both to help individuals manage how they feel in the short term and to help them understand what's been driving their depression well enough that it no longer has the same hold on them.

Not necessarily, though the past often becomes relevant because current difficulties rarely appear from nowhere. What developed in earlier relationships tends to show up in present ones. When something from your history seems connected to what you're experiencing in the present, we'll explore it.

Therapy isn't an excavation of the past for its own sake. The focus is always on what is getting in the way of living the way you want, and we follow what seems most meaningful to you.

The first session, also called intake, is a 50-minute meeting to discuss your needs and desired goals and outcomes. We may also discuss your personal history.

I’ll share my background and discuss how my approach may help you. At the end of our first session, we will decide whether we’re a good fit and if we would like to work together.

Please contact me directly to cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours before the start of our scheduled appointment.

Late cancellations (cancellations within 24 hours), and no-shows are charged the full session fee ($175 for individuals, $195 for couples), as this time is reserved for you and cannot be offered to others. The fee helps ensure I can maintain a sustainable practice as time reserved for you cannot be offered to others.

Medication can help manage symptoms in some cases; however, psychotherapy looks to understand the underlying causes of emotional distress. Until the reasons for your struggles are understood, a plan to resolve them cannot be developed.

Imagine wearing a jacket at home during the winter to stay warm instead of closing the windows. Managing discomfort this way, without addressing the core problem, is often unsustainable.

In some cases, combining therapy with medication can be effective, and I can coordinate with your prescriber if needed.

My fee is $175 per 50-minute individual therapy session, $195 per 50-minute couples counseling session, and $175 for clinical consultation, payable at the time of service.

Sessions take place in person at my downtown Jersey City office or virtually via a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform.

You are welcome to contact me by email or text for administrative questions, such as scheduling, cancellations, or clarifying logistical details.

To ensure sessions remain the focused space for our therapeutic work, discussions about personal experiences, session content, or therapy-related reflections are best reserved for scheduled appointment times.

Where CBT focuses on identifying and changing specific thought patterns and behaviors within a structured, often shorter-term framework, psychodynamic psychotherapy takes a broader view. Rather than targeting a particular symptom directly, it looks to understand why it developed and what it might mean before deciding what to do about it. This often involves exploring personal history, recurring relational patterns, and emotions that are hard to come to terms with.

CBT has its benefits and if you're curious about one well-known CBT approach, my article on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is a good place to start.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is typically open-ended rather than fixed to a set number of sessions. Some people work through a specific concern within several weeks or months. Others find ongoing therapy valuable for years.

The timeline depends on what brings one to therapy, their goals and what unfolds along the way. This is discussed during the intake session and revisited often as the therapeutic work continues.

Weekly sessions are generally recommended, especially early on, because continuity is part of what makes talk therapy effective.