At our practice, we work with individuals seeking deeper understanding of themselves and the patterns that shape their lives. The following is an overview of common concerns addressed in therapy. Each condition is explored not only as a set of symptoms but as a meaningful expression of inner life—often rooted in unconscious processes, relational histories, and early emotional experiences.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety can manifest as chronic worry, panic attacks, social inhibition, or specific fears. Often, these symptoms reflect internal conflicts or unmetabolized emotional experiences. Anxiety may function as a defense against painful thoughts, desires, or memories that remain outside of conscious awareness.
How therapy helps: In psychodynamic work, anxiety is explored in the context of the individual’s developmental history and current relational patterns. By bringing unconscious conflicts to light and exploring the meanings behind anxiety, clients often find relief not only from symptoms but from the deeper tensions that sustain them.
Depression
Depression often involves persistent sadness, loss of interest, fatigue, and feelings of emptiness or guilt. It may also reflect a turning of aggression inward, unresolved grief, or disruptions in early attachment relationships.
How therapy helps: Psychodynamic therapy aims to uncover the underlying emotional wounds and internalized relational dynamics contributing to depression. Through the therapeutic relationship, clients can begin to mourn unresolved losses, develop a more integrated sense of self, and shift from self-punitive to self-compassionate ways of being.
Trauma & PTSD
Trauma may result from overwhelming experiences that were too difficult to process at the time they occurred. The psyche often protects itself by splitting off or repressing aspects of the traumatic event, which can later emerge as flashbacks, emotional numbing, or dissociation.
How therapy helps: In a safe and attuned therapeutic relationship, trauma can be gradually integrated. The process involves reclaiming disavowed emotions, reworking defensive structures, and establishing a coherent narrative that restores continuity to the self.
Relationship Issues
Recurring conflict, difficulty with intimacy, or patterns of emotional withdrawal often have roots in early attachment relationships. We tend to repeat familiar dynamics from the past—often unconsciously—in our current relationships.
How therapy helps: Therapy offers a space to examine relational patterns in depth, including how they manifest in the therapeutic relationship itself (transference). As these dynamics are understood and worked through, clients can develop more authentic and flexible ways of connecting with others.
Grief & Loss
Grief is a natural, yet often deeply complex emotional response to loss. When mourning is interrupted, denied, or unresolved, it can lead to prolonged emotional distress or manifest in other symptoms such as depression or anxiety.
How therapy helps: Psychodynamic therapy facilitates the process of mourning by allowing unconscious conflicts related to the lost object to emerge and be worked through. This can enable the mourner to internalize the relationship in a new way and regain emotional vitality.
Stress & Burnout
Chronic stress or burnout often arises when individuals are caught in unconscious patterns of overwork, perfectionism, or self-neglect—frequently rooted in early experiences of needing to please, perform, or protect others.
How therapy helps: By exploring the deeper meanings behind stress responses, therapy helps clients develop insight into the emotional dynamics that perpetuate burnout. This awareness opens space for healthier boundaries, greater self-care, and a redefinition of one’s role in the world.
Self-Esteem & Identity Concerns
Low self-esteem and identity confusion may stem from early relational experiences where one’s emotional needs were dismissed, criticized, or inconsistently met. Over time, these experiences are internalized, shaping how one views oneself and others.
How therapy helps: Through consistent, empathic engagement, the therapist helps the client examine internalized critical voices and rework early relational templates. Over time, this allows for the emergence of a more cohesive and authentic sense of self.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD involves intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that serve to manage internal anxiety or ward off unacceptable wishes and impulses. These rituals often have symbolic meaning, rooted in unconscious conflict.
How therapy helps: Psychodynamic therapy seeks to uncover the emotional significance of obsessive thoughts and compulsions. By understanding their symbolic function, clients can begin to tolerate previously repressed emotions and relinquish the need for rigid control.
ADHD (Children & Adults)
ADHD may involve difficulties with attention, impulse control, and organization, but it can also reflect deeper emotional struggles such as feelings of inadequacy, chronic frustration, or early relational trauma.
How therapy helps: Beyond behavioral strategies, psychodynamic work explores how difficulties with attention or self-regulation relate to the individual’s emotional life and sense of self. Therapy can support greater self-understanding and reduce shame often associated with these struggles.
Eating Disorders & Body Image Issues
Eating disorders often express complex emotional conflicts around control, identity, self-worth, and the body. These behaviors can function as attempts to manage overwhelming feelings or to communicate what cannot be spoken.
How therapy helps: Psychodynamic therapy helps clients uncover the emotional meanings behind their relationship with food and the body. Through a consistent and reflective process, clients can develop new ways of relating to themselves and others that are not organized around self-punishment or avoidance.
Addiction & Substance Use
Substance use may function as a means of escaping psychic pain, regulating affect, or filling an internal void left by early deprivation or loss. Often, addiction reflects unmet emotional needs that were never acknowledged or safely expressed.
How therapy helps: Rather than focusing solely on stopping the behavior, psychodynamic therapy explores what the substance use represents emotionally. By addressing the underlying conflicts and developing new coping capacities, individuals can find more lasting and meaningful recovery.
Life Transitions
Transitions such as divorce, career change, aging, or becoming a parent can stir unconscious anxieties, activate unresolved developmental issues, or trigger mourning for what is being left behind.
How therapy helps: Therapy provides a space to explore the psychological meaning of life changes, helping individuals process feelings of loss, uncertainty, and transformation. Through this exploration, clients often emerge with a stronger sense of direction and inner stability.
LGBTQ+ Affirmative Support
Exploring gender identity or sexual orientation may involve not only external challenges but internal conflicts shaped by early experiences, societal expectations, or unconscious identifications.
How therapy helps: We provide a reflective, nonjudgmental space to explore the emotional layers of identity. By working through shame, internalized stigma, or early relational wounds, clients can more fully inhabit their authentic selves.
Personality Disorders
Patterns of emotional instability, identity disturbance, or interpersonal difficulties may point to enduring personality structures shaped by early relational trauma or unmet developmental needs.
How therapy helps: Psychodynamic therapy addresses these patterns by exploring the client’s internal world, attachment history, and relational defenses. The therapeutic relationship itself becomes a space where new emotional experiences and modes of relating can be safely tested and internalized.