A brief medical appointment can identify symptoms, but a comprehensive psychological assessment helps explain why those symptoms are happening. By looking at attention, mood, learning patterns, and underlying emotional dynamics, a full assessment offers clarity that supports more accurate diagnosis and meaningful treatment planning.

Whether you’re attending or preparing for university, taking a gap year, or unsure what comes next, this stage of life often brings a mix of excitement and uncertainty. You may be exploring who you are, how you work best, and what kind of path feels meaningful for you.

Containment isn’t just for therapy—it’s a part of daily life. Parents, partners, and even leaders help others manage emotions by listening, reflecting, and holding feelings with care. Bion’s insights remind us that resilience grows in relationships, shaping how we parent, work, and love in meaningful ways.

In therapy, overwhelming feelings can be shared with the therapist, who holds and reflects on them without judgment. This process—described by Bion as containment—helps patients internalize a new way of managing emotions. Over time, what once felt unbearable becomes thinkable, building resilience and deeper self-understanding.

We often assume the ability to reflect on feelings and understand others comes naturally. In fact, this capacity—called mentalization—is learned in our earliest relationships. When caregivers imagine and respond to a baby’s distress, they teach that emotions can be understood and managed. Therapy renews this process, helping us think about our own mind and others’ with more clarity, resilience, and compassion.

A psychoanalytic psychologists reflects on the common request by patients or clients for 'tools' for their mental health.

Our ability to manage emotions doesn’t begin inside us—it begins in relationships. As infants, we rely on caregivers to hold and make sense of feelings too big for us to handle. Over time, these experiences shape our resilience and become part of our inner world

Not all couples fight. Some avoid conflict through silence or by one partner always giving in—but that’s not intimacy. This blog explores how conflict, when approached thoughtfully, can strengthen connection. Learn practical, depth-informed strategies for fighting fair, staying emotionally present, and using conflict as a path to deeper mutual understanding.

In a world that pressures parents to be perfect, the most healing thing you can offer your child is your real, imperfect self. From a psychoanalytic perspective, it’s not flawless parenting that builds emotional resilience—it’s your presence, your repair after missteps, and your willingness to be human. This blog explores why being “good enough” isn’t settling—it’s essential for your child’s development and your relationship with them.

We often tell ourselves to “just let it go”—but some patterns don’t budge for a reason. From a psychoanalytic perspective, symptoms like anxiety, perfectionism, or emotional withdrawal can serve as protective responses to deeper pain. This blog explores how understanding the meaning behind these patterns can lead to real change—without abandoning the parts of us that once needed to hold on.

Mindfulness is often praised for its ability to calm the mind—but in therapy, calm isn’t always the goal. In this post, I reflect on Ezra Klein’s conversation with Mark Epstein to explore how repetitive thoughts can carry meaning, not just distress. When mindfulness is used to suppress rather than support emotional insight, we risk reinforcing the very patterns we hope to change. Psychoanalytic therapy invites a different kind of listening.

This post explores how narcissistic relational dynamics—especially with a parent or partner—can quietly undermine a person’s sense of self. It offers a psychoanalytic lens on how these patterns form, the subtle ways they affect identity and relationships, and how depth-oriented therapy can support healing and self-understanding.

Understanding the landscape of mental health — and why an integrated therapeutic approach offers more than symptom relief

When we think about relationships, we often picture a bond between two people. But in reality, couples are rarely navigating a world of just two. Every relationship exists within a wider web—of families, histories, friendships, careers, personal dreams, and social expectations. For some in open relationships this may include a third person or partner(s).

Explore how depth psychotherapy helps individuals and couples navigate the emotional impact of financial stress, uncertainty, and the hidden weight of modern life.

Mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As a couples therapist, here’s what I’ve learned about how partners can support each other in meaningful, sustainable ways when one person is struggling.

Becoming parents can bring couples closer—and also stir up conflict, vulnerability, and unmet needs. This post can help partners make sense of the emotional terrain of parenting together

When the future feels uncertain, it’s not just our finances that feel the weight—our relationships do, too. Whether it’s job insecurity, rising costs, or broader global instability, economic stress often seeps into the day-to-day fabric of a relationship. It can influence how we talk to each other, how we make decisions, and how much we feel we can lean on one another. Many couples find themselves feeling disconnected or stuck in repetitive confl

Perfectionism is often mistaken for a strength. It’s praised in job interviews, rewarded in the workplace, and admired by those who benefit from someone else’s attention to detail or tireless effort. But beneath the polished surface, perfectionism often comes at a steep emotional cost.

If you’ve ever had an argument with your partner that seemed to go in circles—or found yourselves emotionally exhausted after trying to “talk it out”—you’re not alone. In reality, pushing through tough conversations without a break often leads to escalation and misunderstanding.