My Philosophy and Approach in Therapy

IMPORTANT NOTE: None of the information below should be construed as therapy recommendations/advice. Always consult directly with your own therapist before considering new approaches and beliefs to help yourself.

My Philosophy

  • Philosophy is important because effective therapy is all about the power of belief.

  • If you just want a practical guide to how I conduct therapy and don’t care for this philosophy fluff, click here to scroll to the bottom.

  • I believe that Depression/Anxiety and almost all conditions related to them result from the following two processes:

  • The process of unconsciously lying to ourselves about something that is true and real in our life. Lying will create the symptoms that lead to Depression/Anxiety. Depression/Anxiety remains in place until we reach acceptance of what is true and real in our lives.

  • A process of consciously avoiding our own emotional pain. Self-Deception by definition is painful, so we will conjure up elaborate, complex ways to both avoid dealing with this pain and rationalize this avoidance.

If you resolve these two processes, the Depression/Anxiety will have no further reason to exist and will typically vanish.

Once you’ve learned how to do this the first time, future relapses will be much easier to resolve.

How to Treat Self-Deception

  • Understanding and Acceptance are the antidote to Self-Deception. All forms of therapy converge on these two outcomes.

    • Understanding is done through exploring why you’re having your Depression/Anxiety right now so you can discover the truth.

    • Acceptance is done after you’ve gained full understanding of the truth and is a personal choice - you can accept this truth and change your perception(s) or you can accept this truth and hold onto your old perception. Either direction leads to resolution of Self-Deception.

    • Scroll down further to the section titled “How I Conduct Therapy” and “How I Conduct Sessions” for a practical guide of how to do the above.

How to Treat Ignorance

  • Commitments and Decisions are the antidote to Ignorance. The Evaluation Period is designed to negotiate these two items.

    • Commitments are pre-requisites to starting treatment - they are negotiated by asking you to give up a problematic belief/behavior in your life.

    • Decisions are negotiated through a discussion of benefits vs. risks of accepting Commitments.

    • Read more at this link here about the Evaluation Period for a practical guide on how to do the above.

How I Conduct Therapy

Please expand the items below to see how I usually conduct therapy.

    1. Frequency and Duration of Visits: I see people 1x/week for 50–60 minute appointments. I do NOT do intensives (i.e. multiple appointments a week or double/triple sessions).

    2. Conversation, Writing, and Timing: The therapy is delivered purely through straightforward, practical conversation and through writing things down. Patience is also required - my role as the therapist is to guide you to the right time for you to recover. This varies between individuals and cannot be predicted ahead of time.

    1. Homework: I commonly assign Light Journaling and Walking Meditation. Light Journaling is simple: just write down brief answers to questions that I send you home with. Walking Meditation is the same thing but you’re walking while pondering those questions. This is to help primarily with self-understanding.

    2. Surveys: You will fill out a mood survey (takes around 2-3 minutes to fill out) at the beginning and ending of each session to determine if you’re improving.

    1. Recovery: At every session, I’ll look for signs of recovery. One of the telltale signs is a complete or near complete elimination of all negative symptoms. Recovery can happen within or outside of sessions. It tends to happen more often outside of sessions when you discover a new insight yourself.

    2. Relapse Prevention: After you've recovered, I'll have one final appointment with you to teach the mindset and the tools to deal with future relapses.

    3. Termination: The therapy will be terminated should you reach recovery, wish to drop out, or want to be referred.

How I Conduct Sessions

Please expand the items below to see how I usually conduct sessions. I’ve separated them out by three sections. Keep in mind that this is a rough outline and that each session can be conducted in a radically different manner if the situation calls for it.

    1. Review of Survey: I will review the mood survey to check in with how you’re feeling.

    2. Review of Homework: We will go over the homework that I had assigned to you from the previous session.

    1. Re-Assessment: We will re-evaluate your problem(s) at each session as you uncover and understand new information about your symptoms.

    2. Support/Empathy: I will voice back what you share with me to see if I also have an understanding of your symptoms.

    3. Recommendations: I will offer my recommendations for how to resolve your symptoms. To keep you accountable, I'll usually recommend you make a commitment that supports your recovery as a pre-requisite to continuing treatment.

    1. Decision Making: You'll have a choice to go through with my recommendations, ask for a referral, or take a break from therapy.

    2. Methods/Techniques: If you agree to my recommendations, I'll teach you a method or technique I believe will help you.

    3. Assign Homework: Whatever we cannot finish fully discussing in session, I'll assign it to you as homework.