anxiety therapy

Find a Therapist in New York at PPSC

Are you searching for an experienced, professional psychotherapist to help you through some difficulties in your life? Many people start here on the Web, Googling terms such as depression and anxiety, searching for the one vetted resource that might point them toward an effective course of therapy. At PPSC, we offer patients a broad array of credentialed therapists who specialize in a number of issues, including:

Look around this site and you’ll see why our commitment to a psychoanalytic approach is the best choice for deeper, lifelong problems: analytic therapy is the only form of therapy that seeks to uproot some of the most basic causes of your distress.

To find a therapist in New York who can help you with the issues that may be holding you back in life, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at PPSC today. We look forward to speaking with you.

Help for Anxiety Disorders

Some people dismiss anxiety disorders as a matter of degree, believing that since we all get anxious, such disorders must be like that, but more. In fact anxiety disorders are completely distinct from the unease many of us experience in daily life, and they often strike in ways which are insoluble and destructive to everyday living. Many patients benefit from talking things out and understanding what is behind the anxiety – that is, what does it symbolize and where does it get its power? But sometimes the best way to understand the experience of anxiety is to dive into a first person account. This passage in a recent autobiographical piece captures an experience many of you may recognize:

It wasn’t until shortly after graduation that I gave in and found myself a therapist. And part of me still thought she’d laugh me out of her office to make room for people with real problems. But she didn’t, and in fact helped me wrangle my brain-monsters into a much more manageable state. I wish I’d found someone like her sooner; I’d thought I was being strong, but in fact I was getting more brittle by the day, putting all my energy into maintaining a hard shell that kept cracking despite my best efforts.

Availing yourself of strong mental health resources is an essential element in college and beyond. At PPSC, our analytic therapists offer compassionate and effective care to students and adults who are seeking some relief from the pain of constantly worry. To learn more, contact us today.

Making Sense of Psychotherapy

We talk a lot in this space about the benefits of psychotherapy and the various emotional difficulties which psychotherapy can help. One area we don’t cover quite as often is logistics: things like insurance, screening and plans. This recent article offers a nice primer to some of the nuts and bolts of psychotherapy, including what to can expect from insurers and first visits. It does a fine job of addressing one of the biggest concerns about therapy – confidentiality – and it provides a simple overview of what it feels like to begin this journey with your therapist:

Psychotherapy can seem daunting initially, however, many patients feel more comfortable once they have had their first session. You are there to be heard, assessed, provided feedback and treatment so that you can work on ways to help you feel healthier overall.

Psychotherapy is based on trust and on shared goals, and the surest way to find a good match is to speak with people who understand the issues that are most important to you. At PPSC, we specialize in psychotherapy for depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties and many more subjects. Contact us to learn more today.

A New Look at Relationship Therapy

At PPSC, we are proud to offer psychoanalytic services which focus on a number of issues, from depression therapy to anxiety therapy, to the subject of this post: relationship therapy. Not to be confused with the far more cerebral topic of relational therapy, relationship therapy is precisely what it sounds like: a form of analytic therapy which focuses on the relationships we build in our lives, and on the patterns which can sometimes keep us from finding true rewarding intimacy.

Although couples therapy is not a specific focus within our therapeutic ranks, we do also offer continuing courses that touch on some of the issues faced by couples. This spring we are offering two such courses:

“Couples and Money” Barbara Mitchell, LCSW

“Psychotherapy and Couples Counseling When Pornography is an Issue” Mary Klein, Ph.D

Making sense of common problems through the lens of a psychologically sophisticated worldview is one of the best ways to resolve relationship issues for good. We invite you to read further on these courses here, and feel free to contact the New York psychotherapists of PPSC if you’d like to talk to someone about the relationship issues in your life.

Finally, the Truth About Psychoanalysis

There are few disciplines more shrouded in mystery and misinformation than psychoanalysis. Because the process is by definition discreet, many people suspect that what goes on behind the closed doors of a therapist’s office must be in some way disreputable, or even bogus. But psychoanalytic therapy is an established discipline and an effective treatment for many deep-seated emotional problems including anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties.

Yet as this article describes, the myths of psychoanalysis continue to propagate unchecked. Among the most common are “psychoanalysis is only for rich people,” “psychoanalysis is all about sex,” and “psychoanalysis only focuses on the past.” The one we field the most questions about is this one:

Myth 2: Psychoanalysis never ends.

Although it is true that psychoanalysis takes longer than most psychotherapy approaches, termination and ending is an important part of the psychoanalytic process and often, the most enriching part. The reason why psychoanalysis requires time is because it aims at a deep understanding of oneself and a significant change in healing, which can only be achieved over time in a safe, trusting and honest relationship to oneself in the presence of another.

All therapies terminate; indeed, that’s goal. But the journey to get there can take long because the issues are complex, and so are the patients.

If you’d like to learn more about psychoanalytic therapy in New York, contact us today.

The Significance of Freud

Those of us who work in analytic therapy owe a great deal to Sigmund Freud, whose ideas brought grounding and energy to the discipline of modern psychology. Although many critics have rightly taken issue with some elements of Freud’s theories which no longer comport with enlightened gender politics, the balance of his foundational ideas remains as useful as ever. Now a new book has been published that explores this story in full: “Becoming Freud,” by Adam Phillips. This excellent NYT review uses the publication as a touchstone for a ranging conversation about the nature of mind. Our favorite quote follows. It’s long, but worth it:

The discovery of and exploration of the unconscious was the central drama of Freud’s life, the one thing he kept passionate faith with throughout private and professional vicissitudes. It was through attention to the unconscious that he made his major discoveries, the most important being that from birth to death we are, every last one of us, divided against ourselves. We both want to grow up and don’t want to grow up; hunger for sexual pleasure, dread sexual pleasure; hate our own aggressions — our anger, our cruelty, our humiliations — yet these are derived from the grievances we are least willing to part with. The hope of achieving an integrated self is a vain one as we are equally divided about our own suffering; we do in fact love it and want — nay, intend — never to relinquish it. What Freud found most difficult to cure in his patients, Phillips tells us, “was their (mostly unconscious) wish not to be cured.” There’s not an analysand in the world who will not recognize the bitter if profound truth of these words. As a historian of analysis once said, the best one can hope for in analysis is reconciliation, not cure. But oh! that reconciliation. What a gift it is.

Reconciliation and discovery remain hallmarks of psychotherapy, and we are proud to continue building on some of the most effective breakthroughs in our understanding of ourselves.

If you’d like to learn more about depression therapy, anxiety therapy, or low cost therapy in New York, please contact PPSC today.

A Hunger for Analytic Therapy in More Places

The benefits of talk therapy have long been known, but innovation continues to touch the world of psychotherapy. Concepts such as mindfulness and specialties such as LGBT therapy are constantly adding ferment to the field, for instance, and the advent of the Internet has added many new topics worthy of study. Recently much of the “talk” in therapeutic innovation has centered around the possibility of Web-based psychotherapy. The idea involves a version of Skype, where patient and therapist meet somewhere in cyberspace and conduct a conversation over an encrypted video connection. As a recent article in Wired described one website peddling such technology, “Patient and practitioner connect via TalkSession’s video platform—no couch required.”

Is Teletherapy Real?

There are some inherent advantages to this approach, including improved accessibility for remote patients, enhanced convenience for both patients and therapists, and freedom from the sigma of mental health appointments in communities where such prejudices remain.

Yet sites such as TalkSession cannot readily substitute for the real thing -- yet. There is a shared experience that takes place in the room which cannot easily be duplicated. (Witness the confusion that arises when your partner on Skype begin reacting to things you can’t see.) And of course there remains a formidable series of regulatory hurdles to surpass, including a byzantine national licensing system that makes out-of-state therapy a legal minefield.

Still, there is no question that teletherapy will arrive someday. What this news demonstrates most clearly to us is that vital specialties such as depression therapy, anxiety therapy and relationship therapy are still needed throughout the country. If you’d like to find a therapist here in New York City, please contact the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center today.

Welcome to the Revamped New York Psychoanalysis Blog!

Finding a therapist in New York City can be a confusing and fraught experience. You want to find the right therapist, with the right approach, and the right background. And you want to accomplish all these things on a budget that makes sense, and within a timeline that’s actually useful to you. At the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center, we are constantly exploring what makes a good therapist, and how people are best served by the therapeutic process. We read the latest studies, surface cutting edge research of our own, and train some of the finest candidates for psychoanalysis in the nation.

Our intention with this blog is to create an online touchstone for some of the most important questions, ideas and news in the field of psychoanalysis. We’ll be posting regularly on a number of subjects that continue to generate interest among our faculty, including LGBT therapy, relationship therapy, and therapies focusing on OCD, depression, anxiety and other psychological symptoms. We’ll also address some of the most common questions about psychoanalysis, from readers and patients alike.

We are truly excited to relaunch this blog and share compelling new material with you each week. Please bookmark this site and check back often. Welcome aboard!