About
I am a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist with 18-years experience in a private practice setting. I earned my B.A. in Psychology from Yale University, and attended Antioch University for graduate work in Clinical Psychology. My work with individuals is psychodynamic, looking at the ways in which early attachment experiences may affect relationships, life choices, and how we see ourselves and others. In my work with couples, I use two approaches: The Gottman Method, in which I became Certified in 2015, and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, or EFT. Both methods are “evidence-based,” meaning they were developed using extensive research on how to help couples move from distress to greater closeness. I also do Marathon Couples sessions and am one of twenty therapists selected from around the world to participate in a Pilot Study with John and Julie Gottman on the design of their model for Marathon Couples Therapy.
Practice areas
In his work with both individuals and couples, Michael integrates a number of modalities to address relational issues, intrapsychic issues (such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and addiction), and somatic manifestations of stress and anxiety.
While anxiety is a common problem, it is also one of the most easily treatable. Managing anxiety might mean practicing exercises that reduce symptoms
While many underestimate depression, the right treatment can mitigate symptoms and help heal its underlying causes.
People often recognize their difficulty with alcohol and drugs, though evaluating their level of difficulty and how it impacts their lives proves more difficult.
Helping clients to understand their own body’s responses to traumatic events, and the helplessness that may linger from such experiences.
As human beings, we’re wired to be social creatures. Both in friendships and romantic relationships, we feel connected through our shared experience, creating a sense of fulfillment.
We sometimes isolate ourselves by fearing how others perceive us. We create this personal narrative—our mental self-portrait—from only a small portion of our life experiences on which we choose to focus.
- Grief & loss Treatment
- LGBTQ Issues
- Actors & Creative Individuals
Couples Therapy
A long-term relationship is like a work of art — it requires vision, perseverance, and commitment. Even the closest couples find themselves stuck at times in a kind of gridlock, where certain issues arise again and again. I have found that change is possible, even in a long-term relationship with these established patterns of conflict. Attachment theory provides a lens through which to understand gridlock. When emotional injuries from childhood, or from the relationship itself, are understood in this way, it leads to empathy–for oneself and for one’s partner. Couples therapy helps partners to understand the needs and issues that underlie gridlock, and find ways to talk to each other that leave both partners feeling safe and understood. Even when the issue remains unresolved, the dialogue itself can lead to feeling closer.