Helping People Find Therapists & Advocating for Ethical and Healthy Therapy & Marriage Counseling Practices

My Approach to Helping

I've been practicing psychotherapy and teaching psychiatrists at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for over twenty years. My two areas of specialization are Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Bipolar Disorder, though I treat more common ailments such as depression and anxiety as well.
Borderline Personality Disorder:
Borderlines have problems with impulsivity, mood swing, unstable relationships, and self destructive behaviors. Despite the seriousness of the condition, contrary to the stereotype, BPD is treatable, and I've had good outcomes in the vast majority of cases. It's intensive long term work, but with a properly trained therapist and a motivated patient the prognosis is good. In 1987, I completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical in treatment of BPD working under the renowned Otto Kernberg, whose work helped define the disorder. While Kernberg's work emphasizes interpreting underlying psychodynamics and limit setting, in more recent years, I've been strongly influenced by Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), with its emphasis on meditation, the cultivation of mindfulness, and learning of skills to manage emotional volatility.
Bipolar Disorder:
While I treat all forms of bipolar disorder, I have a particular interest in hypomania, a mildly manic temperament often found among highly creative people. My book, The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a lot of) Success in America, which links hypomania to both success and the American temperament was named by the New York Times Sunday Magazine year in ideas issue as one of the most innovative and important new ideas of 2005. In my second book, In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography, named one of the best biographies of 2008 by Booklist, I present Bill Clinton as a case study in hypomania. In my work with hypomanics I emphasize how to gain self control while at the same time not losing one's creative spark

 

Services I Provide

• Individual Therapy & Counseling

Ages I Work With

• Teens
• Adults
• Elders

Languages I Speak

• English

Therapy Approaches I Use

• Integration of different therapy models

Concerns & Issues I Help With

• Identity Issues
• Attachment
• Social Skills & Problems
• Emotion Management
• Anxiety, Fear, & Stress
• Depression & Mood
• Occupational & Academic Issues
• Childhood & Adolescence
• Abuse: Emotional, Physical, or Sexual
• Sexuality