Psychotherapy

• Adults, couples, adolescents, and families
• Free initial phone consultation prior to first appointment
• See My Specialties or call for more information

How to Make Psychotherapy Useful:

• Explain your situation or what you are looking for and ask your therapist how s/he thinks s/he might be helpful to you.
• As best you can, try to write down or talk about what you hope to get out of therapy. Have a goal.
• Allow yourself to be patient and involved in the process.
• Come to sessions prepared with an idea of what you want to focus on.
• For couples in therapy, use the therapy as a way to really understand your partner, to communicate your needs, and to look at how you might need to change your behavior to make your relationship more fulfilling. Be careful of falling into the trap of trying to change your partner.

Mindfulness Classes

The classes that I teach are rooted in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. The course content is based on the following texts:(1) Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat Zinn and (2) Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale.

Since 2004, I have offered this approach to people seeking ways to better manage moods and anxiety in their lives. It is a well researched point that once a person has been depressed, there is a higher likelihood that person will become depressed again. This class was developed to allow people an approach to prevent relapse into depression.

In order to better manage mood fluctuations, people at risk need to know the territory of depression and the process of their mind. It is my opinion, that as a culture we try to medicate depression way too quickly, denying ourselves the opportunity to actually learn from what is happening and develop our own tendencies towards healing. Prescription medications are a valid choice in many situations, however this class allows people to actually discover their mind's presence and steer more consciously through life's waters.

Throughout these classes, the central theme is about developing the capacity to observe the mind and to build a different relationship with your self. Mindfulness meditation offers the experience to actually BE with what is happening and is an opportunity to continually learn to accept what IS. We have an enormous capacity to tolerate and feel what IS without falling apart. This class helps to build that ability.

The course takes therapy and self support to a heightened level by introducing experiences through which people learn to be more compassionate with themselves. First, we need to notice our mind before we can make more compassionate choices.

Depression or anxiety can result or deepen from the way we react to our thoughts and emotions. Simply put, we try very hard to avoid what we don't like thinking or feeling and we try equally as hard to hold on to what we like. These reactions of attachment and aversion often put us into a negative emotional pattern that spirals into depression or anxiety.

Through practicing mindfulness in class and at home, participants learn and discuss typical habits of mind that can feed depression. Class time is devoted to practicing mindfulness meditation and discussing what people are learning. Through practice in class and at home, participants also recognize common patterns of mind. Building awareness and observation of these "automatic thoughts" allows people to relate differently instead of automatically avoiding or clinging to whatever is happening. Mindfulness helps to create an environment where people begin to be more aware of the mental chatter beneath the surface and to create a new relationship of support, validation and love with themselves.

The course is not a substitute for individual psychotherapy, and many people who have taken the course are also in their own therapy simultaneously.

Call me at (650)348-2797 or email me at mobyrichard@gmail.com to learn more.

Testimonials