About Me
My take on therapy.
People come for therapy for different reasons. Sometimes unfortunate things happen in life, death of a loved one, loss of a job or the end of a relationship and they are looking for support and guidance. If what happened to them is not of their own making in a few sessions therapy can help dealing with that particular event by either finding a way out of that situation, looking at it from different perspectives, or by allowing the process of mourning, picking up the pieces and going on with life.
But sometimes, people find themselves “stuck” in the same situation, even if it is not apparent to them, unhappy with where their lives are going, postponing decisions or the contrary jumping into situations without the proper evaluation of consequences. Sometimes sabotaging themselves and the things that are most dear to them, jobs, relationships. In those cases a more in depth look is necessary, looking for strong marks from the past. It’s important to look at one’s history only as it sheds light into the present.
A person is a unity in time, not separate from their past. The past shapes us and sometimes it takes a toll. Problems sometimes are not external to a person, but there is stuff inside that sabotages goals and aspirations.
A therapist needs to explore whether the impediments are a matter of fate or bad luck, or instead a patient’s own making. Therapist and patient need to work together to figure this out and rectify it.
There are other cases where people go to therapy because of how they feel. They can feel unhappy or painfully anxious or depressed. Medications are helpful in some cases but they never work alone. They don’t solve the root causes for those feelings. Feelings and ideas are linked together. Therapy is important in order to understand, and to make sense, even if a solution is not immediately obvious. The mere fact of being able to understand alleviates those feelings either but changing the optic one had about the reason to feel like that in the first place, or because one can see others and themselves in a kinder, more forgiving way. Whatever the case may be, talking and understanding is a human privilege that everybody should exercise. However, it should not be confused with talking to a friend or a relative, that with the best of intentions want to give counsel, or take sides in the matter to make you feel good. Therapy is about finding the truth about oneself, and if anything the process of therapy should result in just that, knowing a little bit more about yourself.
Why therapy outside of the insurance network?
I work without insurance network. They have too much influence on people’s health decisions in a way that is detrimental to my patients and contrary to my belief system. Companies that have no knowledge or training in Psychotherapy, get to decide how many sessions, which conditions need treatment, etc. Everybody has to have a treatable diagnosis that is standardized and you never know nowadays what is the destiny of that information.
For that reason I prefer to work on a sliding scale fee.
Achievements
- M.A. Psychology, National University of Buenos Aires,1983
- M.A. Developmental Psychology, Columbia University,1985
- Full time private practice in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, couple and family therapy, in practice since 1986.
- Psychoanalytic training. World Association of Psychoanalysis. 1989
- Faculty at the Institute for Research and Development of Psychoanalysis (Miami chapter), a branch of
- nstitute du Champ Freudien , Paris, since 2004.
- Faculty Committee and Board member at the Institute for Research and Development in Psychoanalysis, since 2004.
- Clinical theory consultant for Family Therapy Clinical Program at Carlos Albizu University.
- Supervisor for Mental Health Interns seeking license to practice in the State of Florida.
- Several conferences given in University settings and symposiums and professional congresses, the latest at Carlos Albizu University in Miami, on “Subjectivity in our times: The role of the function of the father and the Symbolic order”.
Books and Press Articles
- Farmakon:”Heroin: new addiction modalities in USA”.
- Logos: Philosophy and Psychoanalysis,The validity of J.Paul Sartre’s work for psychoanalysis”.
- Logos I : “Some Reflexions on being an analyst”
- Logos II : “Is psychoanalysis scientific?”
- Logos IV: Editorial commentary on “Love and our Times”
- Echoes: “What art can teach us: Reflexions on Boticcelli’s painting ‘Venus and Mars’.
- Past Board member of the “Lacanian Compass” an online publication where I wrote the editorial page from 2006 to 2008.