Frequently asked questions
Hilma af Klint, Buddha’s Standpoint in the Earthly Life No. 3 (1920)
Do I need to pay for the initial consultation?
No. Our first meeting is free.
Do you take insurance?
I can work in-network with Aetna and BCBS (and subsidiaries). However, since the in-network rate (typically around $80-90) is lower than my normal fee, I reserve this option for patients who are unemployed or facing financial challenges. Otherwise I can help you use out-of-network benefits or we can negotiate an out-of-pocket fee.
How do you determine the fee?
Once you agree to come in for a consultation (which itself is free of charge), a representative from Therabridge (my group practice) will reach out to you for your insurance information. They will obtain from your insurance an account of your in- and out-of-network benefits, which will be promptly communicated to you. Based on this, I will propose a fee to your consideration with an eye to making it accessible to you.
In some cases, I’m willing to reduce the fee if we meet more frequently than once per week.
How often will therapy take place?
Depending on your interests and the psychological challenges you’re facing, I will make some recommendations at the end of the consultation process. Meeting once per week is the most common frequency but a more intensive schedule is sometimes both managaeble and generative.
How long will therapy last?
It makes a lot of sense to ask this question. Therapy is a challenging (and often expensive) process and many patients want to have an end point in view. For therapists, however, it is difficult to answer this question as it depends on the unique variables of each case and how they evolve over time. What I can say is that I do not consider therapy a never-ending process. You can choose to conclude therapy at any point, and are always welcome to raise this possibility as part of the therapeutic conversation. We can explore it together.
You offer two forms of therapy: psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis. How are the two different from each other?
Let me begin with what they have in common. Both are rooted in Freudian and post-Freudian theory. As such, they understand our psychological pain in terms of unconscious processes that typically go back to the formative experiences of our early life. Both kinds of therapy assume that expressing and processing our feelings, including working through memories that we normally try to forget, can alleviate symptoms and rejuvenate the patient’s life. Finally, these therapies share the idea that the quality of the rapport between patient and therapist is crucial for effecting change.
However, psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis differ in frequency and intensity. Psychotherapy takes place once or twice per week and involves the patient and the therapist sitting across from one another, face to face, whereas psychoanalysis takes place at a frequency of three to five times per week, and involves the patient lying down on a couch, facing away from the analyst.
Psychotherapy is effective in addressing problems and challenges in the patient’s life, leading to significant alleviation of symptoms. Psychoanalysis, thanks to the immersive experience that it facilitates, can go beyond that. More involved, more frequent, it can trace the root causes of the patient’s symptoms and alter deep-seated patterns in their personality. The goal is to affect a far-reaching and enduring change, one that provides life-long autonomy and relief from neurotic patterns.