High Quality Therapy for Anxiety, Trauma, & Relationships

Serving Washington DC, Maryland, & Virginia

You Can Feel Better. Therapy Can Help.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, facing anxiety symptoms, struggling in relationships, stuck in the past, or frustrated with therapy that hasn’t worked – you’re not alone. Many people struggling with anxiety disorders, trauma, relationships, or depression go through life silently managing the weight of it all – often without a treatment plan that actually works for them.

I specialize in helping individuals uncover the unconscious causes of emotional pain, self-sabotage, and physical symptoms of anxiety. As a licensed therapist with in-depth, high-quality training, I use an evidence-based, experiential approach to provide meaningful relief and help clients reclaim a deeper sense of vitality, clarity, and quality of life.

Schedule a Free 15-Minute Consultation

Is This You?

  • Do you feel anxious in relationships or wonder why a past relationship ended the way it did – and what your role might have been? Are you afraid your current relationship might not last, and unsure how to stop it from slipping away?

  • Do you struggle with depression, severe anxiety, or low self-esteem – like something inside you keeps pulling you down, no matter how hard you try to stay afloat?

  • Do you experience physical symptoms of anxiety like ringing in your ears, blurry vision, brain fog, or a nauseous stomach? Have you been told it’s just stress or a medical condition, but you suspect anxiety might be behind it?

  • Do you find yourself locked in negative thought patterns or perfectionism – struggling with unhelpful thoughts and hearing from others that you’re hard on them too?

  • Is it difficult to stay present or enjoy daily life? Are you longing to feel more grounded in the present moment, more in control of how you respond to stressful situations, and more curious – rather than critical – about yourself?

  • Have you experienced a traumatic event or traumatic experience, or grown up with family dynamics that still affect your mental and physical health? Do you want to rewrite the “story” that was handed to you?

  • Have you been managing chronic pain, tension, or fatigue without answers? If a doctor told you your symptoms were stress-related, it might be time to explore the emotional root beneath them with a trusted mental health provider.

If any of these sound familiar, know that you’re not alone and and you don’t have to keep managing it all by yourself. The work I do is grounded in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) – a powerful, research-supported form of psychotherapy that is designed to get beneath the surface and uncover the root of what’s really going on. It helps you make sense of your symptoms, your patterns, and your pain – not just by talking about them, but by working through the emotions that drive them. This approach is especially effective for individuals struggling with relationships, treatment-resistant anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and related disorders that haven’t responded well to other methods.

I’ll be right there with you – honest, engaged, and committed to your growth. Let’s work together to uncover what’s keeping you stuck and find a path forward.

What I Help With

  • Treatment-Resistant Anxiety Help

    If you’ve tried cognitive-behavioral therapy, anxiety medication, or relaxation techniques and still feel hijacked by worry or panic, you’re not alone. This approach helps you identify how anxiety lives in the body and get back in control. Whether you're struggling with panic disorder, social phobia, or generalized anxiety disorder, we’ll uncover the type of anxiety you’re experiencing and create a personalized path forward – one that doesn't just manage symptoms, but changes how you experience life.

  • Treatment-Resistant Depression Help

    We’ll explore the deeper emotional roots of depression – what’s really driving it underneath the surface. Rather than relying solely on symptom reduction, this approach helps you break through long-standing blocks, challenge unhelpful thoughts, and reconnect to your sense of self. It’s not just about getting through the day—it’s about improving your overall mental health and functioning in everyday life.

  • Relationship Help

    Find out what’s really behind the patterns that are causing pain in your relationships. Understand your role in conflict – without blame – and begin to change the behaviors that keep repeating. This work draws from interpersonal therapy to help you shift long-standing dynamics, build social support, and form healthier, more satisfying connections at home, at work, and in social situations. If you’ve found yourself in abusive or unfulfilling relationships, we’ll explore why, and help you break these cycles so you can move toward healthier, more secure relationships where you can truly thrive.

  • Pain and Psychosomatic Symptoms Help

    Struggling with chronic headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension or other unexplained physical symptoms? Let’s get to the root of these sensations. Often, the body holds what the mind avoids. Together, we’ll explore what’s stored in your nervous system, using evidence-based behavioral treatments and emotional work to relieve discomfort and restore balance between your emotional and physical health.

  • Self-Esteem Help

    Discover what’s behind your inner critic and the negative self-talk that keeps you stuck. Many people don’t realize how early experiences and life events shaped their current view of themselves. Through this work, we’ll uncover those patterns and begin to replace self-judgment with clarity, self-respect, and compassion – so you can live in a way that feels more true to who you are.

  • When Therapy Hasn’t Worked Before

    Many of my clients come to me feeling disheartened after other mental health treatments didn’t feel deep enough or didn’t lead to real change. This work is different than long-term talk therapy or basic cognitive therapy. It’s not just about insight or coping skills – it’s about getting to the emotional root of the issue. Clients often tell me this therapy is unlike anything they’ve tried before and that it’s working.

  • Therapy for Therapists

    If you’re a therapist yourself, you already know how important your own internal work is. Whether you’re dealing with burnout, personal challenges, or your own mental health problems, this space is for you. I offer effective therapy for clinicians who want to go deeper, resolve personal blocks, and become more present and attuned with their clients. This work supports not just your personal well-being, but your professional growth.

  • Trauma Help

    Whether you've faced a traumatic experience, childhood neglect, or live with complex trauma, this therapy helps you process it without feeling overwhelmed. ISTDP is especially well-suited for trauma because it focuses on accessing and processing avoided emotions safely. Using a blend of emotional processing and techniques informed by systematic desensitization, we’ll face what's been avoided and open the door to lasting healing.

Let's Work Together

What is ISTDP?

Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) is a powerful, evidence-based form of psychotherapy grounded in attachment theory, mindfulness, psychodynamic therapy, and neuroscience. It’s designed to help you face the emotional conflicts that often underlie anxiety disorders, depression, low self-esteem, chronic pain, and relationship struggles.

ISTDP is especially effective for relationship challenges, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, and other related disorders – especially when past psychological treatment or anxiety treatment hasn’t worked.

Unlike standard psychological therapies or long-term talk therapy, ISTDP is experiential. We focus on accessing unconscious emotions and working through anxious feelings, feared situations, and emotional blocks stored in the nervous system. Where cognitive-behavioral therapy or cognitive therapy emphasizes changing thoughts, ISTDP goes deeper – to the root of what drives distress.

This type of therapy requires active participation. I’ll be present, honest, and compassionate – supporting you as we uncover patterns that may be limiting your progress in therapy and in real life. Grounded in decades of research studies, ISTDP often creates faster results than traditional therapy – helping you move forward with more clarity, freedom, and connection. Choose a therapist with in-depth training in a modality that is empirically based.

ISTDP is Not Talk Therapy – It's Transformational.

Recommended Resources

Research on ISTDP: Publications | Allan Abbass

Ready to Begin?

If something isn’t working – and hasn’t been for a while – you don’t have to keep pushing through it on your own. Whether it’s anxiety that keeps showing up, frustration in your relationships, or feeling stuck in the same patterns over and over, there’s a reason for it. And there are different ways to approach it.

Therapy can offer more than just conversation. It’s about understanding what’s really driving these patterns beneath the surface, so you can make real, lasting changes – in how you feel, how you show up, and how you live your real life. That might include emotional work, lifestyle changes, or practical shifts that support long-term growth.

If you're ready to take the first step toward clarity, insight, and momentum, I’d be glad to talk with you.