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"This
quality between the sober and the fantastic, between everyday life and
magic, between material and psychical reality, is the essential
characteristic of the atmosphere of the analytic situation...A room
like any other...becomes the place for passionate emotions, for deeply
felt reminiscences, for good and evil deeds in thought" - Theodor Reik -
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A Quiet
Room
There
is a quiet room facing east on the 35th
floor of an apartment building in Lower Manhattan. Outside, beyond the
window blinds, skyscrapers congregate on the horizon. Inside, at the
foot of a chair, a dachshund snoozes, as two
people, sometimes three or more, sit and talk, and listen, and conduct
the
mysterious discipline of psychotherapy.
Like Freud’s office, mine is in my home. It contains the tools of
my trade: chairs, a couch, an inclination to listen, a
philosophy of respect and a desire to understand. If you care to
join me, we can devote time together here to work that could
change both our lives.
Hearing
Yourself
My
patients come from all sorts of backgrounds, young and old, men and
women, gay and
straight, artists and businesspeople. I am a former corporate lawyer
and marketing executive in the book-selling world, and I respect and
celebrate the diverse backgrounds of the people who walk through my
door. Some arrive depressed, some joyful and some in-between. All
share the desire to hear themselves and gain a broadened personal
awareness.
The assignment in the quiet room is simple: to put your thoughts
and feelings into words. Our shared purpose is to make your
acquaintance, to listen and learn so you can achieve your most
authentic self, fulfill your dreams and live in contentment, conscious
of your full range of feeling.
Integrative Psychotherapy seeks an integration of the unconscious into
the conscious, a percolation from within, an unmasking of the
self. We seek to hear the buried voices, to notice aspects of
being that occur on autopilot, gifts that are denied, songs of the
heart that go unheard.
Who is your most authentic self? What do you long to
achieve? Who do you love, and how do you express that
love? Working together, we can explore these and other questions central to the life you lead.
Couples
Some of
the people who come to the quiet room have partners, or lovers, or
wives or husbands whom they would like to understand more fully as they
attempt the task of walking a path of life together. I welcome you both, and respect
the challenge of partnership. Any couple can benefit from time
spent communicating in this focused setting and making new discoveries about yourselves and one another.
Group
Group
psychotherapy is a laboratory, a
microcosm of the outside world, where we study ourselves interacting
with others. The work, when we gather as a group, is horizontal, rather
than vertical. The focus turns to one another, so we may learn
more about ourselves. Two groups are currently ongoing, and it is
possible another will form over time. Group psychotherapy complements
individual therapy, expanding the interaction with the therapist out
into a roomful of strangers. In coming to know and understand
these strangers and your means of relating to them, you gain awareness
of your place in the world around you.
What it
Costs
My
work in the quiet room means more to me than simply earning money, and
I keep the door open to all. Fees are
decided on a sliding scale based upon what you tell me you can
afford. The lowest fee matches the typical charge at a
neighborhood clinic offering services to people with limited incomes,
including artists and writers and students and creative people.
My top fee is commensurate with rates charged by therapists throughout
New York City,
and I will ask you to pay it only if you have the means to do so.
I can provide you with an invoice for my services that you can submit
to your insurer for reimbursement. I work with many patients who live
overseas or in different cities, via the internet, using Skype or other
videochat services.
You
can come to the
quiet room as often or as seldom as you wish - whether that means a
single 50-minute
session, or a session every week or every month,
or whenever you have a thought or feeling you'd like to put into words,
or simply need a place to regain your center, or hone an insight.
If you care to visit and see
if this work is right for you, please call or email so we can set up an
appointment. I’m here to listen.
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