Psychotherapy for Healing
Gwen Shapiro LCSW
Below you will find descriptions of techniques and methods I've been trained in. I use these methods alone or in combination, depending on your goals and what you feel comfortable with. I always do my best to be transparent about my work with you.
SERVICES
Schema Therapy
Schema therapy integrates chair work,imagery, cognitive-behavioral therapy, trauma processing and the psychoanalytic focus on the client's emotional experiences during therapy. Schemas are 'life patterns' based on limiting and trauma-driven beliefs. Schemas often originated in traumatic or painful early life experiences and were a way for a person to make sense of what was happening.at the time. These negative belief systems, originally designed to be protective, end up holding people back from positive experiences and can result in repeating cycles of trauma and dysfunction.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR is a trauma processing tool that is effective for chronic, long-term trauma and acute, single-incident trauma. The therapist guides the client through memories of trauma at a pace that is manageable for the individual. Distancing techniques and calming visualizations are used to help the client manage painful aspects of traumatic memories. EMDR also involves bi-lateral physiological stimulation, via handheld buzzers, headphones or hand tapping, to shift traumatic memories from parts of the brain associated intense emotional arousal to parts ot the brain that store neutral, integrated memories.
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
The type of psychotherapy I utilize involves a therapist listening nonjudgmentally to a client's thoughts and feelings. The therapist creates a safe, accepting and understanding foundatjion for the client to express parts of the self that have been kept hidden due to experiences that caused anger, fear and shame. Together, therapist and client link current experiences to the past and actively explore the client's feelings throughout the psychotherapy process.