I have a master's degree in pastoral counseling from Baltimore's Loyola University and specialize in women's issues, couples counseling using Imago therapy, and young adults.
The therapy modality that I believe provides the most effective, lasting results is Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). Here’s why:
It Works In therapy, healing occurs when clients experience their emotions. In short, healing happens when feelings are felt. The greatest gift clients can receive is the opportunity to access and purge buried feelings that clog their life’s path and purpose. Clients and I begin by together identifying their defenses, which block emotions from surfacing. Once clients are able to experience feelings blocked by damaging defense mechanisms, they often report a significant decrease in anxiety, depression, relationship struggles, and even physical ailments, just to name a few symptoms.
It Forges a Powerful Alliance My role is to empathetically draw near to clients. Together clients and I form an alliance against their damaging defense mechanisms. As we walk through the process of experiencing long-blocked emotions, they are able to reach a more confident, peaceful, and secure state of being.
It Saves Time & Money It’s an antiquated notion that clients need to be in in therapy for long, drawn-out lengths of time, which is a core belief of ISTDP. This well-researched, clinically proven therapy has been described as "...simple, short, and cost inexpensive" and reduces a wide range of core issues in a minimal amount of sessions compared to the time and financial investment required by traditional psychotherapy.
I could tell that Kessler truly wanted to help initially but became frustrated when I found her style of doing therapy not as helpful as I hoped. I wanted more feedback as to why she was doing things a certain way and this would have really helped me but she became offended when I would ask questions. I have since found an excellent therapist who is more skilled at handling the type of trauma I've been through and isn't offended at my questions or responses.