Thomas J. Parisi, Ph.D., M.F.T., C.Ht. offers psychotherapy for children, adolescents, individual adults, couples, families, and groups. Psychotherapy counseling, or talk therapy, is the conscious discussion of your life, what it means to you, and how you want to experience yourself in it. The working relationship with your counselor is of utmost important. For this reason, you are encouraged to look around and find who you feel is the best fit.

Some of the more common concerns people enter psychotherapy for include depression, social anxiety, panic attacks, grieving, divorce, mixed families, eating disorders, sexual identity issues, parenting children with significant needs, job transitions, relationship problems, intimacy issues, sexual dysfunctions, insomnia, and self-exploration.

One of the benefits of psychotherapy can include a deeper sense of presence in one’s life. This means that you can enjoy the feeling of being grounded in your own body, of experiencing your life as your own, and of making conscious effective decisions for your life. Many people who enter psychotherapy eventually experience higher levels of belief in themselves and a greater trust in the world around them. People may learn to trust their own potential and abilities. The need for approval from others may decrease, while the feeling of self-approval increases. Feelings of trust, intuition, empathy, spontaneity, confidence, independence, connectedness, self-expression, enthusiasm, curiosity, creativity, and interest in spiritual development are common outcomes of psychotherapy.

In our complicated lives we are offered the choice to continue growing or to remain stunted in ineffective and unrewarding patterns Sometimes seeing this as a choice seems like a distant wish. We can grow in positive ways by choosing to face our problems, often in a different way from how we’ve dealt with them before. The process of psychotherapy can help you understand the issues that you grapple with, to find out what they mean to you, to discover what you can learn from them, and to move into a new and clearer space of self-understanding and empowerment. During this process we may explore your early family dynamics, in trying to understand how you became who you are today. You are invited to find whether this learned way of being “works” for you. If it doesn’t, we feel out a way for you to make your life yours again, maybe for the first time.

Psychotherapy counseling can be short-term and solution-focused. This means that we identify the issues, determine the desired outcome, and work on attaining your goals. Results can be tangible and powerful.

Longer-term work can help you to open up those parts of your life in which you feel disconnected, empty, stuck, and ineffective. This may involve exploring your relationship with your loved ones, with your work, and with yourself. Sometimes changes are not what you anticipated, and frequently the road to feeling better presents its own set of challenges. Acceptance can be a journey, in and of itself. This is why the working relationship with your counselor is of utmost importance.

Addictions are another common issue addressed in psychotherapy. Many people on the road to recovery enter rehabilitation centers and/or attend support meetings. These tools are highly beneficial and encouraged. Still, psychotherapy is a powerful and effective adjunct in working to overcome addiction.

One other tool that can be very helpful in moving beyond certain points of resistance is hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is offered on an as-needed basis and only after I feel that I have a deepened sense of your emotional experience. It can be extremely effective in coping with social anxiety and panic attacks. Further, hypnotherapy is very helpful for those interested in exploring more deliberate methods of relaxing their minds and bodies. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please feel free to contact Thomas J. Parisi, Ph.D., M.F.T., C.Ht. with any questions that you may have.

 (310) 424-8516