Therapy

Note: I currently have very limited availability in my practice. If you are interested, please contact me to ask about potential openings.

Overview

I work as both an adult and child psychoanalyst. My office is located in central San Francisco and I offer telehealth anywhere in the states of California and Pennsylvania.

Therapy Offerings

1) Psychotherapy is typically more specific, focused, and centers on a shorter list of psychological items, day-to-day problems, and relationship and life transition issues that a person is hoping to work through.

Psychotherapy can be shorter-term or longer-term, depending on a person’s psychological needs and wishes. And it can be effective for treating anxiety, depression, and emotional troubles coping with life’s obstacles.

2) Jungian psychoanalysis is an approach to seeking a deep understanding of a person’s life, including current and past relationships, recurring behavioral patterns, and the toll of adverse early life events and trauma that they might have experienced.

Analysis involves a longer commitment to therapeutic work. It usually entails looking for evidence of unconscious patterns, resistances to consciousness, and may include dream work.
Many patients in analysis keep a dream journal to help them. Going deeper means a person has to be highly motivated to look at these things. It’s not for everyone but offers potential for profound changes.

3) Child and adolescent psychotherapy and analysis are available in my practice, for ages 10+. Child therapy (ages 10-12) can involve the use of play, games, and imaginative activities to help them express what’s going on for them.

Adolescent therapy (ages 13-19) is primarily talk therapy that helps teenagers with complications related to their growing up, school, conflicts within their families, social anxieties, and worries about their future. I have written, taught and lectured extensively about psychotherapy and analysis with children and teenagers.

Parent consultation often occurs before beginning therapy or analysis for their child. This is geared to understanding the family history and the current situation with its challenges and complexities. Parent consultation can occur in an ongoing way when a younger child is in treatment.

Specializations

Male psychology

My experiences in treating boys and young men lead me to some unique understandings about their complexes around heroism, difficulties receiving help, and externalizing their problems.

My books on this topic include Male Alienation at the Crossroads of Identity, Culture and Cyberspace and (to be published this fall) A Practitioner’s Guide to the Male Psyche in Analysis and Psychotherapy: Under the Hoodie. I explore the topics of masculine self-concept along with various self-sabotaging behaviors that many boys and young men believe are their only choices. I also examine how they might tend to isolate themselves and prefer to not show their feelings.

Issues around gender presentation and sexuality

I have substantial clinical experience with adults, children and teenagers who are dealing with questions about their gender and sexuality. I’ve taught about gender and sexuality to many other professionals.

Immigration

My family’s immigration background has led me to work with numerous families dealing with acculturation and its stresses. In my book The Psychological Effects of Immigrating: A Depth Psychology Perspective on Relocating to a New Place, I discuss many psychological aspects of immigration and relocation.

Note that I do not perform mental health evaluations for asylum applications or for immigration-related legal proceedings.

Insurance

I accept private pay only, and accept no insurance, as I am not a member of any insurance panels. It is up to prospective patients to first contact their insurance carrier to inquire if they might be eligible to obtain reimbursement on their own.

Robert Tyminski, Jungian Analysis & Psychotherapy