Greetings. Thank you for visiting my website. My name is Harlene Goldschmidt.

For Over 40 years I have devoted myself to helping people overcome their emotional and psychological difficulties. It’s been a remarkable journey seeing so many individuals growing stronger within themselves. The people with whom I have worked have learned to take care of themselves in profound ways, overcoming emotional hurdles, and envisioning possibilities for themselves that were previously unimaginable in their lives.

The essence of psychotherapy is sensitive, respectful listening with careful attention to a person’s way of life. Each individual has his or her own story to tell. As a therapist I take in fully each person’s experiences, and then help him or her sort out a confusing assortment of conflicts and emotions, including fear, pain, anger, and sadness. The people who I have helped have learned important truths about themselves. In therapy they have discovered more inner resources and an ability to make more positive connections with others. As we get to the heart of the matter, emotional healing takes place.

The people with whom I have helped have learned to work from the depths of their emotional core. Having advanced and intensive training in psychoanalysis allows me to work with dreams and other creative expressions of one’s inner life. In a safe and nurturing environment individuals tap into feelings that have been previously blocked and highly protected. The emergence of an open emotional life energizes people as they more into a more fulfilling way of living.

It takes a great deal of courage to seek out professional psychological help. You may know people who have a tendency to deny the detrimental effects of their emotional stress. Many people try to console themselves with the belief that they just need to accept their suffering. Others turn to well meaning friends, family, or self help efforts.

Psychodynamic therapists have received some welcome support from the scientific community documenting the benefits of psychodynamic treatment. A recent paper in the American Psychologist by Jonathan Shedler (Feb. 2010) looks at dozens of studies all showing that psychodynamic therapy has the same or greater effectiveness when compared to other evidence based treatments. Importantly results from a large group of well crafted studies involving over 2,000 patients showed that improvements from psychoanalytic and psychodynamic treatments increased significantly after termination. This effect was not shown for other types of psychotherapy. Follow-up intervals were anywhere from one to five years (Shedler, 2010).

Therapy sessions may be once a week or more frequent.  As a support to psychotherapy, meditation practice provides soothing, calming, grounding  and a sense of inner peace. I enjoy helping people develop an at home meditation practice.

“People who undergo psychodynamic therapy continue to make gains after the therapy ends, perhaps because it addresses underlying psychological patterns that affect many areas of life.”

From Scientific American Mind Dec.2010.

Developments in Brain Science Support Psychoanaltyic Approaches to Therapy