The first time I meet with a new patient I always take a few minutes to explain how anger therapy with me might be different than what you are expecting. The truth is, I am different from a lot of therapists in town, and I want to be upfront about that I need to make sure everybody knows what they are signing up for to make sure that it is a good fit. There are four main areas that are different about how I do therapy.

1) Present focused. I’m really interested in what is happening right now. How have your problems been in the last week? I’m not as interested in what happened 30 years ago. That stuff is still important, but if we get bogged down there, we will never get to how to deal with today. So we are not going to spend our time talking about ancient history. We are going to focus on now.

2) Action-oriented. A lot of anger therapy is what is called “process-oriented,” meaning we talk for a long time and then you sort of draw your own conclusions and take what you want from the session. I’m not like that. I will give you homework, talk about specific tools and things to do, and provide direction. The way I see it, if you come to me looking for direction, I want to make sure you get that.

3) Laser focused. If you have a problem, then I want us to focus on that problem. So if you are coming in for anger therapy, we are going to talk about that. If you also struggle with anxiety, parenting, marriage, etc. we may not be able to cover all of that. It’s not that I don’t care. But I want us to make progress, and if we skip around and talk about a different problem every week that is harder to do. I prefer to focus on one problem and hit it hard.

4) Brief. I see most of my patients for 12 sessions or less. The truth is, I like it that way. I want you to get the skills you need and then go on your way. I don’t want you to become dependent on therapy and stuck. No offense, but I am really not looking for someone to see once a week for the next ten years.

In other words, if you are looking for a long-term shrink to uncover your childhood and work through your deepest feelings, then that is not me. In fact, that is about as far away from what I do as possible. But if you are looking for someone to focus in on one area, work hard for a brief amount of time and make some progress, that is exactly what I do.

If that sounds like what you are looking for, give me a call or send me a message. If not, I sincerely hope you can find someone who will best fit your needs.