Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The basic premise of my approach to therapy is that when you are suffering, one of the following three things has to change:

1. The situation that is causing you to suffer.
2. The painful story you are telling yourself about that situation that makes you suffer.
3. The painful way you relate to the story that you tell yourself about that situation that makes you suffer.

The situation and the painful story you tell about it are both targets of traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in which we work on changing your thinking and the actions you take. The way you relate to the painful story is the target of mindfulness and is overlooked by many types of therapy.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a way to address your psychological suffering at each of these three levels, so that you can live a life aligned with your values and goals without needing a permanent therapist.

Our work together will involve specific interventions that target each of these three areas. We will problem-solve distressing situations that you have found yourself in and identify tangible actions that you can take to better those situations. We will identify and challenge unhelpful stories that exist in your thinking about yourself, your experiences, others, and the world around you. Finally, and most importantly, we will train you in mindfulness techniques to help you recognize, accept, and be unbothered by these unhelpful stories in your moment-to-moment experience without even needing to change them in the first place.

The amount that we emphasize each of these three levels will be personalized to you and your needs, based on what your goals are for treatment. With some presenting problems, such as OCD, I will draw more heavily from specific types of CBT such as Exposure and Response Prevention, as there is research that suggests it will be more helpful than a standard therapy approach.

The end result of working with me is that you will be able to fully understand the problem that brought you in, the process that you applied to defuse the problem, and how to apply this process to any future situations you encounter. At the end of our work together, you should be able to become your own therapist, and not need me anymore.