Anxiety comes in many forms. Individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) find themselves worrying about many things much of the time, while individuals with phobias typically worry about a few specific things and only when those things are in their environment. Regardless of the type of anxiety, people who struggle with anxiety disorders tend to experience unhelpful thoughts about, and often avoid, the situations or environments that trigger their anxiety. If you're looking for therapy for anxiety in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

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CBT for anxiety targets these two major components, helping clients to both change their unhelpful thoughts and decrease the avoidance that ultimately maintains the anxiety. First, clients are taught to observe their thoughts objectively, and to conduct experiments to determine if their fears are well-founded. Additionally, clients learn and apply skills designed to decrease their distress; increase relaxation; and utilize effective problem-solving strategies. To learn more about CBT, click here. 

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Emotionally-Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) targets the emotions and beliefs that underly the anxiety. We work with our clients to help them engage with their emotions in the safe and supportive context of our therapeutic relationship. Once a client is connected with and experiencing the emotions that are usually too uncomfortable to bear alone, we choreograph moments that allow the client to reshape their emotional experience; assemble new emotions; and begin to view themselves and the world in a healthier, more secure way. To learn more about EFT, click here. 

Non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors (NSSIB, e.g., cutting) and suicidal ideation (SI) or suicidal gestures are often signs of deep distress, hopelessness, and unbearable suffering. People engage in these behaviors not to create drama or demand attention, but because these behaviors can be their only relief—albeit temporary—from the deep, significant pain they are experiencing. The most essential first step is to provide these clients with a validating and understanding environment in which they can express their pain. If you're looking for therapy for suicidal ideation or self-injury in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and DBT-informed therapy is designed to provide clients with alternative methods for alleviating their pain. First, clients will learn distress tolerance skills to allow them to resist engaging in unhelpful behaviors. Next, clients are taught emotion regulation skills, enabling them to change the emotions that are not working for them, as well as interpersonal effectiveness skills so that distressing situations are less likely to occur in the first place. These skills are further augmented by learning mindfulness skills, which allow clients to engage in distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills with greater adherence and efficacy. To learn more about DBT, click here. 

For individuals who have experienced trauma, life can feel like a never-ending nightmare, in which innumerable cues in their environment bring them right back to their traumatic experience, day after day. People with PTSD may suffer from nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, numbness, and more, which can lead to isolation, hopelessness, and feelings of self-blame. If you're looking for therapy for trauma or PTSD in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

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Prolonged Exposure (PE) for PTSD is a form of CBT that helps clients process the trauma they’ve been through so they can move forward with their lives.​ In the supportive and nonjudgmental environment of our office, the client learns what trauma is and how it impacts them. The client is then introduced to the core components of PE: In-vivo exposures and imaginal exposures. Through these safe forms of exposure, clients will strategically engage with triggers in their environment as well as the memory of the trauma itself. Ultimately, the client develops the strength to face their fears and learn that they are stronger than their trauma. To learn more about CBT, click here. 

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In Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) for PTSD, clients are similarly helped to process their traumatic experiences through retellings of the memories. In EFIT, the focus is on the importance of emotional processing, as well as on the relationship between the therapist and the client. Ensuring emotional safety and trust between us and our clients is of the utmost importance. Only once that is established will the client be ready to explore their memories of trauma, eventually reaching a point where the memories hold very little emotional weight. To learn more about EFT, click here. 

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MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD is currently in the final phases of approval by the FDA and has been deemed a breakthrough treatment, with studies showing unparalleled outcomes for trial participants. In MDMA-assisted therapy, clients are given MDMA for a number of day-long sessions co-facilitated by two therapists and focusing on processing the client's trauma. These sessions are then followed by a number of more typical therapy sessions, in which the material that was processed is further integrated. Once this treatment is approved for clinical use, Jeremy and Simi will be among the first practitioners able to provide this treatment for those suffering from PTSD, and particularly treatment-resistant PTSD. To learn more about MDMA-assisted therapy, click here. 

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary motor (movement-related) and vocal (sound-related) tics. These tics can cause social, academic, or occupational difficulties for the individuals with the diagnosis. The types of tics and how often a person has tics changes a lot over time. Even though the symptoms might appear, disappear, and reappear, these conditions are considered chronic. If you're looking for therapy for Tourette Syndrome or tics in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

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Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) is the first line of treatment for TS. Most individuals with tics report experiencing an uncomfortable feeling in the area where the tic occurs and explain that they must perform the tic to relieve that discomfort. That feeling is called the premonitory urge. CBIT begins with helping clients with tics develop a keener awareness of the premonitory urge. Armed with this improved awareness, clients then learn strategies to counteract their tics. Between learning and practicing these skills in sessions and at home, along with tracking their improvement, clients learn that though they might have tics, their tics don’t have to control them.  To learn more about CBT, click here.

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To listen to Dr. Jeremy Lichtman describe CBIT on the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome podcast, The UpTIC, click here. Dr. Lichtman goes through each aspect of the treatment and explains what clients can expect every step of the way. 

OCD is comprised of distressing, and intrusive thoughts (obsessions), which are followed by ritualistic and/or stereotypic behaviors (compulsions) performed to reduce the distress of the obsessions. These patterns of thoughts and behaviors can cause significant discomfort, can consume substantial amounts of time and energy, and can lead to feelings of depression and hopelessness. If you're looking for therapy for OCD in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

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Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold standard treatment for helping clients overcome OCD. The main ingredient in ERP is exposure therapy. In exposure therapy, clients are taught to sit with the discomfort caused by their obsessions and learn that by not engaging in their compulsive behaviors, the distress will dissipate on its own. By repeating this process in sessions and at home, clients will break free from the obsessive-compulsive cycle and discover that it is possible to shape their lives around their values, instead of around the fears caused by OCD. To learn more about CBT, click here.

Individuals suffering from depression often feel that life has no meaning, that circumstances will only change for the worse, or that other people are better off without them. These thoughts and feelings develop into patterns of behavior that cause a decrease in social support and life-affirming activities, which in turn increases suffering, hopelessness, and loneliness. If you're looking for therapy for depression in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

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Behavioral Activation (BA) for depression is a form of CBT geared toward identifying and breaking these cycles. In BA, the client is provided with a warm and supportive environment with a non-judgmental therapist who helps the client understand the causes of their depression. The client is taught to recognize the depressive cycles that they are trapped in and to develop skills to disengage from the pattern and reengage in meaningful, connected lives. To learn more about CBT, click here. 

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Emotionally-Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) targets the emotions and beliefs that underly the depression. We work with our clients to help them engage with their emotions in the safe and supportive context of our therapeutic relationship. Once a client is connected with and experiencing the emotions that are usually too uncomfortable to bear alone, we choreograph moments that allow the client to reshape their emotional experience; assemble new emotions; and begin to view themselves and the world in a healthier, more secure way. To learn more about EFT, click here. 

Every couple develops a pattern of interacting, particularly around difficult or upsetting topics. Often, these patterns, or cycles, can cause distress for the couple, and leave each member of the couple feeling alone, unseen, and even unloved-- exactly the opposite of what we all long for in our most important relationship. If you're looking for couples therapy in Highland Park, NJ; Denville, NJ; Manhattan, NY; or online in New Jersey or New York, contact us!

 

EFT couples therapy is the gold-standard treatment for relationship distress. In sessions, the couple first identifies their cycle, empowering the couple to take control of it. The therapist helps guide the couple through a phase of de-escalating the cycle, then replacing it with new, healthier interactions. Each member of the couple is supported in identifying and sharing their vulnerable emotions with their partner, thereby fostering more secure bonds and creating loving, safe connection with their loved one.  To learn more about EFT, click here. 

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In premarital counseling, couples are offered structured, time-limited therapy based on an attachment framework using the Building a Lasting Connection framework. These sessions weave together education and an experiential model to instill long-lasting skills and to create healthy cycles of communication and closeness. Partners will deepen their connection and create bonds that will last a lifetime. To learn more about Building a Lasting Connection, click here.