Psychoanalytic Therapists in San Francisco, CA

I work with adults, adolescents, and couples. Most of the adults in my practice are ambitious people who want to grow in their careers and/or romantic lives. As a psychoanalytic therapist, I'm trained to provide intensive psychotherapy that leads to long-term change. As a psychodynamic coach, I help individuals tap social and psychological resources that enable them to grow into demanding leadership roles. My style is curious and playful, direct and deep.

I help individuals who are feeling anxious, lost, disconnected, overwhelmed, unstable, or alone. These feelings may be related to a specific season of life or could be ways that you’ve felt for a long time. My areas of focus include anxiety, depression, developmental trauma, identity exploration, survivors of intimate partner abuse, life transitions, and relationship issues. My approach is compassionate, engaged, and warm.

Drawing from my background as editor of an arts magazine and a contemporary artist, I offer tailored psychoanalytic consulting services aimed at helping artists and other individuals tap into their imagination, surmount creative blocks, and unearth fresh inspiration. My practice is rooted in the belief that engaging with existential and metaphysical concepts, as well as understanding one's vocational essence, can pave the way for transformative growth and the realization of personal aspirations.

Self-discovery is a process that can be both incredibly challenging and tremendously rewarding. Sometimes we seek it out and often it finds us through painful and uncomfortable symptoms or experiences. Some symptoms that I see in my practice include relationship challenges, anxiety, depression, health issues and inner critic challenges. As a parent, I also work with new parents. Challenging experiences can lead to powerful healing and profound change. I believe in this process because it revolutionized my own life. I am honored to accompany others in their version of this process.

It is my passion and a privilege to help people struggling with anxiety, depression, self-esteem, trauma, family dynamics, relationship issues, career stress, life transitions, existential angst, and finding meaning and purpose. I welcome people of all types and backgrounds into my practice. I see you as a unique individual and I look forward to getting to know you on a deep level. I am here to support you every step of the way on your journey of self-discovery and healing transformation.

I provide contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy for people who are struggling with anxiety, depression, and relationship issues, especially in immigrant and cross-cultural families with a history of complex trauma. I believe that our symptoms make sense in the context of our early experiences, family histories, and systems we live in. We learn resilience and survival strategies in difficult situations that may not be sustainable for us now. Therapy has lasting results when it starts with an exploration of who you are as a whole person, not just the symptoms you are experiencing right now. ​

Life is change and, mostly, you've been rolling with the punches. But complicated life transitions can leave anyone at a loss. You might feel helpless, hopeless and alone in trying to cope with relationship issues and troublesome or debilitating symptoms of depression, anxiety, trauma, and obsessions. With nearly two decades of experience, I help adults and families like you navigate the turmoil of challenging life passages including death of a loved one, chronic or terminal illness, relationship issues, separation or divorce, or adjustments to a different job, culture, gender, or sexual orientation.

I am a psychoanalyst in private practice in San Francisco. In addition to my clinical work with patients, I also offer consultation for other clinicians and teach and supervise with various psychoanalytic sites in the Bay Area. My writing about the intersection between Buddhism and psychoanalysis has received awards from NCSPP, a local psychoanalytic organization, and APsaA, a national one. I can help guide you in the process of more clearly seeing and navigating your emotional landscape - why you might be prone to anger or worry, why accomplishments feel fleeting, or why things aren't working as you'd like interpersonally.

Do you feel you have it all/have enough, but do not feel satisfied, content, happy, or at peace? Do you want to find meaning and purpose in your life? Do you want to examine the root causes of your emotional suffering instead of putting a bandaid on your symptoms? If so, I invite you to schedule a 20-minute consultation with me to begin exploring your transformation. I can help you to learn to trust yourself, discern what you have and don't have control/responsibility over, and find your center/ true north, which you can utilize to make decisions more effectively and flow through life's ups and downs with more ease.

My approach to therapy is integral; I work from an attachment and trauma informed lens with a deep grounding in relational psychoanalytic theory. I have experience with treating depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, questions of gender and sexuality, complex family dynamics, relationship issues, chronic pain, and grief work. My wish it to foster a therapeutic space that feels both challenging as well as safe so that we can work together to meet your treatment goals. In our work together I may bring in mindfulness techniques, parts work, attachment theory, dream work, movement, and myth.

I have been in private practice for over 35 years. I offer an in-depth, insightful, potent and integrative approach which blends Relational, Psychodynamic, Psychoanalytic, Jungian and Mindfulness orientations.

We work with a diverse population of adult individuals, couples, and special interest groups who may be struggling with any number of mental health challenges related to anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, relationship issues, and substance abuse, among others. We are committed to providing culturally competent care across the spectrum of age, race, gender, sexuality, religion, and background.

I view psychotherapy as a joint venture in which we work collaboratively to reach your goals. My style is direct, transparent and positive, warm, interactive and nonjudgemental. I create the safety needed to allow us to explore the issues that underlie depression, anxiety, loneliness, lack of fulfillment and other concerns. As a therapist I follow your lead. With over two decades of experience I work diligently to understand each individual, employing elements of psychoanalytic, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral theories to create an approach that best suits the unique individuals and relationships with whom I am working.

If your child has experienced trauma & dissociation, they may have trouble managing their feelings, communicating their needs, or be using challenging behaviors. The world can feel scary to the traumatized child, so it's hard for them to communicate. They often cope in ways that were the best solution during the trauma, but no longer fit current circumstances, and which seem confusing or destructive. I see it as my job to help your child explore their inner world, so, through the language of play, they can learn how to express emotions, solve problems, & get needs met in healthy ways that fit the present!

Too often psychotherapy focuses on causality, pathology and cures. However, rather than being "sick" or 'broken", often we are just lost inside ourselves or relationships. Everyone is a unique person with their own story, experience and perspective. The goal of therapy is to achieve a deeper awareness of where we are, to discover internal meaning for our many experiences, and to experience a life worth living. While working towards that awareness, I also feel it important to teach individuals, couples and families the skills needed to cope with the pain and day to day stressors that bring them into therapy.

Bianca Aarons is a San Francisco based Couples Therapist and Individual Therapist who works in an integrative way, incorporating a psychoanalytic, relational, and somatic styles of working. Bianca treats couples who struggle with communication, survivors of sexual abuse, and others to help people find their voice, to feel empowered, and to access healthy anger and boundaries. Bianca also works with people who struggle within relationships because of anxiety and past family issues which may have let to lower self esteem and perfectionism. She works in a direct and honest way while also being very compassionate and empathetic.

I am a licensed psychologist with over 20 years of clinical experience. My approach to psychotherapy is referred to as psychoanalytic or insight-oriented therapy. This type of therapy stresses that each person and their difficulties are unique. And that our difficulties are often rooted in factors outside of our awareness. People seek therapy for a situation that requires attention, and in my experience this generally concerns multiple and interacting problems rather than isolated symptoms. As therapy progresses the immediate feelings of distress typically diminish in severity. It then becomes possible to focus on understanding the factors that contributed to

My style of working is thoughtful and direct. I am committed to helping people discover and enhance their emotional capacity in order to create more satisfying lives. Through the transformative experience of being deeply understood by another in an authentic, safe and honest relationship, people can transform destructive patterns into more satisfying expressions of self.

I bring 40 plus years of assorted, diverse and complex Clinical Experience to the care of my patients. I offer Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy providing Individual, Couple & Family Treatments. MFT License 17611 - May 1982; Certified as a Psychoanalyst by The International Psychoanalytical Association. Working in conjunction with each person that comes to me, I strive to formulate a treatment which is responsive and that creates the conditions to most deeply address their personal concerns.