Psychodynamic Therapists in San Francisco, CA

Most of us want the same thing: to be happy. If you are on this website, you are most likely experiencing some discomfort - mental, physical, emotional - and have realized that sometimes it's hard to go it alone. You may be facing tenacious challenges like loneliness, less-than-satisfying relationships, illness, ADHD, anxiety, grief, low self-esteem, body/food conflicts, procrastination and parenting issues. If so, having someone who knows the terrain makes for a more successful outcome.

Something is no longer working. You sense you have the capacity to experience greater ease and joy in your life. Through the therapeutic relationship, I provide a safe and nurturing environment, where we can address emotional blocks and patterns of behavior that are no longer serving. Through body awareness, mindfulness, and deep listening I will support your unfolding, bringing strength and clarity to your relationships and decision making. Whether you are struggling with a phase of life change, anxiety, depression, or unresolved trauma, I offer a warm and non judgmental space for the process of healing to occur.

Your problems can do more than simply cause suffering. If you can understand them better, you can make use of them. Good therapy offers a supportive, non-judgmental space where you can transform personal difficulty from something to survive into something truly beneficial. Toward this end, I find direct feedback, humor, empathy, and true collaboration to be indispensable tools.

I believe that understanding and compassion are vital for building trust, mutual respect, and openness, all of which are essential in forming a therapeutic relationship that can encourage change. My style in therapy is a mix of person-centered, solution-focused, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic theories. With children I utilize a variety of expressive therapies including play, art, narrative, sand tray and bibliotherapy. In working with children, adolescents and adults, I use a cognitive behavioral therapeutic approach.

My highest aim as your therapist is to co-create a lasting and genuine healing relationship, one where you feel supported to express yourself authentically and make the changes necessary in your life to live, love and work wholeheartedly. Together we will explore the issues, concerns and challenges that are coming up for you and how they are getting in the way of you living the life you want.

Entering into a therapeutic process is like traveling to another country: full of promises and somewhat disorienting. Each experience is unique, it takes time to feel at home, and it's often more fulfilling accompanied by a local. Psychotherapy provides an opportunity to slow down and establish an intimate and safe space to be curious about one's mind. Working together, we can explore your internal landscape and create alternative paths. In my experience, there is often no straightforward answer to one's suffering, feelings of emptiness, or confusion.

I am a bilingual (English and Spanish-speaking) licensed clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy services to adults, children, adolescents families. I support clients in fostering resilience and in building more meaningful, connected relationships. In therapy, I take a supportive, curious, nonjudgemental stance. My clients struggle with issues related to depression, anxiety, loss, adoption, psychological trauma, childhood development, parenting, and everyday stressors.

Do you feel stuck, hopeless, or alone? Is it difficult for you to get your needs met? Does it feel like you give more than you get? For over 20 years, I have had the opportunity to work alongside individuals, families, and couples in a variety of mental health settings targeting symptoms of anxiety, relationship challenges, life transitions and depression. We will take a look at what lies underneath your pain points as this kind of exploration can be a catalyst towards healing. Together, we will find practical tools that you can integrate immediately so that you can continue to thrive and live a life that feels in balance.

Whether or not they say it, most of the people that I see want to live a life that is worth living. They want to feel empowered-- to be active participants in their lives. You may feel a void, emptiness, and that something is missing. Often people feel stuck in their lives because they have lost connection with a vital part of themselves and with their hopes and desires. This vitality is the source of our imagination and creativity. This internal source and "knowing" of what we need and want becomes disconnected, covered over by past disappointments, losses and fears.

As an Integrative Psychotherapist, I base my approach from the relational work of Psychodynamic Therapy and integrate forms of Attachment Therapy, Narrative Therapy, CBT, DBT, Mindfulness Practices, Parts Work, Addiction and Trauma work - all based in Social Justice. I fully believe that every individual has the power and strength they need to actualize the changes they want, and can shift the old and new narratives of established stories and patterns of their daily lives.

I approach psychotherapy from a whole-person perspective and I believe therapy, along with other practices, can help us awaken to a life of meaning. In therapy I will help you identify the source of your longing to be whole, and together, we will move closer to that source, so you become re-sourced. Together we will explore your innate natural cycles and help you align to your own rhythm, so that you might meet depletion with rest and energy with creativity.

**Please see DrJerryBakka.com for more information. Therapy is a collaboration with my clients to ensure a safe, non-judgmental place to explore feelings, cognitions, patterns, and options. My psychodynamic and CBT perspectives look at current difficulties through exploration of past and present experiences. I work with people brand new to therapy but have also been the psychologist to many therapists. Vast experience allows me to draw upon 30 years of work in hospitals and private practice. To begin, I help clients articulate expectations for therapy so that together we can create a positive, productive therapeutic relationship.

Are you anxious? Troubled? Stuck? I know how difficult it is to enjoy life when you feel trapped by stressful thoughts, feelings, circumstances, relationships. I work creatively with you as you work through difficulties and find new energy and inspiration in your life. We will work together to decrease your current distress as quickly as possible, while helping you to gain deeper insight and move forward positively in your life. I'll tailor my therapeutic approach to meet your specific needs, utilizing a variety of strategies such as hypnosis, EMDR, mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), stress management, relaxation, CBT.

There is a crisis of meaning and purpose in our society and far too few communities of support to guide us through the difficulties of modern life. I work with clients using psychodynamic, interpersonal and mindfulness-based approaches to help people move from lives of loneliness and alienation to lives of connection and purpose. Creating a safe and nurturing relationship with my clients is of primary importance in my work.

If life events, relationships, performance, school or job stresses have brought you here, you deserve congratulations for having already done 50% of the work. Your willingness to consult and collaborate with a practiced professional means you have taken an all important first step in developing a lifelong plan toward a sense of well being and vitality. My practice combines a research degree in Developmental Psychology with PhD in Clinical Psychology to identify and disable hidden, often old, myths that have blocked or hindered my clients' access to happy, fulfilled lives at each stage of development. Together we can do it.

My work is informed by years of practice and research in evidence-based methods and interventions aimed at helping people change. I create strong collaborative relationships with a goal of helping to improve personal and interpersonal effectiveness, and to bringing about one's best, most authentic self. By working on problematic relationship patterns, changing patterns of thought and behavior, and by learning to become more flexible and integrated, my aim is to increase my patients' overall effectiveness and help them lead happier, more fulfilling lives. I expect changes made in therapy will lead to systemic improvements in my patients' lives.

My practice is devoted to therapy with gay men and counseling for gay couples. I specialize in gay, bisexual and trans issues, including relationships, intimacy and sex, as well as depression, anxiety, trauma, isolation and HIV. I have written extensively about the psychological and social issues of gay men and gay communities. My most recent book, released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (and Penguin Random House in the U.K.), is "Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives."

Now Providing Clinical Supervision in MA, NY, CA & OR. When people come to therapy, it's important to remember that they are trying to cope in the best way they can. You don't have to wait until things feel unbearable. I have been a psychotherapist for over 20 years, and have experience working with Online Gaming, Adolescents, Parenting Conflicts, Cross-cultural Therapy, Learning Disabilities, Depression, GLBT Issues, Bereavement, Anxiety and Trauma.

Are you experiencing feelings of anxiety or depression? Is your mood affecting your relationships or career? Sometimes life's challenges become difficult to overcome alone. I offer free phone consultations to see if my practice might be the right fit for your needs. I have diverse training and experience working with adults, adolescents, couples and families. While there are no guarantees of what you will experience, therapy has shown significant benefits for most people who go through it. And being here, on this site, is an important first step.