Joseph Hamer, PhD

My approach to psychotherapy is psychodynamic with special attention to cultural difference and individual uniqueness. The German term for psychodynamic therapy is Tiefenpsychologisch fundierte Psychotherapie, the emphasis being on Tiefe or depth. Depth Psychology attends to the unconscious elements of human behavior and experience, those things about ourselves that, while perceivable to some extent by others, seem to escape our own self-awareness and in problematic ways. Psychodynamic therapy affords you the opportunity to get to know yourself in a deeper way, to sort out conflicting desires, motivations, and feelings. By providing the space for the expression of feelings that may seem unacceptable or otherwise hard to face, I help you not only to deal with your emotions but also to access the wisdom they offer you. What you can hope to gain from psychotherapy depends on your problems and concerns. In addition to reducing symptoms and acute psychological distress, general benefits can include self-knowledge, increased sense of freedom or agency, greater discernment, new power to confront obstacles to life goals, self-acceptance, joy, and increased capacity for both intimacy and solitude. I'm interested in the life cycle, in time and memory. I am also highly attentive to the storied structure of experience, and find not only that the “devil is in the details” but that life’s meaning itself (in illness and in health) is in the details and the characters, the conflicts and the plot. One of my tasks is to help make visible that plot. My approach then could also be characterized as a narrative psychology. Our conversation will tack back and forth between the past, the present, and the future. I will primarily listen, but I also bring an expert knowledge of psychological conditions and will not hesitate to apply that knowledge from our first meeting onward. I will challenge you to take a good look at yourself, your story, your life and what you want to do with it.