Psychotherapy Treatment Services

Common Questions                                          

• What can You Expect from My Private Practice?                          

• What is Psychotherapy?

• Does Psychotherapy Really Work?

• Is Therapy Really Worth it?                   

• How Do I know if I need Therapy?

• Can I use my Insurance?

• How Often will we Meet?                        

• My Unique Approach

• Common Psychological Problems Treated

• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

• Basic Treatment Options

•             Individual Psychotherapy

•             Group Psychotherapy

•             Couples Therapy

• Links               

My Unique Approach

One of the unique aspects of my practice is the strong emphasis I place on individually customized therapy treatment. Rather than simply treating patients "by rote," the individual needs, wants, strengths and resources of each patient are carefully considered. During this meeting, the individual's background, therapeutic concerns and goals, schedule availability and financial resources are discussed, and a treatment plan is agreed upon. This plan may consist of one or more of the treatments described below, and may undergo change as therapy progresses.

How do you know if you may need therapy?

Have you been feeling sad, empty or maybe crying a lot for no reason? 

 Maybe you have been feeling worthless or guilty?

 Have you been stressed out, angry, worried?

Are you having trouble at work, home, or with your relationships?

Everyone goes through life challenges a one time or another, whether they are personal, career, or relationship transitions. With professional help, you can often go through them more quickly, and move on with more confidence, success and meaning in your life. There may be a time when your family and friends don't have the expertise to help - and you might wonder where to turn next. Being distressed can make us feel we have little control over our life. It can make us feel alone and that any attempt to get our life back on track is hopeless. We all face problems in our lives  which can be caused by things like relationships, work, drug abuse or addiction, career or family challenges. Symptoms such as depression, anger, anxiety can accompany these problems and make it difficult or impossible for us to cope. Therapy with a psychologist can help you get back on track and enhance the quality of your life. We will meet in a safe, caring and non-judgmental environment in which all troubling feelings, thoughts and memories can be addressed in order to make positive changes in your life.

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is not easily described in general statements. It varies depending on the personalities of the psychologist and patient, and the particular problems you bring forward. There are many different methods I may use to deal with the problems that you hope to address. Please see below for a summary of the methods I typically use. Psychotherapy is not like a medical doctor visit. Instead, it calls for a very active effort on your part. In order for the therapy to be most successful, you will have to work on things we talk about both during our sessions and at home.

Therapy often works by:

• Offering an opportunity to explore thoughts and feelings

• Helping a person to look at changes that they may wish to make and to begin to come to terms with the things that perhaps cannot be changed

• Enabling a person to make links between past events and present difficulties

Common Psychological Problems Treated  

• Sadness, Grief, Loss, Depression (To learn more about Depression, please click on this link)
• Fear, Worry, Anxiety, Panic (To learn more about Anxiety, please click on this link)
• Drug and Alcohol Problems (To learn more about Drugs and Alcohol, please click on this link)
• Stress Management (To learn more about Stress and Trauma, please click on this link)
• Work-Life Balance
• Career Issues
• Anger Management
• Relationships and Communication
• Confidence and Self-Esteem
• Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Psychological Complications of Medical Disease and Medical Tests (see below)

In addition to my professional specialties below, I provide psychotherapy for patients who suffer from the psychological complications of medical diseases, as well as for those undergoing the stress of medical  tests and procedures, such as coronary heart disease. Evidence is mounting that depression, along with stress and anxiety, is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease and portends a worse outcome in cardiac patients. Recent studies have also linked depression with increased risk of death from stroke and higher levels of inflammatory markers associated with coronary heart disease. Depression can be easily diagnosed and safely treated in cardiac patients, but it is often undertreated.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy views problems as resulting from unresolved experiences and conflicts. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression or relationship problems are seen as the outward sign of events and processes which may be unconscious. Just as past patterns may be repeated in current relationships they will also tend to be seen in the relationship with the therapist. In the safety of a supportive professional relationship these patterns can be made clear, risks taken and new ways of thinking and relating can be attempted.

In all forms of psychodynamic therapy, the intention is to provide a safe environment in which troubling feelings, thoughts and memories can be considered. The emphasis is on facilitating the understanding and resolution of current difficulties by a process of facilitating a corrective emotional experience. 

Cognitive-behavioral therapy involves evaluating the way the client thinks and feels from situation to situation, helping him or her identify faulty thinking patterns that were learned earlier in life. This approach is known to be effective for people with anxiety, panic, obsessive compulsive disorder and depressive disorders. It also helps people who experience psychosis either to deal with their psychotic symptoms or to deal with another problem as well, such as anxiety or depression. The typical treatment length is also short-term.

Typically, individual treatment involves seeing the therapist one to two times per week for a 50 minute session, although other schedules are not uncommon. Due to financial concerns, for example, some patients opt to see the therapist every other week. Similarly, some clients, who are interested in very intensive work, may come as often as four or five times weekly. Scheduling is determined by individual goals, personality style and financial resources.

Psychodynamic groups are based on the same principles as individual dynamic therapy and aim to help people with past difficulties, relationships and trauma as well as current problems. They aim to do this with the help of the whole group of up to eight people plus one or two facilitators. Groups are based on the principle that groups themselves are helpful, supportive and enabling to people and that the whole group can be involved in change and understanding. People tend to attend groups for between nine months to two years although we run some more focused groups which may last a shorter period of time.

• Discovering relationship patterns

• Improving communication/social skills

• Learning to have close and rewarding relationships

• Overcoming shyness

The purpose of this group is to explore interpersonal relationships and provide focused solutions to achieving healthy, intimate and rewarding relationships.  If your relationships have been painful and difficult and you feel that you have missed out on intimacy, closeness and commitment, this is your opportunity to resolve these issues and overcome barriers to communication and understanding.

Couples Therapy

Most relationships are imbalanced in certain areas, leading to recurring power struggles and arguments. Areas such as sexual frequency, financial matters and child-rearing are common conflict areas. It can be useful to explore these conflicts and imbalances with the aid of a relatively unbiased observer. Certain power struggles and cooperative dynamics may have become so habitual or automatic in an intimate relationship that the individuals within the relationship may have learned to simply "settle," accepting areas of chronic dissatisfaction within the relationship as "the way things are." The therapist draws the couple's attention to various patterns underlying stubborn conflicts without taking sides or laying blame. Since clients in couples counseling are encouraged to understand their individual issues as they relate to couple dynamics, supplemental individual therapy is sometimes suggested as a means to maximize and accelerate couples work. Dr. Yufik openly welcomes both married and unmarried, heterosexual and same-sex couples.

How often will we meet?

In this case, there are no ready-made answers for this question, as individuals differ widely in their psychological wants and needs, financial resources and overall personality structures. Of the various treatment options, however, a common meeting format involves once or twice-weekly visits for 50 minute sessions. Although coming less frequently (some clients come every other week, for example) can still be effective, the regular weekly meeting schedule allows for a real momentum of change to be established, as well as fostering a more dynamic and intimate relationship between the therapist and client. With this in mind, some highly-motivated clients choose to come up to four or five times weekly, forming a deep alliance with the therapist so that even the earliest personality building blocks can be re-examined from a new, more intentional perspective. Contrary to many common misconceptions regarding the treatment process, psychotherapy includes hard work and courage. Anyone who is able and willing to examine his or herself honestly and openly in the context of therapy will likely begin to see benefits of this personal work very early in the treatment process.

Insurance Policy

I have chosen not to join insurance panels (and is therefore not generally available as an in-network provider). In many instances, however, out-of-network benefits will still cover a significant portion of your treatment costs. In some cases, this reimbursement rate is lower than that for in-network benefits, but for other individuals benefits are equal to those for in-network providers. You can discuss these details with your therapist in session or on the phone. 

Many successful, established psychologists do not join insurance panels for three reasons. First, there is a great deal of paperwork to submit for in-network benefits, making it an impractical use of the clinician's time. Second, the in-network filing process usually requires a significant breach of client confidentiality. To meet the requirements for in-network reimbursement, the psychologist must submit an official client diagnosis and an ongoing progress report, treatment plan, etc. Such information requires that the therapist divulge a good deal of personal information about the client, which then becomes part of his or her permanent medical record (potentially driving up client insurance rates). Third, insurance panel fee schedules are well below national averages, and are therefore not ideal for established psychologists. Because of these considerations, the vast majority of mental health professionals who choose to join insurance panels and become in-network providers are either just beginning their clinical practice, or find it difficult to sustain their target client load.

Please note, I accept most forms of Credit Cards.

Information about Mental Illness

Two good sources of information about Mental Illness, Drug Abuse, and Medications and other issues are Web MD and Psych Central. You can visit them by clicking on the their Logos below.

           PsychCentral

Another excellent source of information is American Psychological Association Help Center

For more information about Depression, Anxiety and other problems, please visit

If you are facing the prospect of divorce, or need some expert mediation services by a trained attorney/psychologist team, click on the link below to find out more information!

For information about Alcohol and Substance Abuse, please visit

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

To read more about the link between depression and heart disease click on the links below.

Recommendations from the National Institute of Mental Health

Information from the American Heart Association

Disclaimer

All content within this website is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other licensed health care professional. The information on this website is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical condition or problem. Always consult your own doctor if you're in any way concerned about your health.