Clinical Psychology & Psychoanalysis
A different kind of therapy...
How It Works
The mind is a meaning-making engine. Psychoanalysis makes its patterns visible.
The Mind Creates Meaning
The mind is an engine that takes in raw sense data and constructs out of it the ideas through which we see and experience ourselves, others, and the world generally. Sometimes these ideas distort things more than reveal them.
Patterns Take Root
When things are working well the mind is able to detect mismatches between the idea or model of the world it has constructed and the world as it actually is, and update its construction processes accordingly. Sometimes, though, this updating process fails and patterns of experience are repeated again and again in a way that causes problems.
Patterns Surface in Treatment
The mind works the same inside of a therapy as outside of it. The analytic setting works by making its patterns visible. The analyst is in a position to observe or study your mind's construction processes as they work. This creates the opportunity to examine the repeating patterns together.
Understanding Brings Change
When you can begin to see how your mind is bending your perceptions into familiar patterns again and again, you begin to understand that there are reasons for why this is happening. Understanding those reasons hurts but frees the mind from old patterns which makes it work better and more efficiently.
I'm a clinical psychologist and a trained psychoanalyst. I offer psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to adults. When we're able to meet at least twice weekly consistently over time, it allows for a very engaging, very meaningful, and very effective process to occur. I make some attempts to describe "the how" and "the what" of that here, but I realize how unhelpful those descriptions can be. This video may be somewhat more helpful. What's important is this:
Psychoanalytic therapy is about getting to the root of things. It's the "deep dive" that people talk about wanting to take into themselves. It produces a full-feeling self-knowledge that resolves symptoms and can help you to change deeply engrained ways of being, thinking, and feeling. But it's important for you to know that it's not easy and does take work, commitment, and time.
Credentials
The credentials that support my practice are as follows: I hold a doctorate in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego which, in addition to my state granted license, qualifies me for the title of psychologist. I’m also a graduate of the five year psychoanalytic training program at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Center which grants me the title of psychoanalyst. I meet regularly and often with a community of peers and mentors both here in Rochester and elsewhere in this country and abroad. I also participate in seminars led by accomplished teachers which focus on various themes central to the psychoanalytic literature. As for my involvement in professional organizations, I’m a voting member of the San Diego Psychoanalytic Center and the American Psychoanalytic Association, a full member of the International Psychoanalytical Association, and a member of the Genesee Valley Psychological Association.
Cost
The financial aspect of treatment really needs to be talked through in person. Though I still do accept some insurances, I am increasingly shifting my practice to a fee-for-service model. I know the cost of treatment is significant, but so too is its value. I offer consultations — at least two sessions within a week — as a chance to meet and get a feel for one another. If we can’t agree on a sustainable fee, I’ll charge $100 per appointment and, if desired, will help with referrals to other clinicians.
Call me — I’m happy to talk things through with you.
Dr. Lembaris's Office
