Psychotherapy and Counseling Services – Long Island Psychology

Mental health is a uniquely personal issue. Some people have diagnosable disorders, struggling with the symptoms that affect millions of people every year in NY state alone. Others may simply feel stuck, or may feel like there is room for them to grow psychologically or emotionally.

We work with each person based on where they are and what they need, with services focused on what we mutually believe will be of the best benefit to you. Our services include, but are not limited to the areas of treatment listed below:

The “fight or flight” system is your body’s healthy reaction to danger. But when people feel anxious often during a typical day without unusual situations, they could be experiencing an anxiety disorder. There are many kinds of anxiety, all of which can present in mental or physical symptoms. The types that we treat with therapy include:

• Social Anxiety – Social anxiety is an anxiousness and discomfort with social situations. Those with social anxiety tend to feel fear when around others or avoid social situations altogether. Often, those with social phobia want to create relationships, but are unable to overcome the anxiety.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder – This disorder causes a feeling of persistent and uncontrollable anxiousness that can be mild to severe. The symptoms may be mental, such as continual worry about negative outcomes, or physical, with elevated heart rate, tremors, and sweating.
• Panic Disorder – Panic disorder means frequently experiencing panic attacks or spending time dreading that another attack will occur. Panic attacks, characterized by heightened anxiety and physical symptoms, can be severe events that often make it hard to function.
• PTSD– Post traumatic stress disorder can result from experiencing a long period of intense stress or living through a traumatic event. PTSD causes anxiety, panic attacks, hallucinations that make people relive the event, and night terrors, all of which can interrupt daily life.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – OCD occurs when a person experiences persistent negative thoughts (obsessions) that can only be relieved by performing a behavior (known as a compulsion). Often the thoughts themselves cause mild to severe anxiety.
• Phobias – A phobia is an intense fear of a specific object or situation that is disproportionate to the event. Those with phobias may experience anxiety at the mere thought of the object and can experience panic attacks, fainting, or severe anxiety when face to face with it.

There are several approaches for treating anxiety. We work with you to identify the root of the anxiety and guide you through the interplay of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. A therapist then provides methods for correcting thought processes that lead to anxiety and establishing healthy coping strategies that enable you to reduce anxiety. 

Depression can be a one time episode or an ongoing struggle. Regardless of how depression affects you, it is a severe condition that limits your enjoyment of life, relationships, and interests. Unlike a period of sadness or a temporary bad mood, depression is a deeper, more enduring sadness and loss of energy. It can alter your moods, sleeping habits, and physical health as it persists.

Many people suffer from depression of various forms. We treat patients with depressive disorders such as:

• Bipolar Disorder – Also known as manic depression, patients with bipolar disorder fluctuate between periods of depression and periods of mania, or heightened energy. Each period can last for several weeks to months.
• Seasonal Affective Disorder – Caused by diminished exposure to natural light during the winter time because of weather changes and shorter days, seasonal affective disorder prompts feelings of depression in those who suffer from it.
• Major Depressive Disorder – This is an episode of depression that is often brought on by a significant life change or experience, although it can be triggered by anything. It can be chronic, or a single long lasting episode.
• Dysthymia – Dysthymia is a long lasting type of depression, sometimes enduring for years if not diagnosed. It results in a loss of energy, lowered self esteem, pessimism, and muted interest. The feelings typically aren’t as intense as other forms of depression, but can still present a challenge.

For many, the depressive state makes seeking treatment a struggle. Once you do, we can help discover the causes of your depression, devise functional coping mechanisms and thinking, and establish goals that you can focus on. As a result, you’ll be better able to handle emotions and stress without being overwhelmed.

Certain situations flood our brains with chemicals, like dopamine, that make us happy and trigger the sense of reward. Other dependent behaviors can provide a coping mechanism for unwanted thoughts. Still other substances can cause the body to become physiologically dependent.

In all these cases, a patient might experience addiction. Untreated addictions often continue to get worse, and lead to future health, personal, and financial risks. They may also lead a person to set aside goals and relationships to support their addiction. We offer help with:

• Gambling Addiction – The risk and reward of gambling releases chemicals in the brain that cause it to be exciting. Releasing these chemicals with gambling can become an addiction, often leading to financial repercussions as the risks taken to reach a high in gambling grow over time.
• Drug Addiction – Drug addictions can be an escape, a recreational tool, or a coping mechanism. They can also create physiological dependence. Clients can have addictions to prescription drugs or illicit drugs, both of which are a health risk as the dependency deepens.
• Alcohol Addiction – Alcoholism can arise from excessive social drinking, as a coping mechanism, or from a lack of impulse control. Drinking alcohol can feel as though it has become a necessity for dealing with certain situations or thoughts, and the body physically develops a dependence.
• Sex and Pornography Addiction – When behavior around sex becomes obsessive, risky, or requires a person to seek out new activities to realize a previously felt thrill, this can be a sign of addiction. A sex or pornography addiction often causes feelings of shame, guilt, or anxiety as well. 

Support and accountability are essential in the path to sobriety from any addiction, and we are your partner in that journey. We work together to identify the compulsions that perpetuate your addiction, and replace the thoughts and behaviors so that you can manage the addiction. Treatment may include different therapy modalities, group sessions with supporters, establishing hobbies, and new coping tools.

Relationship counseling does not require two (or more) people to be effective. Individual counseling can assist you in better understanding your role in relationships and how to make the most of those interpersonal relationships in your future. This counseling is for recently single people, those searching for friends or partners, and members of a couple seeking therapy on their own. We offer:

• Singles Counseling – Singles counseling is a form of relationship counseling that focuses on the individual and their relationships with others in the past and present. Through helping the patient understand themselves, we can positively impact future relationships.
• Breakup Counseling – After a breakup from a partner, counseling can help address painful feelings and memories and the life changes that occur after a relationship ends. Counseling can also help make sense of why the relationship ended and help you move on. 

Individual relationship counseling is based in talk therapy and uses practices like Emotionally Focused Therapy and Interpersonal Psychotherapy to work with challenges a patient has had in past relationships, building skills, and handling the stressors and negative emotions that can come from difficult partnerships.

A person’s challenges are not always specific to a mental health disorder. Different life stages, changes, and difficulties understanding your personal identity can leave you feeling less in control and happy than you want to be. Our other types of counseling include:

• Self Esteem Counseling – To strengthen the positivity with which you see yourself, counseling identifies any causes of low self esteem. Building your self esteem helps you respect yourself, as well as view interpersonal relationships as more complementary and fulfilling.
• Counseling for Teens – The growth, both physical and mental, during teenage years puts teens at increased risk for anxiety, depression, drug and alcohol use, bullying, and other challenges. We work with teens to address the issues that most affect them.
• Emerging Adults – While high school is often treated like the most stressful time in a person’s life, it is between the ages of 18 and 20 when young adults tend to have the most transitions. Psychotherapy can help emerging adults manage the “new” emotions of adulthood.
• Seniors Counseling – Seniors go through changes like loss of loved ones, retirement, health issues, relationship changes, and the same mental health challenges as people of all ages. Senior counseling can make help make transitions and the accompanying emotions manageable.
• Grief Counseling/Life Transitions – Changes like a death of a friend or family member, a new child, a new job or job loss, or a move can be stressful and emotional, sometimes causing depression or straining relationships. Counseling helps you work through these changes.
• LGBTQ Counseling – From discovering an identity to coming out to friends and family, counseling helps lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals explore the emotions and stress of identifying as LGTBQ. We also offer couples counseling for LGBTQ couples.
• Pediatric Therapy – Therapy with children uses dedicated techniques that help children express their emotions and work through problems they encounter.

No matter what issue you are struggling with, our therapists can work with you to identify and confront the challenges you’re facing. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness, dynamic experiential learning, meditation, coping mechanisms, and other strategies can help.

Even the closest partners experience conflicts throughout the course of their relationship. When the conflict gets in the way of a comfortable and loving marriage, or you want to proactively address challenges before they occur, relationship counseling can help.

This form of therapy requires both members of the partnership to be active participants in achieving results. We have relationship therapy for:

• Couples Counseling – Couples counseling addresses challenges that can present in a relationship, including ineffective communication, lack of trust, and differing intimacy needs. The counseling has both members of the couple work together to build a stronger relationship.
• Pre-Marital Counseling – For couples planning on marriage, pre-marital counseling provides a space to discuss any outstanding issues and to explore topics that are relevant to couples planning for the long term, such as resolving differences and promoting communication.
• Marriage Counseling – Marriage therapy can be done at any point in a relationship, even if there are no obvious conflicts. It uses talk therapy between the couple to consider issues like trust, the other person’s needs, infidelity, and communication, all to promote a healthier marriage.
• Mediation Counseling – At the end of a marriage, divorce mediation counseling can help couples deal with the stress, emotions, life changes, and external relationships, such as with children, that can be especially challenging during the mediation process.
• Divorce Counseling – When a marriage seems to be at its end, divorce counseling works to rebuild the relationship if possible, or help both people cope with the challenges that this change will bring, such as coparenting.
• Overcoming Infidelity – After one or both partners are unfaithful, trust can diminish and make it difficult to continue a loving relationship. Infidelity counseling seeks to reestablish the trust by mediating a conversation between partners.

Treatment for the problems that couples face relies on building trust and communication strategies. To do this, we use techniques like Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), CDEL, and others to help examine challenges in a safe space. In addition to sessions together, individual sessions can be used to focus on each person’s needs and changes.

With recent advances in technology, it is now possible and convenient to have therapy sessions in person through video software. This is ideal when taking precautions against Covid-19 or other health concerns. It also works if you are simply looking for a more convenient method to meet with your therapist. We offer:

• Remote Therapy for Individuals – Remote therapy, or telehealth, uses a secure online video chatting platform to provide the same quality of therapy at a time and place that is convenient for our patients. 
• Remote Therapy for Couples – Couples therapy can be performed through virtual sessions or phone calls that make counseling possible in any location and at a time that fits in with busy schedules.

Telehealth services are available to clients whose permanent home is anywhere in New York State, making it possible to find a psychologist for your needs wherever you live.

Long Island Psychology also leads group therapy sessions led by our experienced psychologists. Within these group sessions, clients meet with a psychologist in groups to address mental health concerns, using the support of a group to better understand themselves and others.

We can arrange group therapy sessions for addressing essentially any mental health disorder, but regularly schedule sessions for addiction, anxiety, relationships, and resilience.

When a person feels as though they are not where they want to be, coaching can help. Coaching is an alternative to counseling or therapy, in that what we work on is finding ways to overcome obstacles, remain resilient to stresses, and achieve your goals.

Coaching from a psychologist on Long Island can also be beneficial, as our experience with mental health allows us to provide better care than might be available from other Long Island business and life coaches.

We have two offices on Long Island, both in Nassau County. We are happy to meet with you at any time in either of our locations for in-person services for both individuals and couples. Because we are able to offer remote therapy services, we are available to meet with clients anywhere in New York State, outside of our local service area, all via phone or Internet.

Our offices are located in Garden City, Rockville Centre, and Roslyn Heights. We are conveniently located for those located in:

• Garden City
• Rockville Centre
• Roslyn
• Lawrence
• Hempstead
• Minneola
• Freeport
• Oceanside
• Levittown
• Westbury
• Hicksville

We are not too far from Queens, NY, and of course are available via our remote services anywhere in the state, from NYC to Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, and more.