About Me

My name is Nezhat, pronounced as Nez-Hat; I have worn different professional ‘hats,’ mostly concurrently, in teaching, research, counseling and psychotherapy. The common thread in all these 'hats' has been the betterment of life for children and adults using science of psychology. My approach in therapy is integrative. Integrative in the sense that: 1. The integrity of the person, their uniqueness in all its manifestation (cultural, ethnic, sexual, spiritual, intellectual, etc.) is respected. 2. With comprehensive therapy the person becomes attuned to themselves, their true self, integrated and whole. 3. My therapeutic approach is a unique integration of best practices as I tailor them to each individual person and to each of their different issues. This optimizes success and increases the efficiency of the work. Since EMDR is integrative in nature, it fits well in my integrative approach to therapy. I believe all persons , regardless of how debilitating their symptoms might be are endowed with a core self who is perceptive and remains intact. This core thrives when acknowledged with respect and validated in interactions with others. In the face of the opposite, they hide inside, making themselves as invisible as needed in order for the person to survive--survive by any means. These ‘means’ are often what later become ‘symptoms’. Any adverse life event can overwhelm the normal adaptive capacity of any person at any age. With expert help, this normal capacity can be restored and symptoms and dysfunctional copying strategies replaced by adaptive behaviors and effective strategies. For children, effective early therapy prevents the establishment of such symptoms and the formation of dysfunctional coping strategies and habits to begin with. In these cases the therapy is short-term, consisting of just a few sessions. In my practice, I see clients whose history falls at different points on the continuum of functionality, from depression and anxiety to procrastination, low self confidence, relationship issues, PTSD, and mild or severe dissociation. It is my experience that given the right emotional environment, and with advanced therapeutic tools now available, everyone can work to overcome their psychological obstacles and restore their own natural adaptive capacity to negotiate normal challenges of life without needing to resort to “symptoms” or dysfunctional patterns of thought, emotion, or behavior.