Start Healing With Individual Therapy Sessions in Westwood, CA

 

Issues I treat include:

Complex Trauma – Exposure to traumatic events can have a wide-ranging and long-term impact, especially when the trauma occurred in childhood. Attachment trauma like abuse or neglect can disrupt a person’s ability to form secure relationships and even damages their ability to form a stable sense of self.

Low self-esteem – Our beliefs about ourselves are based on our life experiences, so when our experiences are negative the beliefs we form are likely to be negative as well. Exposure to highly critical voices in childhood can lead to low self-esteem in adulthood when we internalize criticism and use it in our self-talk.  We can feel we have little value and are inadequate.

Childhood emotional wounds – Experiences that emotionally wounded us as children may make us unable to process our feelings and regulate our emotions in a healthy, helpful way as adults. In order to let these wounds heal, we must first uncover and examine them and learn to release our feelings.

Anger – Many of us have an unhealthy relationship with our anger and express it in ways that damage our relationships and us. We may dump our anger on others through yelling or physical displays of aggression, or express our anger through passive aggression; neither leads to a healthy, successful life.

Trouble connecting with others – In recent years there has been an explosion of new research into how our childhood attachment to our caregivers, and our caregivers response to us, can profoundly alter our adult lives. Unmet needs and issues with attachment and boundaries that originated in childhood can make it hard for us to connect with others and maintain healthy relationships.

Many emotional wounds and traumas are best worked out in individual therapy sessions. You can experience healing in your therapy sessions with Andrea Brandt, PhD, MFT. I can help you grow and heal from a multitude of issues so you can live a better, more connected life with healthier relationships.

My Individual Therapy Program

Since 1980, I have practiced compassionate, holistic therapy that goes beyond traditional talk therapy. My approach incorporates mind-body intervention as we talk.

In our sessions, I will listen to your story and physically monitor the storyteller, paying attention to the physical effects of your trauma and emotional wounds to heal all of you. Eventually, you will learn to monitor your own physical reactions to better process and regulate your physical reactions to different emotions.

I have helped clients heal and recover from trauma, anxiety, and depression. I can also help you improve your social and work performance, eliminate destructive behaviors such as explosive anger, and learn to develop and maintain healthy relationships by breaking old patterns that are holding you back.

I will bring my 40+ years of clinical experience to target all the issues and patterns holding you back from living your best life, including:

• Abuse
• Neglect
• Childhood emotional wounds
• Trauma
• Trouble forming meaningful connections
• Inability to properly process emotions
• Unmet needs
• Improperly regulated emotions
• Low self-esteem

In addition to my decades of clinical experience, I hold a Master’s degree in clinical psychology from Goddard University and a PhD from Pacific Western University, in addition to training with the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute.

I am a recognized expert in treating emotional issues such as:

• Anger
• Anxiety
• Aging
• Relationships
• Trauma
• Work-life balance
• Workplace issues
• Women’s issues

I promise to provide a safe environment, free of judgment, where you can be open about your challenges and feel wholly understood.

My office is in Santa Monica, but I serve Westwood, CA, and the surrounding area. Call (310) 828-2021 for a free consultation with me over the phone, or send me a brief email. I look forward to helping you achieve a healthy, balanced, fulfilling life.