Personalized Care for Anxiety, Depression, and More
In my practice, I focus on you as an individual or couple, bringing expertise in treating anxiety, depression, and personality disorders. Using cognitive-behavioral therapy, I tailor each session to your unique journey, aiming for meaningful progress and lasting change.
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See a full list of services below.
See a full list of services belowHelping You Achieve Your Mental Health Goals
Considering Starting or Continuing Therapy?
I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to work with patients on stress management, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, panic disorder, personality disorders, and trauma/PTSD. My therapy is typically short-term (except for personality disorders), and I collaborate with clients to find solutions to increase coping skills and minimize anxiety.
As a therapist, I actively engage with my patients.
It is easy for anxiety, depression, and stress to become overwhelming by all of life's demands. If you often feel overwhelmed, anxious, panicky, depressed, or unsettled, now may be the time to seek treatment.
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When it comes to mental wellness, I believe that knowledge is power:
If a patient comes to me with anxiety, I want them to understand the underlying reasons why they are anxious whether that’s childhood experiences or the neurological mechanisms behind anxiety.
That doesn’t mean that coming to therapy is some sort of intellectual exercise, but I do take the time to explain why you feel anxiety and where the anxiety came from.
I do not believe that there is anything secret or mysterious about therapy
If a patient wants to know what I’m thinking or formulating at any time, I have no issues sharing my thoughts or analysis.
As a therapist, I like to set goals we can work toward but I do not push patients to have goals they do not want.
I think it is extremely important that I follow the patients' needs and goals rather than them following mine.
My therapy is a space of total non-judgment
Patients often fear rejection when they let someone know aspects of themselves that cause them to feel pain, shame, or embarrassment.
My patients learn quickly that I’m easygoing and genuinely non-judgmental.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has a fundamental emphasis on the importance of thought and perception on one’s emotional reaction and behavioral response to an event.
CBT has evolved over time from empirical studies, theoretical writings, and the clinical experience of psychologists using cognitive and behavioral approaches.
Cognitive behavioral research is based on a methodologically rigorous approach to identifying effective techniques aimed at changing cognition and behavior.
For treating personality disorder, behavioral chain analysis (BCA) uses deep explorations of behaviors and cognitions to develop insight for patients who have little to none.
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Dr. G treats a wide variety of therapeutic concerns including:
Mood issues
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Sadness
- Insomnia
- Grief
- Irritability
- Feeling numb
- Exhaustion and lack of energy
- A persistent lack of interest
- Suicidal thoughts
- Problems concentrating
Family and relationship
- Couples therapy
- Relationship issues
- Infidelity
- Anxiety in relationships
- Improving relationships for adults with ADHD
- Improving relationships for adults on the Autism Spectrum
- Improving empathy
- Relationship communication skills
Interpersonal skills
- Loneliness
- Isolation
- Self-esteem issues
- Self-confidence
- Social skills
- Shyness
- Awkwardness
- Connecting with others
Anxiety and trauma
- Anxiety in relationships
- PTSD
- OCD
- Panic Attacks
- Trauma including sexual and emotional trauma
- Generalized anxiety
- Phobias
- Intrusive thoughts
- Pure O/Pure OCD
- Relationship OCD
Personality Disorders
- For yourself
- For your partner
*See more information below.
Most common types of personality disorders
There are 3 “clusters” of personality disorders.
Cluster A (which is the odd or mature type), Cluster B (the dramatic type), and Cluster C (the anxious type).
Despite Cluster C disorders being referred to as the anxious type, it is completely different from anxiety disorders. While people with personality disorders make up about 5 to 9% of the population, the percentage that make up the population who end up in therapy is much higher!
Those in Cluster A are often unlikely to seek treatment but the dramatic type, in Cluster B, disproportionately represents personality disorders in therapy.
That is because they cause the most drama!
Cluster B disorders are also the most famous ones: Narcissistic, Borderline, Histrionic, and Antisocial. Most people won’t be able to name someone they know with Schizoid Personality Disorder (Cluster A) but almost everyone knows a narcissist!
The dramatic type personalities can’t help but let their presence be known and you oftentimes don’t forget them. This is because people without personality disorders react very strongly to them.
Anyone can create drama, but there are several personality types who are likely to activate drama: those who crave attention, those who fear abandonment and are dependent, those who are emotionally unstable and have severe mood swings, those who feel superior, and those who exploit others.
What is personality?
Personality is a construct that refers to all the characteristics --- mental, emotional, temperamental, and behavioral --- that are unique to an individual.
It is the enduring pattern of distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that differentiate one person from others.
When we speak of personality, we are referring to the traits and habits that impact everything a person thinks, feels, and does. It determines how we view ourselves, our relationship with others, and our place in the world.
While personality traits are more enduring, habits are automatic, unconscious patterns of behavior that are usually acquired through repetition and that occur in reaction to specific situations. Although habits can be resistant to change, they are more easily modified than traits.
Heredity establishes the limits of the personality traits that a person can develop, while environment -- represented by cultural, social, and situational factors --- influences the actual development of the traits within those limits.
Healthy individuals have the capacity to function competently and to adjust to the changing demands of everyday life. They are independent, flexible, and relatively satisfied with themselves and their lives.
What are personality disorders?
Personality disorders are inflexible and pervasive throughout a person’s life.
Significant evidence shows that these disorders are genetic.
While the specific symptoms between the disorders vary greatly, they all share a strong lack of insight, and most struggle with limited empathy for others.
Narcissistic
Symptom: The person is grandiose or has an inflated sense of self-importance.
Description: Narcissists have a highly exaggerated sense of self-importance. They believe that they are special and that the rest of the world is there to cater to their needs.
Symptom: They insist upon excessive admiration.
Description: As a narcissist believes that they are special and important, they also insist that others recognize their self-designated importance. They become rageful when they believe their “specialness” is not acknowledged.
Symptom: Has little to no empathy and does not recognize the needs of others.
Description: Narcissists have little to absolutely no empathy. This allows them to be manipulative, hurtful, and abusive without any guilt.
Read more on this pageBorderline personality
Symptom: A history of intense and unstable relationships.
Description: This is often one of the most prominent symptoms of people with BPD. Because of their instability and their tendency to fluctuate between love and hate, their relationships with others tend to be tumultuous!
Symptom: Self-harming behavior.
Description: We often see self-harming behaviors such as cutting, burning, or other ways of inflicting pain on themselves. This is often done for an emotional release.
Symptom: Intense and fluctuating moods.
Description: Mood shifts can last hours or days. They can act intense, aggressive, sad, or in some other type of strong affective state.
Read more on this pagePersonality disorder treatments
Personality disorders can be some of the most treatment-resistant mental health problems.
Some medications can provide marginal help for personality disorders, but not without at least some form of talk therapy.
Therapy is targeted at specific thoughts, emotions, impulse control, and interpersonal functioning.
Helping the patient develop insight is essential but also requires a long commitment to the process of therapy.
Learning to self-regulate is also essential in treatment.
The process of therapy for the treatment of a personality disorder is quite different than that of other types of mental health challenges but much of it is still based on cognitive-behavioral principles in my approach.
Learn more about:
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a personality disorder therapist help?
How to find the best personality disorder therapist for me?
What’s my approach to treating personality disorders?
What’s the process like?
The other side of my expertise: Forensics
I have experience in a variety of forensic areas including lying/deception, psychosexual evaluations, parental fitness, body language, malingering, and counterterrorism.
I have provided expert testimony in court for numerous counties in Georgia.
I’m an expert in lying and deceit, particularly as it relates to nonverbal behaviors.
Understanding nonverbal language can help you recognize deceit, increase safety, and enhance overall observational skills.
I often work with business executives and CEOs to better understand and learn hidden body language. I’ve also trained federal law enforcement on how to read body language.
Based on decades of empirical body language research, I’ve developed the ARC Analysis system to identify hidden nonverbal behaviors for individuals who work in professions where their safety is at risk.
ARC stands for Action, Reason, Concern
Action:
The nonverbal behavior/communication you observe.
Actions matter when they occur after a baseline (or starting point) has been established. In other words, it means far less if someone has their lips pursed incessantly or they are constantly touching their face throughout an interview than if the behavior spontaneously occurs during the interview process.
Reason:
The purpose that an individual engages in that unconscious action. The person is unaware of what they are doing.
What is the underlying meaning and motivation for this behavior? What is this behavior attempting to calm or pacify (e.g., stress, worry, or anxiety)?
Concern:
The types and degree of concerns associated with the observed behaviors.
Minimal: This behavior does not indicate any problems or the meaning is too inconsistent to be categorized.
Exploration Prompt: The observed behavior should prompt you that something is worth exploring. The individual is trying to soothe themselves. It could be lying, deceit, nervousness, discomfort, or strong emotion. It is called a prompt because the behavior should prompt you to explore more or pay attention to other behaviors.
Suspicion Prompt: These behaviors are not always an indication of lying or deceit, but are more often associated with it. These behaviors should be noted.
Safety Prompt: The observed behavior may suggest that the safety of yourself or others may be at high risk due to reasons such as anger, preparing for action, or possibly preparing to run. These behaviors should be observed with appropriate caution.
Would you like me as a guest expert speaker at your event or media outlet?
Please, email me at [email protected] with the subject line “Speaking engagement”.
