Therapy for WOmen in Walnut Creek
Women’s Therapy & Mental Health
Women’s emotional lives are shaped by far more than symptoms or diagnoses. They are shaped by expectations, relationships, roles, biology, and history — both personal and cultural. Many women seek therapy not because something is “wrong,” but because something feels constricted: desire muted, anger hard to access, identity overly defined by roles, or self‑worth tied too tightly to productivity or care for others.
My work is grounded in psychodynamic psychotherapy, which focuses on understanding enduring emotional patterns, relationships, and inner conflicts — particularly how past experiences continue to shape present life. Rather than offering quick fixes, this approach emphasizes curiosity, insight, and reflection over time and supports meaningful, lasting change.
Below are themes that often arise with women in therapy — from professional pressure to relational stress, major life transitions, and shifts in identity.
Career Stress, Burnout, and the Double Bind
Many women experience chronic tension around achievement: an urge to succeed coupled with guilt, self‑doubt, or anxiety about being seen. Psychodynamic work explores how early relational experiences and cultural expectations shape our relationship to work, worth, and visibility.
Questions often explored in therapy:
How did success become emotionally charged?
What needs does achievement meet — safety, approval, or control?
What feelings are hard to acknowledge when you slow down?
This work supports women in relating to their careers with more clarity and agency rather than as a measure of worth.
Motherhood, Identity, and Life Transitions
Motherhood and decisions about parenting bring profound emotional shifts — whether one becomes a parent, navigates infertility, or chooses not to. These transitions often revive early experiences of care, autonomy, and belonging.
In therapy, we explore:
The real emotional landscape of motherhood (not just the “myth” of always feeling grateful)
Ambivalence, loss, identity shifts, and relational reconfigurations
How earlier attachments influence present relationships with self and others
This reflective work can help women integrate these transitions into a more coherent sense of self. You may also find resonance with themes in Grief and Depression and Identity and Culture.
Relationships and Emotional Patterns
Relational dynamics — with partners, family, colleagues, and even within oneself — often reflect deep‑rooted patterns. Many women find themselves over‑functioning emotionally, caretaking others at the expense of their own needs.
In therapy, we attend to:
How early attachments shaped relational roles
Patterns of dependency, avoidance, or care‑taking
Fears of anger, separation, or being unloved
Psychodynamic therapy helps uncover the unconscious threads running through relationship patterns so that new, more fulfilling ways of relating can emerge. For more about relationship themes, see Relationships.
Anxiety, Mood, and Emotional Conflict
Feelings of anxiety or depression are often more than “symptoms” to reduce. They can be signals of internal conflict — between desire and fear, connection and autonomy, or past hurts and present needs.
In therapy, we work to:
Understand the emotional logic of distress
Trace how old patterns play out in current life
Open new ways of experiencing self and others
This process often leads to greater emotional range, steadier self‑regard, and increased capacity for connection and choice.
You can explore related support through our pages on Grief and Depression and resources about navigating difficult feelings.
Life Transitions, Identity, and Self‑Understanding
Women’s lives often involve significant transitions — from young adulthood to mid‑life, changes in relationships, shifts in family roles, and evolving senses of self.
Therapy provides a space to:
Make sense of change and loss
Explore identity beyond roles and expectations
Understand how past experiences influence present life
This reflective work supports women in navigating transitions with more awareness, depth, and self‑compassion.
A Relational, Insight‑Oriented Space
Many women come to therapy accustomed to functioning, adapting, and caring for others — yet without a space to explore their own interior world. Psychodynamic psychotherapy offers a supportive environment where thoughts, feelings, conflicts, and desires are honored and explored together.
Take the next step:
If you are interested in therapy that addresses anxiety, burnout, relationships, motherhood, or life transitions, I invite you to contact me or schedule a consultation. Free 30‑minute phone consultations are available to discuss your concerns and see if we might be a good fit.