"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind"
William James
Emily Hamberger Psychotherapy Welcomes You
Individual, Couples, and Family Therapy
Emily Hamberger is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Washington D.C. She received her Master's degree from Columbia University in 2012, and is also a graduate of the Psychoanalytic Training Program at the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia in New York City. She specializes in working with eating disorders, trauma, addiction, depression, anxiety, relationship issues, and life transitions.
What To Expect From Therapy
Guiding You On the Path of Self-Healing
I think of the therapeutic process as a long beautiful dance. Sometimes there is pushing and spinning; sometimes it speeds up; sometimes you want the song to go on forever and sometimes you can't wait for it to end.
If you are visiting my website you are probably struggling with something – whether it is a relationship, demons within yourself, or a life transition. And I know that choosing to confront your struggle, to grow and change is incredibly brave. I applaud you for being courageous enough to consider walking into my office.
Therapy is not a quick fix. It is not a pill to swallow or an antidote to pain and suffering. In fact, sometimes it involves walking right towards your pain and suffering, REFUSING to walk around it, in order to get to the joy. I think of myself as your guide into that dark and scary forest. Together, we can navigate our way through your biggest fears, most painful losses, most difficult relationships (even when they are with yourself).
From years of practice in this field and from my own personal experience, I know the strength it takes to sit down in a worn-out arm chair, across from a professional, and say “I cannot do this anymore, and I cannot do this alone.”
Let's dance.
Therapeutic Services Available to You
With You Every Step of the Way
Couples Therapy
If you’re looking for quality Couples Therapy sessions with a psychotherapist that cares, then you’ve come to the right place. You and your partner will come to therapy with a narrative of your relationship. It is the work of couples therapy to get you both to a place where you can leave with a new narrative - a healthier and more balanced story of your love, your roles, and your needs from one another. Change is possible!
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy with an experienced professional helps many people through rough patches in their lives. On a long-term basis, therapy also helps many people maintain happiness and continual growth towards what psychologist Abraham Maslow called "self actualization." And then there are those of us who think we are having an interim issue and wind up in therapy for years! Regardless of what your initial goals are, here are a few things you can expect from me: I am not here to give you advice. I am here to help you explore, to help you think and feel in new ways - probably uncomfortable ways. I am here to help you understand your own story better, and to have a stronger grasp on its origin, present, and direction.
Family Therapy
People in families function kind of like body parts. If a body is healthy, then all the different parts work together smoothly. But if the brain has a fever, the other parts of the body are going to be affected AND are going to do what they can to fix the problem. Maybe the glands start to sweat, maybe the mouth craves water. To use another example, consider a person who loses his/her sight. Research shows that in this case, this person's other senses are heightened, overcompensating for the loss of sight.
Families are similar because when there is a problem in the family, it never exists in isolation. So, when I work with families, I always know that I am working with a SYSTEM. It is important in family therapy to examine how the family has identified its members' roles; who do we see as the"problem"? Who is overcompensating for the problem? Who takes care of problems? How is this system functional and dysfunctional, etc.?
We can work together to help reframe ideas about certain family members being stuck with labels, and learn to heal the family as a whole.
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