Up against it. 

Psychoanalytic therapy for the pressures behind the position.

The women and men who come to work with me often feel they’re pinned against a wall. I ran a tech company before I became a psychologist. I know the feeling.

Pressure from the board. Pressure from a deal that fell apart at work. Pressure from their partner at home.

Raising their voice, moving too fast with a new direction, moving too slow with a hard conversation.

We often find they’re overtaken by repeating patterns: the same fights with their spouse, the same hiring mistakes, the same gender issues in the office, the same grim feelings when they wake up every morning. Chasing the wrong things. Avoiding what needs to be faced.

This is where psychoanalysis starts: we slow down at the pain points and treat them as opportunities. When we can finally stop running and look straight at the core of the problem, life usually starts getting better.

Maybe you’re ready. I offer psychoanalytic therapy to business leaders informed by contemporary research in trauma. We start with the practical problems that life presents, and, staying with them, we often find the ways early trauma and childhood deficits have shaped repetitive, counter-productive habits. Working them through, we find your grounded presence in meetings, your buried capacity to love your family, your ability to laugh while you’re doing difficult things. We find you.

The hidden cost of doing business

Being a leader costs you. A lot of the people I meet with are so used to being strung tight that they don’t remember ever being relaxed and centered. One said to me recently,

“I don’t have time for feelings.”

If you don’t have time for feelings, relationships with yourself and other people have a built-in distance. Your job is certainly exciting, there are highs and lows. But your life speeds past as if you’re not really there while it is happening.

That’s a lot to sacrifice. And there usually comes a moment in our work, a point of discovery, when people say,

“I want to live before I die.”

You learned how to build a business. You can learn to do this, too.

If this feels like we might be a fit, give me a call or fill out the contact form below, and we’ll schedule a time to chat.

Online sessions for clients in New York City

Sessions are held online, allowing you to attend from a private location without travelling to an office.

Online therapy is available to adults who are physically located in New York at the time of their sessions. Dan Quinn, Psy.D, is a New York-licensed clinical psychologist.

Fees and insurance

The fee is $350 for a 50-minute session.

I do not accept insurance. However, my system can generate and electronically submit out-of-network claims to your insurance company. Depending on your plan, your insurer may partially reimburse you.

This is a recurring private-pay therapy commitment rather than a short-term or occasional consultation. If the fee and format are workable for you, the next step is an initial conversation.