About Me
I am a licensed psychologist and have been in practice as a psychotherapist for many years. I specialize in the treatment of stress disorders, using psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and biofeedback-assisted relaxation therapy. The letters after my name mean that I have a doctorate, that I am a licensed psychologist, and that I am board-certified in biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance. In addition, I have been granted the status of “Senior Fellow”.
I have a bachelor's degree, a master's degree in sociology and a doctor's degree in psychology, all from the University of Chicago. My training at the University of Chicago was in client-centered therapy with Dr. Carl Rogers. Subsequently, I have attended many training programs around the country sponsored by several organizations and universities. For example, I studied biofeedback with Dr. Elmer Green and Alyce Green at the Menninger Foundation and with Dr. Charles Sheridan at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. I learned about Progressive Relaxation from its inventor, Edmund Jacobson, and from Joseph McGuigan, his protégé and successor. I heard Dr. Jacobson speak many times, and I visited him at his clinical laboratory in Chicago. I learned about Autogenic Training from Wolfgang Luthe, the successor to Johannes Schultz. Schultz and Luthe collaborated in writing the six-volume definitive text on Autogenic Therapy.
I have had many years of experience in treating people who have stress disorders, both individually and in groups, both in a clinic and in private practice. My particular area of expertise is in working with people who have high blood pressure. For several years, I was on the staff of the Plaza Blood Pressure Control Center in Kansas City as a therapist and small group leader. We worked in collaboration with internists who practiced at St. Luke's Hospital. Under the direction of their physicians, most of our patients were able to gradually reduce and eventually eliminate their medication while their blood pressure gradually normalized.
In my private practice, I have treated people who were suffering from a variety of stress disorders. These included headaches (both tension and migraine), high blood pressure, anxiety, phobias and fears, panic attacks, worrying, hyperhidrosis, cold hands and feet, constipation, insomnia, low back pain, heartbeat skips, chest breathing, hyperventilation, teeth clenching and grinding, irritability, “butterflies in the stomach,” tightness in the chest, tightness in the abdomen, difficulty swallowing, and pain from muscle spasms in the neck and shoulders. Most of my patients were quite successful at eliminating their stress disorders by practicing the relaxation therapy techniques that I taught them. These are the same techniques that I teach here.
My reason for offering this website is personal. I am well past retirement age (although I am not completely retired). I would like to leave something behind that has the potential to help many people. This is not meant to be a money-making endeavor. I simply want to make this information available to everyone because the need is so great.