I enjoy working with a wide range of people, from basically healthy people undergoing stress, to long-term psychological issues that result in life being a struggle.  The approach to psychotherapy depends on the difficulties, but it always includes seeing the person as a whole person with a concern for what makes life meaningful.  Some patients have had basically happy early lives and encountered difficulties later on, due to unexpected stressful life events or physical illness, and others struggle with early life influences that continue to impact adult life.  Commonly I use simple meditative techniques, relaxation training, and imagery.

Intellectual Curiosity Applied to a Wide Range of Interests
Although I was born in the Midwest (Cleveland, Ohio), the growing up years I remember were in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts.  From there I spent a year studying ancient and modern Greek civilization in Greece, returning to attend George Washington University in Washington, DC, where I majored in religion. After teaching high school science for two years, I attended Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, graduating in 1979.  My residency in neurology was at the Emory University Affiliated Hospitals, following which I stayed on as a faculty member in the Department of Neurology for two years.  My research interest was in the neuropsychological syndrome of hemispatial neglect.  My family and I moved to Boston, Massachusetts where I completed a fellowship in dementia and neuropsychology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. My research there was cognitive psychology research on memory.

After my fellowship I settled with my family at Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, WI, where I started the Memory Disorders Clinic, a multidisciplinary clinic for evaluation and treatment, which I directed until 2009.  In addition, I assisted with the Parkinson’s Clinic and the Head Injury Clinic.  My research interests were investigational drug trials in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and genetics and epidemiology in Alzheimer’s disease.  During the last 10 years in Marshfield, I found myself returning to a long-term interest in psychology and psychiatry, following the psychiatry literature, especially the literature on psychological trauma.  I learned first mindfulness meditation and then a type of Buddhist meditation called Mahamudra and began to teach these, as well as courses in hypnosis. Over the years, I’ve taught and supervised medical residents, conducted research, led professional presentations, and published numerous papers in respected academic journals.

Finally, after none of these activities satisfied my deep interest in psychology, I decided to return to school for a PhD in clinical psychology, which I began with Fielding Graduate University in 2004 and finished in 2010.  My dissertation research examined attachment orientation in spouse caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease as it affects the experience of caregiving and behavior in the patient.  In order to finish the degree, I resigned my job at Marshfield Clinic to complete a full-time internship at the Memphis VA Medical Center.  Currently, in addition to my clinical psychology practice, I teach meditation retreats and work a few days a month as a neurologist.