Specialties - Practice
- Credentials - What is Psychotherapy
-
What
is Psychoanalysis Confidentiality
- Managed Care
and
Confidentiality - FAQ's - Recommended Reading
Psychotherapy can help you deal
with your personal
and interpersonal problems
Psychoanalysis can help you change long-standing
difficulties and have more
freedom in your work and love

Dr.
Stacia I. Super
Psychotherapist and Psychoanalyst
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
2 Wisconsin Circle
(At Friendship Heights Metro)
Suite 210
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
(301) 656-8336
email: staciasuper@hotmail.com
Appointments by arrangement.
Specialties
Relationship problems
Pre-marital counseling
Depression
Anxiety
Separation, loss, and death
Eating disorders
Severe/chronic mental illness
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Practice
Individual psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis
Couple's therapy
Short-term, problem-focused psychotherapy
Educational and supportive parenting work
Psychotherapy groups using poetry, with special populations, such as
the elderly
Adults, older adults, adolescents, children
Supervision and consultation
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Credentials
Ph.D. in social work
Graduate
psychoanalyst
Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work
Licensed to practice clinical social work in Maryland and the District
of Columbia
Private practice since 1981
Extensive teaching at the graduate level
Supervision of students' and residents' clinical work
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What is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is
the process of
talking with a trained therapist about feelings, thoughts, and events
in the present and
the past. Through the relationship with the therapist old and new
interpersonal
issues can be explored and worked on, and new behaviors and ways of
being in the world
achieved. Health is reached through talking about feelings,
rather than acting on
them.
The therapist is silent for periods of time to allow you to associate
from one idea to
another, and explore the feelings that come up. The therapist
will help this process
by pointing out patterns, making connections, asking questions, and
making
interpretations.
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What is Psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis is
perhaps the hardest work
you will ever do. It is both a therapy and an education about
yourself. The basis
for it is in the observation that you are not always aware of what
motivates your feelings
and actions. Through your relationship with your psychoanalyst
you will learn about
how your mind works, why you behave in the way you do, and you will
make significant
changes which will enhance the way you live your life. It is an
intensive process,
requiring four or five sessions per week, during which you will lie on
a couch and try to
say whatever comes to mind. With time feelings, thoughts,
memories and ways of
interacting with your psychoanalyst will emerge and enable you to gain
insights which you
will go over many times, in sessions and in your daily life. Eventually
you will make
powerful and lasting changes and live a life more free of consciously
and unconsciously
self-imposed restrictions and fears, and more full of satisfaction in
work and love.
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Confidentiality
Confidentiality is a
cornerstone of psychotherapy
and psychoanalysis, and without it the work cannot be done. The
therapist will not
reveal what you say, or even the fact that you are in therapy.
There are exceptions
to this: if you are a danger to yourself, or to another person,
the therapist is
legally and ethically bound to notify a responsible person. All
information about
child abuse and neglect must also be reported.
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Managed
Care
and Confidentiality
If you use your managed
care benefits for
psychotherapy you have signed away your rights to
confidentiality. The insurance
company can, and will, ask for details of your therapy, history,
symptoms, and
progress. The insurance company will also determine whether or
not you need therapy,
and the length of your therapy.
Dr. Super does not participate with any managed care programs.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How long
does therapy take?
It is difficult to predict how long it will take. The severity and duration of your problems are factors, as is your ability and willingness to work on them. Sometimes an issue can be dealt with in a few sessions, but more often it can take a year or more.
It is very important to have a regular, consistent appointment schedule; you should be able to rely on the therapy hour and therapist to be there. The routine and the time between sessions allow for internal work to occur.
Keep in mind
that it has taken
years for your problems to develop; it will take time to deal with
them. The bottom
line: there is no quick fix.
2. How long does psychoanalysis take?
Psychoanalysis is an intensive, long process, and can
take several
years. It requires a commitment not just to the length of time it
takes, but also to
the four or five sessions per week needed to make the work
possible. Like anything
else requiring a strong involvement it takes time. But remember,
with or without
psychoanalysis, you will be living through those years anyway, and you
can choose to make
use of them in the best possible way.
3. How will I know if a therapist or psychoanalyst can help me?
The important factor in assessing this is how you feel with the therapist or psychoanalyst. You might know this in the first session, but more often it will take more meetings for you to have a good sense of your 'fit' with each other. Give yourself a chance to see how you work together.
4. Why do therapists and psychoanalysts focus on feelings?
A lot of people grow up being told they do not feel what they say they are feeling. Others are told not to feel what they are feeling and being criticized or ridiculed for what they feel. The result is that they become numb (often referred to as 'being out of touch with your feelings,') depressed, and often critical of their own and others' feelings.
People suffering in this way may even understand intellectually what their problems and dynamics are, but are helpless to do anything about them. This is because their feelings and their intellect are miles apart. Only through feeling what is inside, what has been buried, choked off and humiliated, and connecting this with understanding, can a person heal.
5. Will my therapist or psychoanalyst talk about me with anyone?
This is not only a legal issue, but an issue of professional ethics.
Your therapist or psychoanalyst will sometimes go to a consultant or supervisor for help and guidance with the work. In situations like that the therapist or psychoanalyst will not reveal your name or any identifying information about you. Your therapist or psychoanalyst will not discuss you with any one in a social context, or with family members.
For exceptions to this please see Confidentiality.
6. I'm depressed, should I take medication?
There are some times when depression is helped by medication. Your therapist or psychoanalyst will help you assess this and refer you to a psychiatrist for a medication evaluation. Keep in mind that studies have shown that depression is helped more often through the combination of medication with therapy, rather than with medicine alone.
7. Can therapy or psychoanalysis help me change how my husband (mother, father, etc.) behave?
Therapy and
psychoanalysis can help
you change, and help you develop new ways of dealing with the
people in your
life. Sometimes a person's new ways of being in the world have an
effect on how the
people in his or her world behave, but this is not always so. Nor
is it the goal of
therapy or psychoanalysis.
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Recommended Reading
Marie
Cardinal. The Words to Say It. (One woman's experience in
psychotherapy).
Paperback.
Emily
Colas. Just Checking. (On being an obsessive-compulsive
person).
Paperback.
Laurie
Fox.
My Sister From the Black Lagoon. (Growing up with a disturbed
sibling). Paperback.
Eric
Fromm.
The Art of Loving. (How to be with oneself and others).
Paperback.
Caroline
Knapp. Drinking, A Love Story. (A good picture of alcoholism
and recovery).
Paperback.
Grace
Lebow,
Barbara Kane & Irwin Lebow. Coping with Your Difficult Older
Parent: A Guide for
Stressed-Out Children. (For children of older parents).
Paperback.
Debra
Tannen.
You Just Don't Understand. (The different cultures of the
genders).
Paperback.
To order from amazon.com click on any book.
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