Welcome to my website. My hope is to provide you with enough information for you to get a sense of whether or not you would like to talk with me about pursuing therapy or supervision/consultation.

I have over 34 years of experience in private practice. I am trained as a psychoanalyst and offer psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis has evolved in recent decades and if you’re new to the idea, it may not be what you imagine. I do have a couch but I am rarely silent and I don’t smoke a cigar. Essentially, what makes psychoanalytic psychotherapy distinct from other modes of therapy is the focus of change – primarily within the individual rather than with his/her/their circumstances. We all struggle and most of us need help growing capacities to be with, to tolerate and reflect on our emotional experience. Our defenses and coping mechanisms usually originate in childhood. Sometimes, life experience helps to challenge and refine these defenses, but often the patterns of thought, feeling and behavior are entrenched, and keep us caught in destructive patterns within ourselves and in our relationships.

Humans are relational beings. We can’t know what we don’t know about ourselves-- we need another to listen, feel, and reflect back to us in order to gain understanding about what we are up to. When this is done respectfully and in a spirit of mutuality, it can become a transformative process. I don’t wish to glamorize change. Change is disorienting and often painful. True change does not come easily or quickly. If you’re at a place in your life where you are ready to do the work, this may be a good method for you.

Sue N. Carlson

"No pressured act of will can suddenly turn everything around."

"No pressured act of will can suddenly turn everything around."