Manhasset Therapist
Dr. Maryann B. Schaefer
Ph.D. – Counseling, Concentration in Psychology
NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Fellow of American Psychotherapy Association
Phone: (516) 627-1145
If you are looking for a Manhasset therapist, you have come to the right place. With an office in Manhasset, New York, for over twenty-five years, Dr. Maryann Schaefer is a psychotherapist within an easy, quick commute from Manhattan. She is an experienced and highly qualified mental health professional who has been helping patients with a wide range of therapeutic issues for nearly a quarter of a century.
Sometimes, we need help getting through a difficult period in life. At other times, we find that we have been stuck in a “mental rut” that we cannot escape. At these times, a mental health therapist can help loosen the emotional bonds tying us down.
“Throughout my years in private practice, I have spoken with many who were less invested in improving the quality of their lives than in avoiding an examination of the very issues that contributed to them. This avoidance generally leads to frustration, disappointment and discontent. While you may think you know exactly what you are doing wrong, your emotional ability to do otherwise is deeply set and is evident in your repetition of self-defeating patterns.
The typical challenges and complications of adult living can get you down and discouraged when you are overwhelmed by feelings of frustration, disappointment and inadequacy. Have you noticed that the quality of your life has suffered over the years in spite of your best efforts to change your self-defeating patterns, such as unfulfilling relationships or dead-end jobs? Do you often wonder where to begin? Has COVID-19 and feelings of loss, grief and disorientation exacerbated these issues?
By addressing your emotional repetitions and their behavioral consequences you can shift from a life lived in anxiety, depression and overwhelm to one characterized by focus, peace and fulfillment. If you or anyone you know is struggling with these emotional and social challenges, call me to schedule a complimentary consultation. At this time, you can share your concerns and have your questions answered.” – Dr. Maryann Schaefer
Mental Health Problems That Therapists Can Help You With
Dr. Schaefer works with individuals, children, adolescents, couples, and families to make sense of life’s dilemmas and to map the routes to a better and happier life. Many problems a psychotherapist deals with have existed in families for years and even generations. Because of this, understanding these issues is the first step in learning to deal with them. Anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, depression, pregnancy loss, postpartum depression, grieving and grief, and infidelity are issues that a therapist deals with. Other problems that can be dealt with successfully in psychotherapy include parenting, learning to set limits, bullying, life transition adjustments, and various types of substance abuse.
Working with an experienced therapist, such as Dr. Schaefer, is always a joint effort. Identifying the answers and implementing new behaviors will help you effectively deal with the curveballs that life throws at you. Sometimes, therapy sessions involve discovering hidden truths. Sometimes, the focus is on coaching to change one’s lifestyle. Therefore, the focus is always on what is therapeutic for the individual and their concerns.
How Does Therapy Help?
There are things in life that we cannot change. However, we can learn how we process life and how these variables impact our lives and our emotional stability. We can learn how to address these events and chronic situations through emotional relearning and implementing coping skills to make them manageable and, perhaps, no longer destructive. We have learned behaviors that all too often make situations worse or prolong them. The first step forward in therapy is understanding that change is necessary and that professional help is available.
In psychotherapy, we work together to understand the beginnings of beliefs and coping mechanisms. Many of these go back to early childhood and are related to the bond between a mother and child. How a young child’s sense of the world and their place in it develops is a significant determinant in how the world is seen and dealt with for the rest of one’s life. Learning how your family interacted and your place in those interactions is significant. These dynamics typically drive how you interact with people today, your expectations, and your responses. Psychotherapy aims to rediscover those early experiences and the beliefs that evolved from them. What we needed or wished to have learned as a child can still be learned as an adult by working with a therapist.
Who Comes to Mental Health Counselors for Help?
Although experienced mental health professionals such as Dr. Schaefer work with adults and children across a broad cross-section of challenges, most people can benefit from psychotherapy. Many therapy clients have successful business and professional lives but struggle to develop and maintain lasting and meaningful connections. They find it challenging to identify their feelings, express them in words, and very often modulate how they impact their behaviors.
In these situations, the patient and therapist work together to discover issues in the person’s early life. These can include coping mechanisms that worked great at age five, not so well at age twelve, and not at all in adulthood. Sometimes, people have been so focused on material success that they have never had the opportunity to develop interpersonal and emotional skills to nurture successful bonds. But, these skills can be learned, practiced, and improved for a better personal environment. The key is working with an experienced therapist to define the issues involved, identify the contributing causes, and move forward to workable solutions.
What Are the Goals of Therapy?
You may consult a therapist with particular problems in mind. And you may discover that the problems or issues were different, more complex, or even simpler than you believed. The first goal in psychotherapy is to discover the truth—both the truth as you have seen it for years and the truth as experienced by others.
The old saying that the truth will set you free applies to psychotherapy and other forms of mental health therapy. The more you understand yourself, your emotions, your beliefs, and your methods of dealing with life, the better equipped you are to live a happy, content, and successful life. The goals you set will come from your understanding of yourself as that understanding emerges during therapy.
As such, psychotherapy goals may evolve over time. The therapist, with years of experience, is responsible for keeping fact-finding and goal-setting on track. The point of good psychotherapy is to arrive at solutions that improve a person’s quality of life. When working with a Manhasset, NY, therapist such as Dr. Schaefer, you will discover this.
How Long Does Mental Health Therapy Last?
Mental health treatment, such as psychotherapy, is meant to help us with life’s difficulties. Many patients experience some relief in a relatively short time. They learn key insights that they can put to work with relative ease. Other patients have more complicated issues that require time to uncover and explore.
Therapy may be a valuable tool for those feeling anxious. Clinical psychologists and certified clinical social workers are two popular categories of therapists. Both types of specialists have obtained specific training in psychotherapy and are prepared to assist clients in overcoming their difficulties.
Developing coping mechanisms for challenging emotions and circumstances is a systematic therapeutic strategy. Those with superior coping mechanisms might feel more in control of their lives and be better equipped to deal with stressful events. A motivated therapist can help identify and develop the most effective coping mechanisms for each client.
Cognitive processing therapy is a different therapeutic approach that has grown in acceptance. Those who have gone through trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder are often treated with this. Clients engage in cognitive processing therapy to seek out and address harmful ideas and assumptions that could be causing them suffering.
Therapy may be a helpful tool for those who are nervous or alienated to understand their emotions and create coping mechanisms. Therapists with clinical expertise can better assist clients as they explore and comprehend their feelings in a secure setting. Even insurmountable difficulties may become more manageable with the assistance of a qualified therapist.
Patients must believe their therapist gets them. A therapist who takes the time to acknowledge and affirm a client’s emotions may facilitate a healthy therapeutic connection. Clients are more likely motivated to keep working toward their mental health objectives when they feel heard and understood.
Treatment may be a highly manageable condition for those battling a range of mental health issues. Therapy may provide a secure and supportive environment for patients to learn coping mechanisms, acquire understanding, and feel understood, whether working with a clinical psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, or a Ph.D. in counseling with a concentration in psychology.
Some may have deep-seated issues that require time to uncover. It could be a treatable problem that needs one to gain insight into a solution. The frequency of therapy visits is generally weekly, with additional sessions scheduled based on mutual agreement. In Dr. Schaefer’s psychotherapy practice, the treatment is always consistent and focuses on what is therapeutic for the individual.
If you are feeling disconnected and need an NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor who specializes in therapy and other mental health issues, please get in touch with Dr. Schaefer. Her office is in Manhasset, very close to Northern Blvd.
Dr. Maryann B Schaefer
Ph.D. – Counseling, Concentration in Psychology
NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Fellow of American Psychotherapy Association
Phone: (516) 627-1145
Email: drmaryannschaefer@gmail.com
5 Travers Street Manhasset, NY 11030
Office Hours: By appointment only.
