Andrew Ding, MD

All too commonly, therapy is relegated to the thinking parts of the brain rather than the feeling elements more closely tied to suffering, leaving one merely knowing what to do without the embodied sense of change that drives action. I interweave the following approaches situated within a theoretical framework drawing most heavily from psychodynamics/psychoanalysis and Internal Family Systems. However, somatics, cognitive behavioral therapy, and neuroscience are also important influences.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy is a rapid acting variant of EMDR that allows people to process difficult events or issues in such a way that they move from overwhelming reexperiencing to functional remembering that leaves events in the past. Internal Family Systems helps people accept as well as reconcile and heal their relationships with parts of themselves that were once helpful in managing adversity, but whose approaches are now outdated. Psychodynamics explores the ways people unconsciously carry their past relationships into the present, often recapitulating patterns in the therapy relationship itself.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy visceralizes knowledge imprisoned in the mind, helping people move from knowing to feeling, providing a kind of North Star experience that catalyzes change. People often feel that they have emerged from socially and personally constructed narratives to see themselves more clearly and honestly. Psychedelic medicine does not inure people from difficulty, but rather, can allow them to face their feelings and challenges with an enhanced sense of openness, flexibility, and perspective. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy entails preparation, actively supported dosing, and integration sessions to increase the likelihood of safe and productive experiences that yield durable change. Sessions can occur at low doses that deepen and enrich traditional therapeutic work as well as higher dose experiences. In addition to providing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy I provide preparation and integration support, medically, psychologically, and spiritually for independent plant and synthetic medicine experiences within various traditions (Grof, Shipibo, etc.).

Therapy is a place to explore the contours of your psyche, roots of your actions and feelings, and nature of your body-mind-spirit—as well as their relation to one another.