What to
expect
Starting therapy can feel like a significant step into the unknown. Understanding what the process actually looks like can make that first call a little easier to make.
"No matter what you may believe, you have the capacity to grow and create a more meaningful life."
Getting help from a psychologist is an act of courage. You may have struggled on your own for years, or only recently discovered your need for help. Either way, partnering with a licensed psychologist is a meaningful first step.
Entrusting yourself and your feelings to another person is not easy. Some worry they won't find the help they need. Some fear being judged and made to feel worse. These concerns are understandable - and they are worth addressing directly.
The Process
Four steps toward
meaningful change
Treatment begins with a conversation and builds from there. Each step is shaped around your specific needs - not a predetermined program.
Initial Consultation
The first session is a chance to get acquainted. You share what has brought you here, what you're hoping to address, and any questions you have. Dr. Cutler listens carefully, asks questions, and begins to understand your situation.
Setting Goals Together
Based on the initial consultation, you and Dr. Cutler identify what you would like to work on and agree on a therapeutic approach suited to your needs. Goals may be specific or broad - and they can evolve over time.
Ongoing Work
Regular sessions - typically weekly - where you explore thoughts, feelings, and patterns with Dr. Cutler's guidance. Over time, the work deepens, insights accumulate, and change becomes possible.
Seeing Results
Over time - sometimes quickly, sometimes gradually - most patients find relief from painful symptoms, a greater understanding of themselves, and a clearer path ahead in their relationships and their lives.
Years before the advent of psychotherapy, a young woman met with her doctor over many occasions. Gradually, she noticed that she began to feel better and do better. During one such meeting, she suddenly looked up and exclaimed, "I know what this is! This is the 'talking cure!'"
And so it was.
Talking
Cure
Why it works
There is something
helpful about
talking
The idea that conversation could heal is older than formal psychology itself. What that young woman stumbled upon - long before anyone had a name for it - is that the act of putting experience into words has its own power.
Words clarify. They help us step back from our feelings and see them more clearly. They allow us to share our inner life with another person and feel understood. And in the presence of a skilled, attentive listener, they open pathways to change that simply thinking alone cannot.
Dr. Cutler's goal is to help you find words for your thoughts and feelings - to assist you in understanding yourself in deeper ways, and to aid you in discovering the answers you need.
Setting Goals
Finding words
for what
matters
As you begin therapy, you and Dr. Cutler will work together to identify what you want to pursue. Goals give the work direction - and they can take many forms.
Perhaps you want to overcome feelings of hopelessness tied to depression. Perhaps you want to understand why certain relationships keep going wrong. Perhaps there is simply a persistent sense that something needs to change, even if you can't yet name what it is.
"I have words for all I know."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher
Wittgenstein understood that if he couldn't put something into words, he didn't really know it. Finding language for thoughts and feelings is clarifying and expanding. Words cut feelings down to size and prepare the way for action.
What therapy can help you achieve
Relief from painful symptoms
Reduce the grip of anxiety, depression, and emotional distress on your daily life.
Deeper self-understanding
Make sense of feelings and behaviors that have been difficult to understand.
Stronger relationships
Improve how you relate to the people who matter most - partners, family, colleagues.
Freedom from old patterns
Recognize and break self-defeating patterns that have shaped your life for too long.
Greater control over your life
Prevent the past from interfering with the present and find a clearer path forward.
Common Concerns
Worries people
have before starting
It's normal to have hesitations. Here are the ones Dr. Cutler hears most often - and why they don't have to stand in the way. More detailed answers are available in the FAQ.
"I'm not sure it will help me."
"I'm afraid of being judged."
"I don't want to be in therapy forever."
"I've tried before and it didn't work."
"I'm not sure my problems are serious enough."
"I don't know where to begin."
Length of Treatment
Short-term or longer-term - tailored to you
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to how long therapy takes. Dr. Cutler works with patients to find the approach that fits their situation, their goals, and the practical realities of their lives.
Focused work on a specific concern
Short-term psychotherapy - typically three to six months - is well suited to patients who are dealing with a specific, delimited problem. A difficult life transition, a particular relationship conflict, or a period of acute stress may all respond well to focused, time-limited work.
The goals are clear, the scope is defined, and progress can be seen and measured along the way.
Deeper exploration of persistent patterns
For issues that are more persistent, more pervasive, or more deeply rooted - longstanding depression, recurrent relationship difficulties, a sense that the same problems keep returning - longer-term therapy allows for a different kind of work.
It creates space to explore the patterns beneath the surface, to understand not just what is happening but why, and to make changes that are durable rather than temporary.
A final word
"The best way out is always through."
Whatever has brought you to this page - anxiety, depression, a relationship that isn't working, or simply the feeling that something needs to change - you don't need to have it all figured out before you reach out. The conversation begins with a single step.
Get Started
Ready to take
the first step?
Dr. Cutler welcomes new patients and responds personally to every inquiry. Reaching out is the hardest part.
