Jonathan Bower, MFT

My passion is to help people resolve their emotional problems as quickly and deeply as possible. I use an accelerated form of therapy that is called Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP).

ISTDP helps people get to their core feelings (the physical sensations of their emotions) and impulses (the action tendency of their emotions) that they have defended against and pushed down since the time of their trauma. The traumas usually are attachment bond ruptures with parents in which the ruptures were never repaired and the traumatic behavior never fully processed. Such unresolved trauma has profound and wide ranging effects on people, including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, psychologically based physical illnesses, chaotic and conflicted relationships, trouble with emotional closeness and self-sabotaging behavior.

The actual trauma cannot be undone because it is an historical fact. However, the powerful feelings and impulses of the person's core emotions that occurred at the time of the traumas can be fully felt and experienced in this type of therapy. When these emotions are no longer pushed down by defenses, anxiety and depression, one's life is remarkably improved and the devastation of their lives ends.

The truth is, everyone experiences emotional pain, but no one has to suffer. The suffering is a huge by-product of the repressed feelings and impulses.

Education:
University of California at Santa Barbara--B.A. in Sociology, 1966; California State University, Northridge--M.A in Sociology, 1969;
University of California at Santa Barbara--Ph.D. in Sociology, 1972; California State University, Dominguez Hills--M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy,1983.Specialties:
Anger Management, Anxiety, Avoidant Personality, Career Stress and Changes, Clinical Depression, Children, Co-Dependency/Adult Children of Alcoholics, Couples/Relationships/Families, Creativity, Gay/Lesbian Issues, Gender Identity Issues, Grief/Loss Terminally Ill, Issues of Abuse (Abused), Issues of Abuse (Offenders), Issues of Abuse (Trauma), Individual, Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder, Parenting, Personality Disorders, Phobias, Pre-Marriage Counseling, Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, Step/Blended Families, Self Esteem/Personal Growth, Stress, Working With Therapists, Depression

Theoretical Orientation:
Attachment, Cognitive-Behavioral, Family Systems, Other, e.g. NLP, EMDR, etc., Psychoanalytic, Psychodynamic, Somatic

Insurance:
I am an out-of-network provider. Some insurance companies will pay for some of the therapy.

Memberships:
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (and the local chapters of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County); The American Association of Marital and Family Therapy; The Conejo Valley Association of Mental Health Professionals; The Southern California Society of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy.