Karen Weiser, PhD, LP, NCPsyA

Dr. Karen Weiser is an LGBTQIA+ affirming and culturally inclusive Licensed Psychoanalyst with a private practice in Manhattan’s Tribeca / City Hall area, where she welcomes both individual adults (ages 18+) and couples with issues across the mental health spectrum. Often her patients come in seeking help with overwhelming feelings, such as anxiety and depression or have physical symptoms that cause them to feel dysregulated. Sometimes they are looking for help with difficulties in relationships, at work, with gender and sexuality, or a feeling of being stuck or always empty. She has experience working with people who have experienced both large traumatic events and no specific traumas, but a sense that life is both overwhelming and passing them by. The couples Dr. Weiser works with are sometimes married, sometimes not, and come to couples counseling in order to understand the difficult dynamics that leave them feeling angry, resentful, or lonely inside their relationship. She works to improve communication and rebuild trust in order to change painful dynamics. Dr. Weiser focuses on getting to know the unconscious logics that influence how her patients understand and relate to themselves and others. Her approach is collaborative, and she often incorporates mindfulness and a focus on the body, as well as other therapeutic modes. She is interactive and responsive, asks questions, and encourages feedback. Karen completed advanced training in psychoanalysis at the Institute for Contemporary Therapy. Before becoming an analyst she earned a Ph.D. in English, an MFA in poetry, and taught literature at the college level. As a poet, she understands the creative process and often works with people engaged in creative practices. Currently, she has openings for both in-person and remote therapy. Often people think just talking about your problems can't possibly do anything. I really mean it when I say that I believe in therapy and have seen it transform lives. We can't change what has happened to us, but we can certainly learn to understand and hold those experiences differently. Therapy offers the opportunity to have a regular space and time carved out of your schedule to begin to articulate, think, and feel emotions and experiences that are difficult to put into language. We need another person to ask us difficult questions and listen non-judgmentally. I am both warm and direct, and though therapy is often painful, I believe we can address our emotional difficulties and have a full range of emotions--even humor and laughter--while we work. I help my patients to feel their overwhelming emotions, and over time, to learn to sit with themselves and feel ok (maybe even good!). Often people don't organize their experience in ways that allow them to feel like they have any control at all over their lives. Starting therapy again, or for the first time, can be a first step toward creating change and agency. I am honored to be a part of this experience and look forward to hearing from you.