John X Allemand

My work is influenced by the thought of existentialist philosophers and psychologists who speak with compassion to a profound and uniquely human dilemma: we are both burdened with and ennobled by a quest for meaning in the face of suffering. Psychotherapy provides a safe and intimate space in which we might expand our capacity to bear suffering and to find meaning within and through it. Depth psychology proposes that the psyche consists of both conscious and unconscious thoughts, impulses, fantasies, and ideas. Symptoms (depression, anxiety, addictions, etc.) are more than painful indicators of psychopathology; they are messages, metaphors, elements of a narrative moving us toward growth, insight, and individuation. Depth psychology embraces paradox. Caught in “complexes,” we are simultaneously aware and unaware of how we are behaving in relation to self/others. We struggle to make sense of how our cherished relationships are falling apart and unable to articulate the source of our dis