Sessions are 50 to 80 minutes long except for the initial interview. There we want to get an in-depth view of your difficulties so that we can understand the causes as rapidly as possible. For this initial interview, you'll need to set aside 3 hours. As far as style, I'm active throughout the session in questioning you and giving you feedback about personality style, defense, and resistance. Together we'll try to make sense of why you're having difficulties and outline what we can do about it. I'm committed to working as efficiently and as rapidly as possible so that you spend no more time in therapy than is necessary.
I also offer the option of videotaping our meetings and strongly encourage this as both a "quality control" measure and a way of deepening the therapeutic process. Videotaping can increase the value of therapy but is in no way a requirement of our working together. [After being used for their intended purpose, the tapes are erased and do NOT become part of your medical record.]
Forms for individual therapy: Please click on each to download, then fill out and bring with you to your first session:
Intake form
Office policy
Video consent (optional)
Couples Therapy
We need to do
a thorough assessment of relationship strengths and weaknesses
so that the areas we target are not based on guesswork.
With this in mind, we will have 4 sessions devoted solely
to information gathering. Our first session (80 to 85 minutes) will
be spent exploring each of your hopes and fears about therapy; the history
of your relationship; and some areas of current difficulty. At the end of
this first session, I will give each of you a detailed questionnaire
to complete on your own and bring back to an individual
session.
During your individual session (50 to 55 minutes), we will discuss
your individual history as well as any other topics you
consider relevant. Once I've reviewed the completed questionnaires,
we'll schedule a second couples meeting to go over the treatment
plan and jointly decide which issues to give our immediate
attention.
I recommend a 10 session commitment after the assessment
period. As with individual therapy, videotaping is strongly
encouraged.
Forms for couples therapy: Please click on each to download,
then fill out and bring with you to your first session:
'No Secrets' policy
Office policy
Video consent for couples (optional)
Payment and Insurance
The fee for sessions is $250 per hour, and I ask that you pay for services at the beginning of each meeting. Please have your check prepared or your credit card (Visa or MasterCard) available at that time. If you wish to be reimbursed by an insurer, I will provide a statement for you to submit at the end of each month so that all reimbursement is paid directly to you, however, I cannot guarantee reimbursement as this matter is entirely in the hands of the insurer. Please determine whether or not your carrier will provide reimbursement for services rendered by Diana Shulman, PhD (Research Psychoanalyst, RP #41, Medical Board of California) for the following services/procedure codes:
- Family (Couples) Psychotherapy - CPT 90847
- Individual Therapy - CPT 90834 (38 - 52 minutes)
- Individual Therapy - CPT 90837 (53 minutes and longer)