Michael Uebel, PhD, LMSW

Practice Description

To “know thyself” is to be known by another. (Philip Rieff)

In my work as a psychotherapist, I begin with the egoistic premise that a person’s highest moral purpose is the achievement of happiness. While happiness may be a goal that one is always striving for, rather than attaining fully, there are certain actions we can undertake to lay the groundwork for the values that make happiness possible. Thus, as I practice it, counseling others involves helping persons understand their own nature and, especially, their needs.

It is probably no surprise that, for most of us, the sources of happiness reside in work and love. Work of some kind or another fills the majority of most people’s lives, and often productive work is crucial to one’s very survival—emotional, material, and social. Love, a timeless theme in every sphere of art, is a source of enormous pleasure, yet most people go through their lives longing for love, though few find it in the form they desire. Together, work and love involve setting goals for oneself, yet often those goals become unclear or blocked.

My commitment to the values of social work practice, especially those of self-efficacy and self-mastery, and to the methods of psychotherapy, which involve the careful tracing out of the threads of desire and love in our lives, guides me in helping people find their optimal path and place in life. Drawing upon my background in the humanities (PhD in Literature, University of Virginia), and my teaching experience in critical theory, psychoanalysis, and philosophy, I offer clients innovative ways to work toward authenticity, self-regard, intimacy, integrity, and joy.

 
Areas of Therapeutic Focus
 
  • Interpersonal Issues (finding connection; working through ambivalence or hatred)
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  • Mood/Emotional Issues (rediscovering pleasure; defeating boredom or fear; reframing depressed thinking or anger; building compassion)
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  • Existential Issues (finding meaning; enhancing “being”)
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  • Goal Achievement (becoming productive; getting “unstuck”; undoing self-defeat)
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  • Trauma Issues (living with loss, death and dying; resolving grief and mourning)
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  • Identity Issues (seeking uniqueness)
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    Clients Served
     
  • Adults of all ages for one-to-one counseling
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    Approaches
     
  • Psychodynamic psychotherapy
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  • Humanistic psychology
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  • Positive psychology
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  • Minfulness-based psychotherapy
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    Schedule an appointment with Michael Uebel by calling (512) 366-0954