San Diego Psychology & Telehealth

No! Many people are afraid to seek help or therapy because they fear they will be labeled as crazy, which creates as stigma about mental health treatment. The truth is, in any given year, 43.8 Million (1 in 5) American Adults struggle with some difficulties with their mental health. Although sometimes the problem passes in a few weeks, other times it can stick around for months or years. The longer you ignore something that may be bothering you, the more serious of a problem it can become in the future.

Yes!! We strongly believe that every person could benefit from psychotherapy. Unfortunately many people don’t know about it or are too afraid to go until their problems become very serious. Our hope is that in the future, basic mental health education will be implemented into the educational system just as many schools offer health classes. Even therapists go to their own personal psychotherapy because it helps them identify their own difficulties or biases.

Psychotherapy is commonly just referred to as “therapy” or “talk therapy.” It is the process of talking about your life and yourself with a trained professional person who can better help you understand your difficulties or struggles from a compassionate, non-judgemental perspective.

Yes, therapy is confidential and this confidentiality is governed by laws and ethical standards. Nearly everything that you tell your therapist stays between only you and the therapist, but there are a few exceptions in which your therapist may or is mandated to break confidentiality. The instances in which your therapist can break confidentiality are called “limits to confidentiality,” and the American Psychological Association lists the following limits:

1. You are a danger to yourself and threaten to harm yourself (e.g., suicidal).
2. You threaten to harm another specific person (e.g., assault, kill).
3. A member of your family informs your treating therapist that you seriously intend to harm another.
4. You are seeking psychological services to enable someone to commit a crime, or to avoid detection or apprehension yourself.
5. You are being evaluated by a court-appointed psychologist.
6. You are being evaluated to determine your sanity in a criminal proceeding.
7. You are involved in a proceeding where your mental competence is at issue.
8. You disclose something that your treating therapist is required to report (e.g., child abuse, child sexual assault, and elder abuse). In these cases psychologists are required to telephone and file a written notification to the relevant public office, such as Child Protective Services. There is no choice in the matter of reporting. This applies to ALL cases of child or elderly abuse, even if someone else is the victim or perpetrator.
9. You are under 16 years old and are the victim of a crime.
10. You are under 18 years old and your treating therapist reasonably suspects that you are a victim of child abuse.
11. You are over 65 and your treating therapist believes that you are the victim of physical abuse. Also, psychologists may break confidentiality if you are over 65 and the victim of emotional abuse (but they are not required to do so).
12. You die, and the information you had disclosed is known by your therapist or documented in your record is important to an issue between parties making claims through you (litigation).
13. You die, and the information being released by your psychologist is important in a. Ascertaining your intent, or b. Deciding an issue, concerning a deed of conveyance, will, or other writing of yours affecting your interest in property (real estate claims).
14. You file a lawsuit against your psychologist for breach of duty (e.g., incompetence) or your psychologist files a lawsuit against you.
15. You have filed a lawsuit against anyone and are claiming mental or emotional damages as a part of the suit.
16. You have waived your rights to privilege or give consent in writing to limited disclosure by your psychologist.

Telepsychology is a new form of treatment that incorporates modern technologies into mental health treatment. It is sometimes referred to as telehealth, telemental health, etherapy, mtherapy, video therapy, internet therapy, etc. Although telepsychology includes in its definition communication that takes place over email, text, or telephone, actual telepsychology sessions are synchronous video conferencing calls over the internet. It’s kind of like calling your therapist on FaceTime or Skype, but it is done over a secure video conferencing platform. Programs like Skype should never be used for telepsychology because they are not HIPAA compliant and can jeopardize your confidentiality.

There are a few differences between these two, but they are both ways of delivering treatment for mental health problems. Traditional psychotherapy is conducted in an office, in person, and can feel more personal than seeing a therapist over a video monitor. Teletherapy has some drawbacks, but many benefits too in that it allows people who could not regularly access therapy services (because they live too far away or cannot get to the therapy office) to access psychotherapy remotely. Not everyone may be appropriate for telepsychology; for example, people who are experiencing a mental health emergency or are suicidal may not be appropriate for telepsychology because the therapist has less ability to intervene or help connect the person to the appropriate resources during a crisis.

Your therapist will first help you identify (or “assess”) the problem you are struggling with. This process typically takes about 1-4 sessions, but usually is an ongoing process throughout the course of therapy. Once your therapist has a good idea of what the problem is, he/she might share with you a “diagnosis” and work together with you to create a plan of action of how to get better (called a “treatment plan”). The treatment plan includes goals that are created collaboratively, and your treatment is over when you and your therapist agree that the treatment goals have been met!

A full psychological assessment involves completing a battery of tests administered to evaluate your intellectual, learning, emotional and/or behavioral functioning. The tests administered depend on the referral question, but typically include a structured interview, an assessment of intellectual capability, learning/processing measures, measures of attention and memory, academic achievement measures, projective measures, emotional/behavioral checklists and self-report surveys, and clinical observations. At the end of the assessment, a psychologist scores and interprets all of the tests and writes a detailed psychological report with a diagnosis and treatment plan recommendations.

Some insurance companies restrict the amount of sessions you can receive, but the typical course of treatment takes about 12 weeks in Cognitive Behaviorla Therapy. This varies a lot based on what your goals are and how serious the issues are that you are struggling with. It is not uncommon for people to be in therapy for several years or even decades, as therapy can also be good for personal growth and development.

Yes!!! We are currently contracted with Cigna, Magellan Healthcare, Medi-Cal, and Blue Shield of California, and are in the application process for other insurance providers. Check back soon to see if we have gained a contract with your insurance carrier.

This varies depending on your insurance carrier. Some insurance companies cover a specific amount of sessions or only certain diagnoses or services. As insurance coverage varies significantly, we recommend these questions to ask your insurance provider:

• Do I have mental health benefits?
• Do I have a co-pay? If so, how much is it?
• What is my deductible and has it been met?
• How many sessions per calendar year does my plan cover?
• Do I have out-of-network mental health insurance benefits? If so, what is the percentage that is covered for out-of-network providers? What is my co-insurance?
• Do I need to obtain prior authorization before starting treatment? If so, how do I do this?

State laws vary on the limits of confidentiality for minors, but typically minors enjoy many of the benefits of confidentiality as adults do. We have provided a summary of California minor rights on our resources page that you can access here. Please also read the minor consent for therapy agreement found here, as it explains many things that have to be reported to parents if they are disclosed during the course of therapy.

Yes!! Best practices in child psychology call for consistent treatment and care coordination across several settings. We can consult with teachers, social workers, physicians, and anyone else involved in your child’s treatment with appropriate Releases of Information.

We typically require that both parents conesnt to treatment before therapy starts. There are some circumstances in which we may proceed with therapy without the consent of the other legal custody parent, but this must be discussed with your therapist. This is because sometimes, even if a parent has not been involved in a child's care for years or decades, the other parent can bring legal action against a therapist or request a child's therapy records. If you are unsure about this, we are more than happy to discuss your individual situation with you. Joint legal custody allows either parent or guardian to consent to treatment for minors. Typically therapists will, at a minimum, briefly call the other parent with joint legal custody to inform them of treatment services and obtain their verbal consent to treatment. Obtaining written consent by both parents and/or having both parents attend the intake session is highly recommended. In situations where divorce has preceded the treatment and either parent does not want treatment for the children or cannot agree on the best therapist, it's best to obtain mediation or court recommendations for therapy so both parents are on the same page.

Yes! Our building is 100% ADA accessible. We have an ADA parking spot, ADA accessible front door, elevator, and ADA accessible bathrooms on each floor.