Treating Medical and Genetic Anxiety in Virginia and Washington DC

Coping With Medical Diagnoses & Genetic Risk

Therapy for Health Uncertainty

The Emotional Impact of a Medical Diagnosis

Many people navigating a serious medical diagnosis—such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancer, thyroid conditions, alopecia, scoliosis, or other chronic illnesses—experience profound emotional and identity shifts. Even when a condition is completely outside their control, individuals often blame themselves or struggle with feeling so powerless.

Psychotherapy helps separate the illness from the internal narrative that forms around it. This allows you to experience a sense of agency, reduce emotional distress, and develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself while managing the medical realities of your situation.

A Space to Talk Openly Without Managing Others’ Reactions

Sharing health-related fears with family or close friends can feel complicated; they may worry, offer advice, or need reassurance. Therapy provides a protected space where you don’t have to minimize or hide your feelings. You can express the full range of your emotions—including grief, fear, anger, and uncertainty—without worrying about how loved ones will react.

Navigating the Healthcare System With Confidence

Managing a medical condition often involves complex decisions, contradictory information, and the need to advocate for yourself. I help clients process these challenges and develop strategies for:

• communicating effectively with medical providers
• making medical decisions grounded in your best interest, rather than fear
• regulating anxiety during the diagnostic process
• increasing confidence in health-related choices

This support is an essential part of living well with chronic or emerging medical conditions.

Adjusting to Life With Medical Limitations

Health issues can reshape daily functioning and long-term plans. Therapy provides space to process these changes, restore a sense of identity, and build a meaningful life—even in the presence of medical limitations or ongoing uncertainty.

Coping With Genetic Test Results & Future Health Risk

Support for BRCA • PALB2 • APOE4 • Lynch Syndrome • and Other Genetic Findings

For some, distress is not tied to an active illness but to genetic information that shifts their understanding of the future. Learning you carry a gene associated with breast cancer (BRCA1/2, PALB2), Alzheimer’s risk (APOE4), Lynch syndrome, clotting disorders, or cardiac risk markers can activate a deep emotional landscape—fear, grief, anger, and a sense of identity disruption.

Modern medicine can reveal future risks that may or may not ever unfold, leaving people with a kind of knowledge that is all at once powerful and deeply unsettling to sit with.

This experience often creates a unique kind of limbo:

• “I’m not sick, but I might be.”
• “How will this affect my life and my children’s lives?”
• “How do I make decisions without certainty?”

Therapy helps you navigate these questions, reduce catastrophic thinking, and make thoughtful, values-aligned choices. You gain grounding and resilience while living in an uncertainty that can otherwise feel lonely and overwhelming.

How Therapy Helps With Medical Anxiety & Genetic Risk

CBT • Psychodynamic Therapy • ACT • Existential Therapy

I use an integrative approach designed to support the emotional, cognitive, and existential layers of this experience.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• interrupts spiraling or catastrophic thoughts
• clarifies risk vs. fear-based assumptions
• restores a sense of emotional steadiness

Psychodynamic Therapy

• explores identity shifts after diagnosis or genetic testing
• helps integrate medical information into your personal story
• supports meaning-making and deeper emotional understanding

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is particularly well-suited for the uncertainty inherent in medical and genetic information. It helps you:

• stay present with difficult thoughts and emotions without being overtaken by them
• shift from resisting uncertainty to building a more flexible, grounded relationship with it
• connect to your deepest values to guide decisions and daily life
• cultivate psychological flexibility so you can move forward even when fear remains

Rather than trying to eliminate uncertainty, ACT helps you live meaningfully alongside it.

Existential Therapy

Medical diagnoses and genetic risk often raise profound existential questions—questions about meaning, mortality, identity, and the fragility of life. Existential therapy creates space to explore these deeper concerns without rushing to quick answers or forcing optimism.

Together we work to:

• reflect on how health information reshapes your understanding of yourself and your future
• process the fears and hopes that arise when confronted with life’s unpredictability
• explore purpose, identity, and what matters most to you now
• develop a sense of agency and authenticity in the face of uncertainty

Existential therapy helps people face themselves with honesty, courage, and compassion—an essential part of emotional healing during life-altering health moments.

In-Person Sessions in Washington, DC & McLean, VA

I offer in-person therapy for individuals who prefer a face-to-face therapeutic relationship or who feel most supported in a physical office setting. My offices in Washington, DC and McLean, VA provide a calm, confidential environment to process difficult medical or genetic information.

Online Therapy Available Through PSYPACT

For clients outside the DC metro area, I am a PSYPACT-authorized psychologist, which allows me to provide teletherapy to individuals in any state that participates in the PSYPACT compact.

This means you can work with me online—even across state lines—if you live in a PSYPACT state, offering continuity of care for people who are:

• receiving treatment in another state
• relocating or traveling
• seeking a therapist with expertise in medical or genetic anxiety
• preferring the convenience of telehealth

Remote sessions are secure, confidential, and provide the same level of support and therapeutic depth as in-person work.

You Don’t Have to Navigate This Alone

Medical diagnoses and genetic insights can feel life-altering—but you do not have to carry the emotional weight by yourself. With support, it is possible to feel grounded, resilient, and emotionally steady, even in the presence of uncertainty.

If you’re ready for a space where your fears, questions, and hopes can be fully heard, I welcome you to reach out.