Treatment for Schizophrenia
in El Cerrito, CA
Navigating Life With Psychosis, Schizophrenia, Or Other Related Diagnoses Can Feel Isolating
Maybe you hear things others don't, or hold beliefs that people close to you find hard to understand. Maybe you've received a diagnosis -- schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or another psychotic disorder -- and you're trying to figure out what a meaningful life looks like now. Maybe you're not living with a formal diagnosis but are having experiences that feel confusing, frightening, or isolating, and you don't know where to find safety and support.
Whatever your relationship to psychosis looks like, you deserve support — both for the experiences themselves, however they show up in your life, and for the isolation or stigma that so often surrounds them. Many people living with psychosis or schizophrenia find that friends, family, and even some providers pull back rather than lean in, leaving them to navigate an already disorienting experience largely alone. Treatment for schizophrenia in my practice starts from a different place: genuine curiosity, rather than fear, and a desire to understand your experience and the challenges it is creating as you move through your daily life.
Beyond Symptom Management
Much of the conversation around schizophrenia focuses narrowly on symptom reduction. That matters, and medication management with a psychiatrist is often an important part of care. But psychosis therapy can also address something medication alone doesn't reach: your relationship with your own mind, your sense of identity, your relationships, and your hopes for your life.
You Are Not Only Your Diagnosis
A diagnosis describes a cluster of experiences. It doesn't describe your worth, your potential, or the fullness of who you are. Therapy for schizophrenia that treats you as a whole person -- not just a set of symptoms -- tends to support both stability and quality of life far more effectively.
With the right support, you can build a life that includes your experiences with psychosis without being defined by them.
Reach Out with any Questions About Psychosis Treatment
Psychosis Is More Common Than the Stigma Suggests
Schizophrenia spectrum disorders affect roughly 1 in 100 people worldwide, and psychotic experiences more broadly -- including brief or isolated episodes -- are considerably more common than that [1]. Despite this, schizophrenia remains one of the most stigmatized diagnoses in mental health, often portrayed inaccurately in the media as inherently dangerous or hopeless. Neither is true. Most people living with schizophrenia are not violent, and many people build stable, meaningful lives with the right combination of support.
Psychosis often emerges from a complex mix of biological vulnerability, life stress, and -- increasingly recognized in research -- trauma and adversity [2]. Understanding this doesn't erase the reality or seriousness of psychotic experiences, but it does mean they can be approached with the same compassion and curiosity we bring to any other human struggle, rather than fear.
The good news is that with trauma-informed, collaborative treatment for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, recovery is possible -- not necessarily meaning an absence of all symptoms, but a life with meaning, connection, and stability, on your own terms.
[1] World Health Organization, "Schizophrenia" fact sheet.
[2] Varese et al., "Childhood Adversities Increase the Risk of Psychosis," Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2012.
A Trauma-Informed, Collaborative Approach to Psychosis
Making Room for Your Experience
My approach to psychosis therapy is trauma-informed and collaborative, and it works best as part of a coordinated team that includes your psychiatrist or prescriber. I am not a substitute for psychiatric care when medication is part of your treatment; rather, I work alongside it, focusing on the parts of recovery that medication alone doesn't address.
I draw on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT for psychosis), which research shows can help reduce distress and hospitalization by changing your relationship to difficult experiences -- including voices or unusual beliefs -- rather than requiring you to eliminate them entirely before you can have a good life [3]. I also incorporate Internal Family Systems (IFS for psychosis and IFS for schizophrenia), including approaches developed specifically for working with voices and unusual beliefs as meaningful communications from parts of the self, rather than meaningless symptoms to be silenced. For many clients, understanding what a voice or belief might be protecting them from, or trying to tell them, reduces distress even when the experience itself doesn't disappear.
Working Alongside Your Psychiatric Care
Because psychosis so often has roots in earlier trauma or overwhelming stress, trauma-informed therapy for psychosis and trauma-informed therapy for schizophrenia are central to this work -- always paced carefully, always prioritizing stabilization and safety. I also support the practical and relational sides of living with a psychotic disorder: navigating relationships, work, identity, and the grief that can come with a diagnosis, alongside the more clinical work of counseling for schizophrenia. When helpful, I'm glad to coordinate care with psychiatrists, family members, or other providers involved in your treatment, and can help you find a psychiatrist if you don't yet have one.
[3] Bach and Hayes, "The Use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Prevent the Rehospitalization of Psychotic Patients," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2002.
Questions You May Have
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Yes. While medication is often an important part of treatment, psychotherapy for schizophrenia -- particularly trauma-informed and acceptance-based approaches -- has a growing evidence base for reducing distress, improving quality of life, and supporting recovery alongside psychiatric care.
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No. I approach psychosis with the same curiosity and respect I bring to any other human experience. My goal as your therapist for schizophrenia is to understand your particular experience, not to fit you into a frightening or hopeless stereotype. When working with me, you will always have agency in deciding avenues pursued. I am here to support your autonomy, not suppress it.
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If medication management would be helpful, I can support you in connecting with a psychiatrist and can coordinate care once you have one. Therapy for people with schizophrenia can still begin in the meantime.
You Deserve Support That Sees the Whole You
If you or someone you love is navigating psychosis, schizophrenia, or a schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, I offer a free 20-minute consultation to talk about what support could look like. I provide this specialized treatment for psychotic disorder in person in El Cerrito and the East Bay, and virtually throughout California, in coordination with psychiatric care as needed.
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