The Karen Horney Clinic offers a variety of treatment programs as well as training programs. These include:
The Adult Program provides therapeutic services for people with a wide range of psychiatric problems including depression, anxiety, psycho-somatic disorders, phobias, personality problems, sleep disturbance, obsessive compulsive disorder, family problems and phase of life issues, to mention only a few.
The treatments provided are geared to alleviating suffering from distressing psychological symptoms, helping people change characteristic and self-defeating behaviors, assisting in adjusting to certain life circumstances, as well as in-depth exploration of underlying psychological processes from which much suffering emanates. In Horneyan tradition, emphasis is always placed on helping people get back on track towards growth, freedom and self-realization.
A spectrum of therapies ranging from counseling and support through deeper and more intense psychoanalytic therapy and psychoanalysis is offered. Some patients will also receive adjunctive medication therapy when indicated. The type, frequency and length when indicated, is always determined on an individual and collaborative basis between therapist and patient.
Childhood and adolescence are characterized by problems and challenges, which may be confusing, exciting and frightening. Children, adolescents and their adult caregivers often experience difficulty understanding and coping with problems that may accompany developmental changes. The Karen Horney Clinic program for children adolescents is designed to meet the specific needs of each of its patients up to 18 years of age.
The Child and Adolescent Services Program stresses early intervention in cases of childhood problems such as:
Of course, the problems experienced by children and adolescents are as diverse as the children themselves. The highly individualized treatment program designed for each child and family recognizes and responds to the various elements in each subculture and environment.
The Child and Adolescent Services program uses individual and family therapy to restore self-confidence and a sense of basic security to the child. Early intervention helps overcome problems in early development and goes far towards avoiding problems later in life.
For many children in Foster Care the combined experience of being removed from their parents for abuse and neglect and then placed in a foster setting can cause severe emotional trauma. Experiences such as this can cause children to feel anxious, depressed, angry, guilty, confused and helpless. Common symptomology for children in Foster Care include:
The Karen Horney Clinic Child and Adolescent Services Program addresses these damaging psychological effects, and helps to prevent long term psychological consequences for children and families.
The Karen Horney Clinic offers specialized treatment for trauma in the following areas:
Violence and severe trauma, such as accidents, illness, death a loved one and other stressful life events can cause intense anxiety, depression, anger, phobias, obsessions, physical ailments, isolation, helplessness and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Trauma Treatment Center, a pioneering program of its kind, offers immediate and confidential treatment for trauma, stress and violence-related emotional problems for people of all ages.
Patients participating in this program have been the victims of various types of crimes including:
The Center also treats people traumatized by:
In addition to focusing on the needs of victims, this program includes therapy for family members and friends of victims of a homicide or those individuals who have experiences the traumatization of a loved one.
Individual and group treatment can be either brief or extended, depending on the individual needs of the patient, and may include participation of family and friends.
The loss of childhood innocence and joy is a tragic consequence of incest and child abuse, both sexual and physical. The long-lasting effects can be even more devastating and may result in depression, anxiety, shame, guilt, low self-esteem and interpersonal conflicts for its victims.
The Karen Horney Clinic Treatment Center for Incest and Abuse was one of the first comprehensive programs to provide long-term psychodynamically-oriented therapy to treat female and male survivors of incest, sexual and physical child abuse and family violence.
Individual, group, family and couples therapy provides adults a safe environment in which to discuss the impact of past trauma on their current lives. Treatment assists survivors to recognize their courage and inner strength, helping them discover an identity, which recognizes but is not dominated by the incest or abuse.
The Center provides treatment for anyone, regardless of age who is a survivor of incest and child sex abuse, physical abuse and family violence. In addition, there are programs designed for family members of survivors who may need brief or extended therapy.
The Center works with educational institutions and a variety of programs to provide consultation with and supervision of therapists who work with incest and child abuse survivors.
The Center also offers public education regarding incest and abuse.
The AIDS epidemic has become one of the most threatening health issues worldwide. Individuals and families have been severely impacted by this diagnosis. The individual with such a diagnosis may experience anxiety, hopelessness, and despair. Panic may set in. Is one living with a death sentence? The loss of significant people in one's life brings about feelings of isolation, anger, and shame.
Frequent responses to an HIV+ blood test result are:
"I'm not sure what's going on. I just feel bad all the
time."
"I feel so uncertain about my future."
"I don't care how I act, it can't get any worse."
"What will my friends think?"
"How can I help him through this?"
"Will my family abandon me?"
"Am I going to die?"
Often individuals who have the HIV virus or AIDS experience the following feelings:
Psychotherapy creates an atmosphere of safety, allowing for feelings to emerge. Changes can bring strength and courage. The Karen Horney Clinic program in HIV/AIDS Clinical Services reaches out to those who are affected by this epidemic and offers support and the potential to improve one's quality of life.
The HIV/AIDS Clinical Services Program offers individual and group therapy for those infected and affected by the diagnosis. An immediate goal is to move the diagnosed individual from one who feels like a victim to one who has the ability to improve the quality of his life and to gain a future.
This program is open to both men and women, regardless of sexual orientation or past behavior.
This program is also open to caregivers, family members, partners, siblings, and friends who seek an empathic environment in which to express and understand their concerns.
The Social Work Training Program accepts 4, second year masters level social work students per year for internships within the various specialty programs of the Karen Horney Clinic. Training is in long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. Students are assigned 5-10 patient cases in the fall, which they work on throughout the year. Students are supervised by senior staff members in their assigned programs who are all graduates of at least one program of the American Institute of Psychoanalysis of the Karen Horney Clinic. Students receive 2 sessions per week of individual supervision, and one session a week of group supervision. There are a wide variety of learning opportunities, which students participate in on a weekly basis, in addition to supervision. These include weekly program meetings, social work tutorial (a weekly didactic geared specifically to the needs of social work students), a weekly class on various subjects given by the clinic's medical director, case conferences, journal clubs and book club meetings and monthly scientific meetings.
Students apply for internships through the field placement offices at their schools of social work.
The program is headed by Carol Antler, ACSW who is a graduate of the Analytic Program of the American Institute of Psychoanalysis
The Psychology Internship Training Program of the Karen Horney Clinic is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. The primary goal of the program is to further the training and professional development of doctoral level psychologists by providing the knowledge and skills necessary for diagnosis, assessment, and intervention with a variety of patients in a diverse outpatient setting. The program emphasizes the scholar-practitioner model and closely integrates courses and seminars in theory and technique with extensive clinical experience.
The primary treatment model employed in the Karen Horney Clinic and taught in the internship-training program is psychodynamic and the intern is exposed to a range of psychoanalytic theories, techniques, and treatment modalities with special emphasis on their application to the diverse patient population served by the Clinic. Training is provided in milieu and individual psychotherapy, psycho diagnostic testing and assessment, crisis intervention and consultation.
Intern’s work with patients from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, as diverse as severely impaired very young children, older children and adolescents in foster care and high functioning college students and adults. Treatment is intensive and generally long term. However, the Karen Horney Clinic and the Psychology Training Program is aware of future trends in the mental health and recognizes the need to provide training in short term treatment. A Didactic seminar and supervised clinical experience is offered in short term dynamic therapy.
High quality supervision is at the heart of the training program and all supervisors and faculty have extensive clinical experience and most have post-doctoral training. Multiple supervisory and learning experiences are provided, enabling the intern to enhance professional skills, establish a professional identity and pursue and develop individual interests. Interns are highly regarded and respected members of the clinic staff. They actively participate in case conferences, contribute to clinical and administrative decisions and are at all times considered professionals in training. The administration of the clinic and psychology faculty is committed to providing a program where training and training needs take precedence over service requirements.