Melissa Angiel Ph. D.

Welcome to my website!

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience. I completed my doctoral studies at The Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies in 1994. I have formal training in the areas of psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), school psychology, mind-body medicine, neuropsychology, mindfulness meditation, Buddhist-psychology and Yoga nidra meditation.

Over the years I have worked with many adults and children across a broad range of issues, in a variety of settings, including:

·      Private Practice (20 + years) – Adult and Child Services offering Therapy (individual/couple/group) and Evaluations (psychological, psycho-educational and neuropsychological).

·      Outpatient Mental Health Adult and Child services offering Therapy (individual/group) and Evaluations (psychological, psycho-educational and neuropsychological).

·      Psychiatric Hospitals Adult and Adolescent Services offering Therapy and Assessment (clinical interview, psychological and neuropsychological testing).

·      Medical Hospitals Adult Services offering Therapy (individual/group), Evaluations (psychological and neuropsychological) and Psycho-educational Groups for the management of Stress, Chronic-Pain, Cardiac, Vestibular, and Head Injury syndromes.

·      Schools - Certified School Psychologist and Chair of Special Education/Preschool Special Education providing Evaluations (psycho-educational), Counseling (individual/group) , Classroom Observations, Consultation with teachers and parents, and Facilitation of Special Education Meetings

• Early Intervention Child and Adult Services providing Assessment (Developmental) and Counseling for young Children (2 years through Preschool) and their Families

·      Outpatient Family Institute Adult and Child services providing Therapy (individual/couple and family) and Evaluations (psychological/psycho-educational/neuropsychological)

·      Domestic Violence Shelters - Adult and Child Services offering Crisis Intervention, Advocacy and Counseling, facilitation of Psycho-educational and Support Groups, individual and group Therapy, 24-hour Crisis-Hotline and collaboration with police and courts

·      In addition, I trained with John Sarno, MD (at NYU Medical Center) for many years and continue to treat Psychologically Mediated Chronic Pain Syndromes

There is no one way that I work with people, because therapy is, by its very nature, exquisitely individualized.

A number of approaches that I utilize regularly, include;

·      Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

·      Strength-based (positive psychology)

·      Insight-oriented (psychodynamic)

·      Buddhist psychology

·      Somatic (mind-body medicine)

·      Neuropsychology

·      Mindfulness

Across the board, Individual needs, preferences, and goals are discussed and updated regularly

Creating and maintaining open dialogue allows ongoing co-creation and refinement of goals and allows for recognition of the changing wants and needs of individuals over time.

Identifying and harnessing personal strengths is integral my work with every client.

Deliberately applying your strengths to the areas in life where you feeling discouraged or stuck creates support through the process of change, accelerating progress in a number of ways. For example, learning to recognize and rely on your strengths, allows you to deepen your awareness of your own foibles and builds your capacity to skillfully tolerate painful emotion, which promotes insight and healing. Another plus to deliberately acknowledging positives is that it acts as an antidote to the human tendency to exaggerate the negative while minimizing the positive (negativity bias). Moreover, maintaining a balance of reflecting on the good while holding space for what is difficult, supports your relationship with yourself, softens the voice of the “inner-critic” and helps you to develop a more accurate view of yourself.

Another point of focus I maintain with everyone in my practice is relationship to the self.

I believe that the most fundamental task of therapy is to improve one’s relationship with themselves. This, arguably the most important relationship, when examined closely, is the most conflictual and least supportive relationship that exists for most people. A commonly held misconception is that practicing self-compassion will result in “going soft” and turning into a sloth on the couch. However, treating oneself with kindness and support creates greater accuracy and tolerance for facing the areas in one’s life that need the most work. In fact, reflecting on strengths and being gentle with yourself, while simultaneously taking a long, hard look at your dysfunctional patterns, can significantly accelerate your personal transformation.

Thoughts are very powerful! They color all of your perceptions, drive your emotions and result in actions.  Therefore, I focus on examining the accuracy of inner-dialogue with everyone in my practice.

Over the years I have found it to be incredibly productive to recognize that one’s thoughts, speech and actions all spring from beliefs they hold about themselves and the world. Often, these beliefs are not fully conscious, accurate or beneficial. Learning to examine thoughts and how they can spring from self-limiting, inaccurate and habitual belief systems is a very powerful agent of change.

Learning how our past shapes our present and future:

Analyzing beliefs together with thought-speech-action patterns, often includes exploring past experiences and relationships, including those from childhood. Insight oriented, depth work of this kind, can result in positive shifts in belief systems and the concomitant far reaching effects they have on all perceptions, feelings and relationships. 

It is my hope that the summaries above will give you a sense of my background, experience and approach to therapy. 

For more information please visit the Services and Meditation pages or reach out to me directly using the Contact page, accessible on the navigation bar above.