Throughout 10+ years in learning and practicing psychotherapy, I have been extremely fortunate to receive diverse rigorous training that honed my ability to integrate mindfulness, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, dialectical-behavioral, and multicultural approaches for client-centered personalized treatment.
For example, during my years at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/ Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry and later at Cambridge Health Alliance/ Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, I received intense training in CBT for Psychosis, DBT for Borderline Personality Disorder, and short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for Anxiety Disorders. I served both underprivileged patients with severe mental illness as well as higher functioning clients in the community while working in a multidisciplinary team with other psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, occupational therapists, and community-based flexible support workers.
Over the years, I have provided individual therapy, couples therapy, group therapy, crisis intervention, and psychological evaluation including diagnostic interviews, learning disabilities assessment, ADHD assessment, and personality tests. I also conduct practice-based psychotherapy research.
Seven years ago, while ending treatment for a patient with severe mental disturbances and trauma history, I asked my supervisor what had worked in the treatment. I will always remember what she said: “It’s the way you look at her. She starts to look at herself the way you look at her and see the person you see.”
I deeply respect everyone I work with. I listen to the unspoken. I genuinely see the wonderfulness in people and the hopes amid the struggles. Collaboratively, our work brings out a more lifeful version of the person and fosters a more mindful and meaningful way of living. The most rewarding aspect of my approach is: It works!
- Depression, Anxiety, Trauma
- International student mental health
- Cross-cultural relationships (e.g., biracial marriages, immigrant parent-child relationships)
- Ph.D. from Cornell University
- MSc. from University of Oxford
I am a passionate writer.
My articles on international student mental health come from what I have learned and am still learning in my everyday practice as a psychologist working with international (mostly Chinese) students and young professionals. For example, I write about the role of money (and spending money) in understanding the students’ relationship with stress, desire, parents, self, as well as love. A lot of my articles are addressed to the parents about how to bridge the generational and cultural gap with their children who are studying abroad.
I also write about broader topics such as parenting, marriage, anxiety, depression, and cultural understanding. Whenever I have discoveries and reflections in my professional and personal life, I share them in an honest and detailed way of writing. For all of the articles, I make sure that they have 1) in-depth and nuanced analyses accompanied with 2) creative and compassionate solutions. Most of my writings are in Chinese, but more in English are to come.
My writing can be found in a published book 《我的孩子抑郁了 我却以为他只是不开心》（机械工业出版社 2023), as well as on my Blog and my WeChat Official Account “杨意谈心” (ID: DrYiYang; 原“孩子出国后”).
