:: Mindworks Psychology
Dr. Seckinger is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides adult and adolescent psychotherapy and testing services. Dr. Seckinger graduated summa cum laude from NYU, received her doctoral degree from the City University of New York’s Graduate School and University Center, and completed her internship at the Department of Veterans Affairs Manhattan Campus working with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Until 2007, Dr. Seckinger was a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute exploring neuropsychological functioning in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders and served as supervising psychologist at the Center of Prevention and Evaluation (COPE), a research clinic specializing in the treatment of adolescents at high risk for major mental illnesses. Until 2009 she worked with the World Trade Center Mental Health Program at Bellevue Hospital Center, and was the Co-Director of the NYU-Bellevue Young Adult Program. She remained on faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine until 2013. Dr. Seckinger has served as a volunteer clinician for Doctors of the World’s Human Rights Clinic | Survivors of Torture Program and is a clinical supervisor for the Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at City University. She has served as a guest reviewer for the American Journal of Psychiatry and Schizophrenia Research and is fluent in German and English. Trained in a psychoanalytic paradigm, Dr. Seckinger believes that our histories very much affect how we manage our experience in the present, shape our lives and envision our future, thus impacting the quality of our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world around us. This belief and the notion that a deeper understanding of our patterns and an appreciation of their evolution allows for a broader scope of potential experiences fundamentally guides Dr. Seckinger’s thinking and treatment approach. However, having worked in different professional settings, she is versed in a variety of techniques and is comfortable using them flexibly in order to find the most beneficial process given the specific challenges and issues a person brings to treatment. In addition to psychotherapy, Dr. Seckinger also has extensive experience conducting neuropsychological, psycho-educational, and personality assessments.
A consultation, usually three to four sessions, can serve as a first step in identifying, exploring, and addressing the issues that prompted the initial contact with a psychologist. For many this is often their first experience with a mental health professional. Dr. Seckinger sees her role as encouraging a person to tell their story, understanding what is said, and understanding the person who says it. A consultation can be used as a springboard for further services or as a focused brief intervention, which can provide sufficient resolution at that moment. Further services, which go beyond three or four sessions, can be provided by Dr. Seckinger, or, if needed, a referral to a trusted colleague will be provided.
People initiate individual treatment to discuss different aspects of their lives and explore difficulties they may be having in adequately managing or solving the challenges they are encountering. Sessions may be scheduled from one to three days per week, with greater frequency allowing for more in-depth treatment. It is not usually possible at the outset of treatment to estimate the number of sessions that will be necessary in order to achieve a person’s goals, but a specific number of sessions can be requested depending on the individual's sense of what they need.
Learn More
In couples therapy, the patient is the couple. In other words, although composed of two individuals, the couple's dynamics are at the center of the work in treatment. Once these dynamics are better understood, work is geared toward facilitating better communication, fostering greater insight into the patterns that create conflict, and changing problematic dynamics into a more productive mutual understanding.
If medication is deemed necessary at any point during treatment, Dr. Seckinger can provide referrals to several psychiatrists with whom she has long-term relationships. These clinicians will provide a comprehensive psychopharmacological consultation and work with Dr. Seckinger to provide the most efficacious treatment possible.
Testing & Assessment can address or illuminate overall intellectual functioning, cognitive strengths and weaknesses, learning disabilities, attentional disorders, developmental delays, memory problems, emotional strengths and weaknesses, maladaptive personality patterns, and differential diagnosis. Given the great variety and combination of possible presenting questions, please contact Dr. Seckinger directly to discuss details.
Be an informed patient. Here are some resources and readings for more information on psychology and psychiatry.
To schedule an appointment please fill out the form or call the office at (845) 853-5524. Any inquiries will be responded to within 48 hours.