— an MD with a unique approach to psychotherapy that helps professionals achieve success in personal relationships
Promotional Feature
People avoid seeking medical care for any number of reasons. If the problem is a physical one, they may fear the cure is worse than the illness. They may feel they don’t have the time. They may even believe they can plug their symptoms into Google and learn everything they need to know.
When the problem is one of an emotional nature, along with the reasons stated above, they may fear the discrimination that often follows an admission of having sought psychiatric or psychological care.
And when the patients are themselves professionals, upon whom others rely for medical, legal, financial or other expert opinions and care, it can feel unseemly to admit they need help. These professionals may feel embarrassed, or even threatened at the possibility of being discovered in a mental health caregiver’s waiting room.
Privacy and confidentiality in a comfortable, professional setting.
Laura Dabney, a medical doctor Board certified in psychiatry, understands these professionals’ concerns well. “Unfortunately, the stigma that’s attached to getting help still exists,” she says. “So I’ve built my entire practice – both the physical space and my administrative protocols – with a view toward zealously and meticulously protecting my patients’ privacy.” Established patients do not have to check in or out, are given a keypad code for a locked private waiting room adjacent to Dr. Dabney’s office, and exit by a separate door.
Dr. Dabney goes a step further toward assuring her patients’ anonymity: she does not work with insurance companies. This is different from most mental health practices, she explains, but adds, “It’s another protection for my patients. In order to pay for treatment, insurance companies require that very personal information be faxed to them on a regular basis, something I’m very uncomfortable doing. The notes I take are for my eyes only, and are encrypted into my personal laptop, where they are seen by no one but me.” Thus no file folders or other evidence of patient records are extant in any of the rooms in Dr. Dabney’s suite. Basic patient information is online, but encrypted for use only by the two other staff members, and Dr. Dabney remains the sole guardian of all the other sensitive information.
In addition to understanding these professionals’ concerns about privacy, Dr. Dabney understands their busy schedules. To accommodate theirs as well as her own, she affords them the opportunity to communicate with her by email or text, and even offers Skype or phone sessions when face-to-face communication isn’t possible.
Her respect for their dignity and privacy is but one reason so many professionals have sought out Dr. Dabney. Another is her unique approach to her practice: she’s a medical doctor who practices psychotherapy, able to distinguish between medical problems and psychological ones. And she prescribes psychotropic medications judiciously and only when absolutely necessary. “Medications can help take the edge off a lot of feelings,” she says, “but psychotherapy is the most effective cure – and it has no side effects. It’s important my patients understand why they’re having problems. Only through understanding the reason for the problem can you make it go away. And then there is no longer a need for medication.” Professional individuals, whose continued success depends on keen and unfettered focus, appreciate the opportunity to stay clear-headed and medication free.
When success is the problem.
Sometimes that very success is the etiology of their difficulties. “These professional people have spent most of their youth and all of their energy working to establish a productive, profitable career,” she says, “often to the exclusion of everything else – including relationships.”
This is particularly true of businessmen, Dr. Dabney notes, who now make up the majority of her patient population. “They’re totally different than professional women,” she explains. “Women in their 20s tend to think about how to balance grad school, career, marriage and children at every stage; they think in those big picture terms all along.” Not so with men, she has found, who have a tendency to believe that like success, relationships will fall into place – when they’re ready to think about it. They’re so accustomed to success that they often think when they turn their mind to having a relationship, they’ll be successful at that as well.
That’s not always the case for either gender, Dr. Dabney says. Building and maintaining successful relationships can be challenging for anyone at any stage of life, but for professionals who have experienced difficulty forming and maintaining long-lasting personal relationships – for whatever reason – she offers a unique approach.
Helping professionals achieve successful personal relationships.
It’s a familiar pattern: a man in his mid- to late 40s, highly respected and successful in his chosen field, who is freaking out because he’s realizing that it’s time to enjoy a relationship as fulfilling as his career, but finding it’s not as easy as getting straight As in school or scoring a corner office. He may have a string of unsatisfying relationships behind him, with no idea what went wrong. Or he may have a spouse who wants more of him than he’s been willing – or able – to give. And he may have no idea why. He just knows something doesn’t feel right. And despite his success in other areas, he feels unfulfilled.
“In my field, we technically diagnose people who have difficulty maintaining relationships with a Personality Disorder, a phrase I don’t like,” Dr. Dabney says. “They’re even considered untreatable by many members of my own profession.”
But they are treatable, she emphasizes; it just takes time and commitment, and a willingness to work. For those who are, she develops a specifically tailored plan based on the therapy she believes is best suited to their individual needs. “Everybody is different in how much they can absorb in the beginning,” she knows. “Once I know their strengths, I have the whole trajectory in mind in how much I can show them, or teach them, or push them in each session.”
One of the first things Dr. Dabney does with all of her patients is establish trust. “For patients with failed relationships, my relationship with them may be the first reparative one they have,” she explains. “Many of these patients are nervous when they first come in. They may have been criticized a lot, abandoned or smothered in past relationships. I make sure they know that I’m not going to do any of that. I’ll always be there at our appointed time, so they learn they can rely on me. They can then use that as a basis to trust another relationship.” The work can be difficult, she acknowledges, and the etiology of the problem is often outside the patient’s awareness: “I’m often fighting a patient’s own demons and self doubts, even (and especially) those they’re not aware of.” She likens it to being the referee in a basketball game. “Often the player doesn’t know – or doesn’t want to know – that he’s stepped out of bounds. It’s not that he’s lying; it’s just painful to admit that he stepped out of bounds. Because I’m at a distance, like the referee, I can see it, and I can help the patient identify it. Then we can begin to work on it.”
Most recently, Dr. Dabney has added another option for her professional patients. Jennifer Pfeiffer, her new associate, is a life/executive coach. Life coaching involves problem solving recent or short-term problems. It can be the optimal choice for busy people who need a helping hand to reach a specific goal.
Whether the issue is personal relationships, depression, anxiety or otherwise, Dr. Dabney’s training, experience and skill are available to professionals of every stripe, in a collaborative, comfortable and confidential setting – with a proven record of success.
