About: Robert S Emmons M.D.
Psychoanalytic • Family Therapy
I have maintained a private practice in Burlington Vermont since 1989.
My psychotherapy focuses on teaching patients experientially to use their unconscious minds to regulate their emotions, improve their relationships, and to find motivation and purpose.
Services Offered:
- Individual, family, and couples psychotherapy - read more
- Psychopharmacology focused on drug discontinuation and avoiding unnecessary complexity
- Psychotherapy and forensic consultation for individuals mislabeled as mentally ill in the context of workplace disputes
Treatment For:
Anxiety
Anxiety is a useful signal that a problem needs to be solved, even if the real issue is not the one that appears at the surface of your mind. Psychotherapy can train your mind to interpret the signals accurately, so that problems can be addressed realistically.
Depression
If you are conditioned to believe that you cannot live your life for yourself, disappointment can lead to depression. When you are freed up to express your true self, depression can be replaced by personal initiative.
Relationship Conflicts
Whatever rubs you the wrong way about another person is really an aspect of yourself. Recognizing the patterns in your own mind can reduce the tendency to make those patterns come alive in the others with whom you most closely relate.
Loss of Motivation & Purpose
If you unconsciously organize your mind around the feelings and dictates of others, it can be hard to get motivated. When you learn to use your feelings as your guide, you can act on your own behalf. You can now feel successful, you start to build momentum, and the sense of purpose falls into place.
Career Burnout
When you find yourself in a toxic workplace, the first step is to recognize that you are not the pathology! If the workplace environment is not designed to enable you to do your job effectively, you can advocate constructively for change, or depart for better prospects knowing that by offering critique, you have done your part as a good team player.
Family Therapy
The family is a place to lovingly support personal growth and achievement. The therapist’s office is a place to practice, with professional facilitation, new modes of communication that have the effect of confirming that each individual has their own minds, feelings, and ambitions.
Working with Me
COVID-19
Many patients are concerned about maintaining access to quality care while at the same time avoiding exposure to coronavirus in medical settings. In these times, your personal health and emotional well-being are paramount. For psychotherapy, I offer the options to meet in person, by video conference, or over the telephone. When you call to schedule your first appointment, I will explain the safety protocols, so you can choose the treatment option that best suits your clinical needs and your personal health practices.
How soon can you get an appointment?
Usually within a week.
How do you make an appointment?
Call (802) 865-2863 – I return all calls personally.
How do I practice psychotherapy?
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is based on the idea that the unconscious mind is the prime driver of feeling, thought, and behavior. A regular schedule of meetings places the patient’s unconscious mind in close proximity to the therapist’s unconscious mind, so the patient’s mental maps can brought to life and reworked in a therapeutic context.
Family therapy, in contrast, creates an environment for observation and reworking of the dynamic interplay between between individual minds and systems in which they interact.
I integrate Intrapsychic and systemic theory in my work with individuals and families.
How do you pay?
In my practice, patients pay the full fee at each visit. If you want to submit an insurance claim I can provide you with a statement with a diagnosis code and procedure code. Many insurance companies do reimburse for my services as a non-network psychiatrist.
What do you pay? Fee Transparency
50 minutes psychotherapy: $250
90 minute, family therapy and initial consultation: $300
How long?
Family and couples therapy is designed as time-limited work.
For individual psychotherapy, you decide how long treatment lasts. In my practice, patients usually start with a schedule of meeting once per week for a fifty minute appointment. Some patients elect to meet twice a week or every other week, depending on their treatment goals. Psychotherapy continues until you have made enough progress to solidify a set of new psychic methods that you can use to achieve the outcomes you want in your life.
Your confidentiality:
In my practice, patients make all final decisions about releasing their personal medical information. If I receive a request for medical information, l review that request with the patient to get approval before releasing any part of the record, with the rare exception of an emergency which would preclude me from contacting the patient in a timely manner. I make every effort to limit the release only to information relevant to the purpose at hand.
I am not linked to any electronic databases, so sensitive personal information is never transferred automatically without the patient’s knowledge or consent.