My name is Micah Fleitman, LPC. I am a psychodynamic trauma therapist in Virginia. I can help you heal overwhelming emotions, poor self-esteem, and painful relationships by fusing psychodynamic therapy with EMDR and other trauma therapies.
I want a connection. I want to feel loved without constantly second-guessing myself. I want to trust that I’m enough without having to work so hard for it.
But instead, I feel trapped in a painful cycle. One moment, I’m craving closeness. Next, I’m shutting down, pushing people away, or bracing for disappointment.
It’s because my relationships taught me that I wasn’t safe. Psychodynamic trauma therapy helps you gently heal those old wounds, so you can feel safe and build relationships that feel nourishing, not frightening.
Psychodynamic trauma therapy may be a good fit if you:
Relational psychodynamic therapy is about healing the parts of you that learned not to trust yourself, your emotions, or your worth. These patterns helped you survive. But now, they’re holding you back from the love, belonging, and freedom you deserve.
We’ll gently notice how these old patterns show up in your present, including in your relationship with me as your therapist. This gives us a living, breathing chance to create a new, healing experience together… one based on trust, respect, and care. It’s not about analyzing you.
It’s about being with you. Seeing you. Helping you reconnect with your inner worthiness, the part of you that has always deserved love, exactly as you are.
When you're ready to explore deeper patterns, I'm here to support you.
I integrate multiple therapeutic approaches to address your unique emotional needs and relational patterns.
Psychodynamic therapy helps you understand how unconscious beliefs and early relationship experiences shape your current emotional life and connections with others.
Psychodynamic therapy helps you:
EMDR helps your brain process traumatic memories that feel stuck, reducing their emotional intensity and allowing you to move forward without being controlled by the past.
EMDR helps you:
IFS helps you work with different parts of yourself with curiosity and compassion, healing inner conflict and building self-trust.
IFS helps you:
Somatic therapy works with the body’s stored trauma, helping your nervous system release what talking alone can’t reach.
Somatic therapy helps you:
Psychodynamic therapy is about healing through a safe, real relationship. Together, we’ll explore old patterns and create new, more supportive ways of relating to yourself and others. Here’s what that process looks like.
We start by creating a foundation of safety. You’ll learn that therapy can be a place where you don’t have to perform, prove, or protect. We move at a pace that feels manageable, and you’re always in control of what we explore.
We gently notice how old patterns show up in your present. These patterns made sense once, but they may no longer serve you. Together, we get curious about where they came from and what they’re protecting you from.
Through our relationship, you experience something different. Trust, respect, and care become real, not just concepts. Over time, you internalize these experiences, and they start to shift how you relate to yourself and others.
Many people seek psychodynamic trauma therapy when they feel stuck in patterns that talking alone hasn’t shifted. Whether it’s memories that won’t stop replaying, beliefs that keep you small, or emotional responses that feel beyond your control, these experiences are real and treatable.
When emotions feel too big or too fast, it’s easy to shut down or react in ways that don’t feel authentic. These reactions aren’t flaws. They’re survival strategies.
In therapy, we slow things down. Together, we build capacity to stay with emotions, to notice them without fear, and to trust they can be handled. Over time, emotional regulation strengthens, making it possible to move through storms without getting lost in them.
Growing up doubting one’s worth makes it hard to believe in being enough. In therapy, we get curious about the roots of these beliefs, not to blame anyone, but to create freedom to see oneself differently.
As compassion replaces judgment, inside and out, that inner critic starts to lose its power. The shift moves from “What’s wrong with me?” to “I am worthy exactly as I am.”
When trust has been broken before, it’s scary to open up again. We help recognize these protective patterns with compassion. Together, we create new experiences of connection, experiences where it’s safe to be seen, safe to have needs, and safe to trust again.
There’s no need to choose between protecting oneself and connecting with others. Both are possible.
Let's Get Started
For years, I tried to escape my pain by working harder, being better, doing more. But no matter what I achieved, I still felt unworthy. Healing began when I stopped fighting myself … and started listening with compassion.
I learned that the parts of me I once judged were trying to protect me in the best ways they knew how. They didn’t need to be erased. They needed to be understood, cared for, and welcomed home. Now I help others do the same. You’re not broken. You’re carrying pain that deserves care. Healing is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone.
I offer psychodynamic trauma therapy online throughout Virginia from my office at 1550 Wilson Blvd, Ste. 700 #226, Arlington, VA 22209. My secure teletherapy makes therapy accessible from wherever you feel comfortable. Online sessions provide the same depth and effectiveness as in-person therapy while offering flexibility that works with your life.
Locations served throughout Virginia:
If you’ve been through trauma, it makes sense to wonder whether this approach is safe and whether it actually works. A big part of trauma therapy is going at a pace that feels steady and not overwhelming.
Clinical Foundations of Psychodynamic Trauma Treatment
Psychodynamic trauma therapy is grounded in psychodynamic theory, which focuses on how early experiences, unconscious processes, and relationships shape emotional life.
How Psychodynamic Therapy Works With Trauma
Safety Measures in Psychodynamic Trauma Therapy
Understanding Psychodynamic Trauma Therapy Foundations and Core Concepts
This approach links present struggles to deeper emotional patterns shaped over time:
The Role of the Unconscious Mind in Trauma Processing
Trauma often operates through unconscious processes, meaning emotional reactions can occur without conscious awareness or choice.
Early Relationships and Their Impact on Trauma Response
Early relationships shape attachment patterns, which influence how safe or threatening closeness feels later in life.
Evidence and Research Behind Psychodynamic Trauma Therapy
Research Methodologies and Treatment Outcomes
Research on psychodynamic therapy examines long-term outcomes, including emotional stability, relationship functioning, and overall quality of life.
Starting therapy can feel like a big step, especially if you’re worried it will stir things up. It helps to know what early sessions are like and how the process stays safe.
Is It Normal to Feel Worse Before Feeling Better?
How to Know If Your Therapist Is Right for You
Red Flags to Watch For
What Makes Psychodynamic Therapy Feel Safe
The Healing Journey Through Insight Change and Long-Term Growth
Building Insight and Emotional Awareness
It’s normal to compare options, especially if you want to use your time and money wisely. The main difference is whether you want symptom tools, deeper pattern change, or both.
What Makes Psychodynamic Therapy Different
How Psychodynamic Therapy Compares to CBT
When Psychodynamic Therapy Is Most Helpful
Is Long-Term Therapy Worth the Investment?
Creating New Patterns and Sustaining Recovery
If you feel like you understand your problems but still can’t change them, that’s often a clue you’re dealing with deeper patterns. This approach is designed for that kind of stuckness.
When to Consider Psychodynamic Therapy
What Disorders Does Psychodynamic Therapy Treat?
Psychodynamic trauma therapy helps improve emotional regulation by slowing reactions and increasing tolerance for difficult feelings.
Treating Complex PTSD with Psychodynamic Methods
Psychodynamic trauma therapy is often used for complex PTSD, especially when trauma developed over time in relationships. This approach helps address emotional regulation, identity, and relational patterns shaped by chronic trauma.
Psychodynamic Therapy for Trauma-Related Mental Disorders
Psychodynamic therapy can support people whose anxiety, depression, eating disorders, or relational difficulties are rooted in trauma. Treatment focuses on understanding how trauma shaped emotional responses rather than only reducing surface symptoms.
How Psychodynamic Therapy Addresses Trauma
When Other Approaches Haven’t Worked
This is a fair question, because trauma healing shouldn’t feel endless or vague. The timeline depends on what you’re working on, how deep the patterns go, and what “better” means for you.
Typical Timeline for Psychodynamic Therapy
For many people, psychodynamic trauma therapy supports long-term recovery by changing emotional and relational patterns rather than only reducing symptoms.
Why Psychodynamic Therapy Takes Time
Building Insight and Emotional Awareness
A core part of psychodynamic trauma therapy is learning to recognize emotional patterns as they happen. Insight helps connect present reactions to earlier experiences without blaming or reliving the past.
Creating New Patterns and Sustaining Recovery
As insight develops in psychodynamic trauma therapy, people begin to notice emotional reactions earlier and with less overwhelm. Instead of reacting automatically, there is more space to pause, reflect, and choose a different response. Over time, these repeated moments of awareness lead to real behavioral change, such as setting boundaries, staying present during conflict, or expressing needs more directly. Sustaining recovery happens when these new responses are practiced consistently in everyday relationships, allowing the nervous system and emotional expectations to gradually update.
The Healing Journey Through Insight Change and Long-Term Growth
People often want to know what actually happens in sessions. This approach is still practical, but it focuses on emotional patterns and relationships, not just tips and tools.
Core Components of Psychodynamic Therapy
How the Therapeutic Relationship Works
Integration of Other Trauma Therapies
Defense Mechanisms and Their Role in Trauma Survival
Transference and the Therapeutic Relationship
Somatic Practices and Body-Based Healing
Mindfulness and Creative Expression in Therapy
Ending therapy can bring mixed feelings, especially when therapy has been a safe relationship. A good ending is planned and thoughtful, not rushed or abrupt.
Signs You Might Be Ready to End Therapy
How to Discuss Ending with Your Therapist
Planned Endings vs Sudden Endings
Creating New Patterns and Sustaining Recovery
Both approaches can help, but they focus on different layers of change. The right fit depends on whether you want skills for symptoms, deeper pattern work, or both together.
Focus and Approach
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy):
Psychodynamic Therapy:
Timeline and Structure
Can You Combine Both Approaches?
Psychodynamic vs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Trauma
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