Therapeutic Approach

Diana's professional practice of 30 years draws upon over three decades of intensive study and engagement with a wide range of complimentary healing traditions. She is certified as a Core Energetic therapist and has spent the last 20 years studying the intricacies of psychoanalysis with Dr. Michael Eigen, one of the seminal thinkers of our time. Her in-depth practice of Buddhism allows her to be a compassionate and nonjudgmental therapist. She works interactively and with an intuitive sensibility. Wonder and passion about the human spirit keep her work alive.

"The open path is a matter of working purely with what is, of giving up altogether the fear that something might not work" C. Trungpa
Diana's Invterview
This text is taken from an online interview conducted with Diana

How do you consider mental illnesses, looked from a psychologist point of view as well as from a spiritual perspective?

As children, we are mostly unaware of our edges. Everything is us and we are everything. We are pure, innocent and connected to universal consciousness. Gradually, as both nature and society shape us, we learn to experience the world of duality-me/you, inside /outside, flesh/blood, pleasure/pain. We develop a sense of those edges as we collide, find or discover what allows us to define that which is "me" and "not me". As our awareness grows, we create resources to help us adapt to those experiences. To find meaning, we cultivate relationships, we create stories and we form attachments, deepening our awareness of self and all the worlds we've created.

At different points in our lives, we encounter experiences that take us out of our comfort zone. They may come in the form of trauma, loss, pain, and illness, sometimes in the form of our own physiological chemical imbalance. The lack of resources to handle these trials becomes apparent. These can be periods when people enter therapy. I find that it is a recognition of a "resourceless- ness", not "illness", which facilitates the need to seek help. As we are willing to consider that there is something "unknown", something ELSE, to ease our suffering, we create a space for new possibilities that from this "unknown", we might find a resource or new tool, to relieve our discomfort.

Being spiritual, what does that mean to you?

For me, spirituality means "I am" beyond my five senses, beyond any realm of thinking or conceptions. Spirituality helps me be aware that the constructs I've created (ideas about myself and others) are exactly that-mine, my small world-and that there are many more possibilities. I am brought, particularly in meditation, to the awareness that there is no duality, that I am a part of all, that I can surrender to the energy around me and allow for a new flow of energy, a shifting and healing.

Like when I visit Casa Dom Inacio, I feel I am softer. My body is more porous, my experience of others more fluid and my sense of what is "possible" for myself and others way more open and expansive. Being at the Casa challenges me to let go, to trust that I am in contact with what I would term 'divine source'. At the Casa, I experience way fewer of my edges.

How do you use spirituality in your daily work as a psychologist?

To me, psychology is an attempt to learn the language of edges. A healthy therapeutic relationship creates a safe space which can grant us the ability to incorporate change, to discover, to recover, to redefine, to reshape our beliefs. Having an ally in the form of a therapist can help us face our fears of the unfamiliar and give us the courage to go beyond them. Hopefully engaging in a process that allows us to "be" and from that "being" experiencing a sense of wonder, a shift, an "Ah Ha" moment, a relief from pain. I use my sense of spirituality in many ways in my practice. I hold it as a loving undercurrent in the space between me and my patient. I use it to help me stay open. I lean into it as a support when the waters are rough and I'm feeling uncertain.

Since we are talking about spirituality lets move to faith. Where do you place faith in human life? Do you connect faith with religion or spirituality, or do you regard faith as something inside each human being regardless of their most deep beliefs? How do you mean faith help us humans in our life journey? Regardless of the belief system.

I believe our "essence" is connected to divine energy. Taking the step to admitting our beliefs might be limited, being willing to move beyond those limits into the unknown, I feel, requires a certain amount of faith. A movement into considering alternative choices, a willingness to be taught, to go beyond our current edges, is what helps us let go so we might be able to deal with difficulties we face. That act of faith is a step towards admitting that we are more than the stories we've created about our lives and the world around us. In lifting the veil of our beliefs, we allow our edges to dissolve, new experiences to unfold and the possibility of the divine to enter.

Diana's Specialities
  • The relationship between the physical body and the emotions
  • Finding the meaning of illness
  • Addiction rehabilitation
  • Abuse/Trauma healing
  • Growing the ability to love one's self more deeply
  • Transitional periods such as birth, death, loss, relocation
  • Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (What's That?)
  • Adults
  • Young adults
  • Couples
  • Families
  • "Your pain is but the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding" - K. Gibran
    Philosophy
    • Growing consciousness is growing the ability to tolerate chaos and not trying to control it
    • There is intuition and then there is everything else
    • Learning to love one's self is a great gift, for self and humanity
    • Becoming aware of our different selves, the voices and words they speak, as well as the dialogues they have, helps us establish a stronger more loving core
    • Seeing our 'stuck' places with compassion and a little levity, is very helpful in getting 'unstuck'
    • Dialogues with someone other than ourselves, gives us a sense that there might be perspectives other than our own
    • Being in the present really helps dispel illusions
    • When you can stay with your feelings and not your interpretations of them, they change more quickly
    • Transitions of any kind are difficult at best. Having objective support can supply a little breathing room.
    • Releasing even a small bit of shame is incredibly freeing.
    • Being in a couple challenges edges we might not have been aware of otherwise. Learning to tolerate those edges, so we can grow to find more love, is key.
    • Learning your partner's language, both verbal and nonverbal, is paramount to a more fulfilling relationship.
    "Words themselves are neutral, it's the charge we add to them that matters" - P. Chodron
    Ketamine and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

    According to the National Institute of Mental Health, traditional antidepressants fail to relieve symptoms of depression - such as anxiety, moodiness, low self-esteem, impaired sleep and suicidal thoughts -in approximately 30% of patients. With these antidepressants, improvement is usually gradual.. Now, a relatively new treatment combining a medication called Ketamine with Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy or KAP, promises fast-acting relief for a high percentage of patients.

    Ketamine is a drug that was developed in the late 1950s as a safe and effective anesthetic. It has been studied at many prominent universities since 2000, and low doses of the drug are currently being successfully administered as a treatment for depression, anxiety and PTSD. Combining a psychotherapeutic program with low doses of Ketamine addresses the symptoms of depression much faster and more effectively than conventional antidepressants. Many patients report experiencing positive changes in mood and cognition either during or in the days and weeks immediately following treatment.

    Diana is certified in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, a method she studied with its creator, Dr. Phil Wolfson. Dr Wolfson is a medical doctor who has dedicated the last 40 years of his professional life to the research and efficacy of psychotropic medications as an adjunct support to psychotherapy. His book, The Ketamine Papers, as well as many published articles, outlines Ketamine's history and uses. This form of psychotherapy Dr. Wolfson teaches is a safe and highly effective method for the use of low dose Ketamine.

    If you decide to explore the treatment, here's what to expect:

    • An initial consultation with Diana to determine whether Ketamine could be useful to you.
    • A second session to discuss your concerns as well as ways to optimize your experience.
    • A consultation with a psychopharmacologist, who works closely with Diana, to prescribe and determine initial dosage.
    • The first session is done in either the doctor's office or Diana's office. You will be with the doctor and Diana for the entire 3 hours.

    For the majority of people who take ketamine, it is a positive and enlightening experience. Ketamine allows a person a sense of distance from anxiety, depression and other negative "self talk". One tends to feel calm and quiet during and after a Ketamine journey. It enables a person to experience a version of their "best self", which continues to inform their thinking going forward.

    Follow-up. Each patient has a unique experience with the medication, so follow up treatment plans will vary, depending on the patient's own needs.

    < Back to Diana's Specialties

    Patient's Statements
    "I was dealing with issues around anger, anxiety, and my childhood. I didn't even realize what I was dealing with until Diana helped me face them. I had tried many forms of therapy, with little results. In just one session, she helped me put to rest the issues I have had with my mother for 37 years. I could not be more grateful for our time working together." Marc
    "Diana Blue was the first of 7 other therapists I intended to interview the day I met her. After speaking with her for 50 minutes I knew I need look no further. She mostly listened. And her empathy was real. I had absolutely no doubt I could trust her. Diana didn't solve any of my problems. She provided me with tools whereby I was more able to listen to myself and solve my own. She is incredibly generous and truthful. I am grateful to her to this very day." Vickie Tanner
    "Diana Blue is an insightful, compassionate, and practical therapist. I came to her feeling desperate, struggling with addiction, and today I have over a decade of sobriety. With Diana's guidance, I was able to shed light on the past and find peace in the present. I learned to flourish, rather than to just survive." R.B.
    "Diana opened my eyes and my heart to the magic of what it means to stay present. Our work has been a profound experience for me." H. K.
    "You are the sky. Everything else...it's just the weather" - P. Chodron
    Contact Diana
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    "The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves" P. Chodron