Specialties
Dr. Karen A. Schwarz is a licensed clinical psychologist in practice since 1981. She provides individual and group psychotherapy with women and men, individual therapy with adolescents and pre-adolescents, couples therapy, and family therapy. In addition, she does psychological testing, consultation, and workshops. She operates out of a psychodynamic theoretical framework, but is eclectic with regard to technique and utilizes psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, Jungian, transpersonal, Gestalt, and expressive tools in treatment. Dr. Schwarz specializes in women's issues (including lifespan development, sexuality, self-esteem, and the effects of dysfunctional family and societal systems), sexual identity concerns, gender roles, geriatric psychology, and the integration of psychology with spirituality and religion. She conducts research and writes on many of these topics, and consults with several national church reform groups. A graduate of Notre Dame High School in Belmont, Dr. Schwarz completed her B.A. in Psychology and Religious Studies, with a minor in Sociology, at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. She holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School Professional Psychology in Berkeley/Alameda focused on psychodynamic theory and gender.