Licensed Psychologist
About Dr. Samantha Turetsky
Dr. Samantha Turetsky is a licensed clinical psychologist and specializes in the treatment of a variety of anxiety disorders including general anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias. She uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure response prevention (ERP) to help clients identify distortions in their thinking and examine evidence to discover more helpful and accurate ways to view the world. She loves helping clients strive for balance in their life in many domains: with thoughts, food, self-care, relationships, work, and more.
Dr. Turetsky also specializes in treating teens and adults who are struggling with eating disorders in both individual and family therapy contexts. Throughout therapy, and with her warm sense of humor, she creates a relaxed, curious environment where clients can feel comfortable looking at the most challenging parts of themselves.
Additionally, Dr. Turetsky works with couples who are struggling with conflict, communication, connection, or parenting effectively. Drawing from emotion-focused couples therapy and the Gottman Method, Dr. Turetsky helps couples identify negative patterns of communication and replace them with more effective strategies that facilitate closeness and connection.
Dr. Turetsky completed a residency at the Psychology Services Center, a community mental health clinic in South Florida, where she worked with children, families, adults, and older adults for a well-rounded clinical experience. During her residency, Dr. Turetsky also served as the psychological consult at a geriatric community clinic on campus. Additionally, she has completed rotations at an early intervention treatment center for autism and the student counseling center at Florida Atlantic University Counseling and Psychological Services. During graduate school, Dr. Turetsky facilitated multiple groups, including a process group for adults, a DBT skills group for college students, and a support group for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease.
Specialties
Anxiety can feel like an unceasing, unwelcome devil on your shoulder who is always reminding you of the worst-case scenario. I help individuals turn down the volume on this voice by providing you tools and skills to combat and challenge anxious thoughts. You’ll also learn how to catch distorted thinking as it’s happening- and stop it in its tracks!
I work with couples at all stages of relationships to improve communication, foster a better connection, and enhance the quality of their relationship. Whether you’re dealing with frequent conflict, or just feel like you’re roommates, I can help bring the spark back into your relationship.
When you’re struggling with an eating disorder, every single decision around food can feel enormous and paralyzing. Together, we will work to reduce the fear around food, improve your connection to your bodies cues, and challenge the typical ways we label food so that you can make food choices in response to what your body needs- not what society tells you it should have.
Sometimes it can feel like your life is on autopilot, and you’re just going through the motions. Nothing in particular is “wrong,” but it can feel like you’re lacking the sense of fulfillment you want out of life. We can work together to gain clarity on what elements are missing, and how to incorporate things that bring vitality back into each and every day!
If you find yourself saying “yes” to everything at your own expense, I’m here to help! I work with chronic people-pleasers to gain assertiveness skills, learn how to establish healthy boundaries, and gain a better understanding of their own wants and needs- and how to get them met.
Training & Certifications
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Family Based Treatment – Maudsley Approach
Process and Support Group Therapist
Couples Counseling
Treatment Approaches
CBT — Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety, depression, social anxiety, and other disorders for adolescents and adults (there is also an adapted version for children as well!) It focuses on challenging and changing negative, maladaptive thoughts about situations by examining the evidence, identifying distortions in thinking, and helping individuals reach more realistic, adaptive thoughts. The idea behind CBT is that how we think, feel, and behave are all interconnected, and that by targeting and changing our thinking, we can also change how we feel and behave. It often involves “homework” and behavioral experiments for the client to try out between sessions.
FBT — Family Based Treatment
Family Based Treatment, also known as the Maudsley Approach, is an evidence-based treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. It involves weekly family therapy appointments that serve to get parents on the same page about refeeding their child and help to empower them to make the necessary difficult choices to help their child battle their eating disorder. It also helps to improve effective communication within the family, as well as restructuring the family hierarchy so parents are aligned and on top, as opposed to the teen or their eating disorder being in charge. Family Based Treatment is the gold standard treatment for medically stable outpatient adolescents with anorexia nervosa and has the highest recovery rates for adolescent treatment approaches.
ERP — Exposure Response Prevention
Exposure Response Prevention is an evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders for adolescents and adults. It works by gradually being exposed to a feared stimuli until the stimuli no longer triggers an anxiety response. You can think of it like getting used to a pool full of cold water, where you first dip in a toe until you’re used to it, then your foot, then up to your legs, and eventually, your whole body. It is commonly used with people who have repetitive behaviors (checking, cleaning, counting) or obsessive thoughts that impact their daily life. ERP can also be used for the treatment of eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and body image issues, which can also involve repetitive thoughts and behaviors.
