Psychodynamic Therapy for Adults Healing From Childhood Trauma & Attachment Wounds
For adults ready to look beneath the surface and understand the patterns shaping their lives.
Meet Ariel Black, Psychodynamic Trauma Therapist
In-person trauma therapy in Long Beach and online therapy throughout California
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You may look capable and put-together on the outside, while privately feeling anxious, exhausted, disconnected, or unable to truly relax.
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You learned to read everyone else before listening to yourself.
You may struggle with guilt, self-doubt, people-pleasing, or setting boundaries without feeling like you are disappointing someone.
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When someone pulls away, it can feel impossible not to worry.
Distance, changes in tone, or uncertainty may leave you overthinking, seeking reassurance, or questioning whether the relationship is still secure.
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You understand the pattern—but somehow keep finding yourself in it.
You may struggle with closeness, trust, emotionally unavailable partners, or losing yourself in relationships even when you know the pattern well.
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The experience may be over, but parts of it can still feel present.
Sexual trauma can continue to affect trust, intimacy, boundaries, self-worth, and the way you experience your body and relationships.
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Something important may have been missing.
You may have learned to minimize your feelings or needs, making it harder now to trust your emotions, ask for support, or feel truly understood.
Explore Childhood Emotional Neglect →
I’m Ariel Black, an LMFT in Long Beach specializing in childhood trauma and attachment wounds. I help adults make sense of deep-seated emotional patterns, relational anxiety, and the defense mechanisms that used to protect you but now keep you stuck.
Does any of this relate to you?
You may recognize yourself in one or more of these patterns, even if you’ve never had words for them before.
Recognizing what’s been holding you back is only the beginning. Deeper healing can begin when we:
Reconnect With Ourselves
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Explore Deep-Rooted Patterns
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Create Lasting Change
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During our work together, I use a psychodynamic framework to explore the deeper patterns, emotions, and early experiences that continue to shape your life today. Childhood trauma, unmet emotional needs, and attachment wounds can leave lasting imprints that show up later as anxiety, low self-worth, self-sabotage, or difficulty in relationships.
Long Term Healing Through Psychodynamic Therapy
This isn’t quick-fix therapy. It’s about going deeper—understanding the roots of where your patterns began and why they continue to show up.
Rather than focusing only on symptom relief, psychodynamic therapy looks beneath the surface to understand where these patterns began and why they continue. This is depth-oriented work for those seeking meaningful, lasting change—not simply a temporary fix.
Grounded in the Principles of Inner Child Work
Together we can explore how early experiences, unmet emotional needs, and old wounds may still influence the way you see yourself and relate to others. By understanding these younger parts with greater compassion, you can begin to reconnect with your needs, strengthen your sense of self, and respond to life from a more grounded place.
Let’s Connect!
If this work resonates, I invite you to reach out. Before the onset of therapy, I do offer a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation to answer any questions/concerns and assess if we are a good fit.
Is Trauma-Informed Psychodynamic Therapy Right For You?
This Work May Be a Good Fit If You Want To:
Understand how your past continues to shape your present
Explore how unconscious patterns influence your choices, relationships, and self-perception
Expand your sense of agency and increase your range of options in life
Develop a more secure internal attachment and healthier relational dynamics
Heal relational wounds and move toward a more authentic way of living
Create meaningful, long-lasting change rather than relying only on short-term coping strategies
*This is depth-oriented therapy designed for high-functioning adults who are ready to look beneath the surface — not just manage symptoms, but understand them.
OFFICE HOURS:
Monday: 9am-9pm (In-Person & Telehealth)
Tuesday: 9am-9pm (In-Person & Telehealth)
Wednesday: 9am-9pm. (In-Person & Telehealth)
Thursday: 9am-9pm. (Only Telehealth Sessions)
Friday: 9am-9pm. (In-Person & Telehealth)
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: Closed
Ariel Black, M.S., L.M.F.T #119825
Email: arielblackmft@gmail.com
Address: 4195 N. Viking Way Suite 220 Long Beach, CA 90808
Phone: (562) 581-9344
