Aimee Daramus, PsyD

My style is about working with the client to create a flexible mix of styles, including conventional therapy, story and metaphor, and science, that will work for that individual. I believe that psychology has done a lot of good, but there's still a lot more to know, and we need to keep innovating. Our solutions are better than anything that has come before, but we have so much more to learn, and there is no one style of therapy that works for everyone. I think we need to stop looking for the one technique that will help everyone, and move toward flexible, individual plans to help heal mental health problems.

I finished my M.A. in Counseling at Adler University in 2001, and worked at a hospital, private practice and community mental health services here in Chicago. After a few years I became more interested in the science of mental health and the medical problems that can sometimes cause a mental health problem. That led me back to Adler for my doctorate, which I finished in 2016. My postdoc was in neuropsychological testing, including the dementias, traumatic brain injury, and infections of the brain.

I work with people who have chronic mental illness, including anxiety and depression, psychosis, bipolar spectrum disorders, and trauma. I can work in a few different ways, including CBT, DBT, ACT, and Adlerian psychoanalysis. In addition to specific coping skills from those styles, my clients and I often use story and metaphor, including a client's favorite fandoms if that's helpful to them. I like using a range of techniques because there's no one magic therapy that works for everyone, so if we try something and it doesn't work, we try something different. Within that, I'm a firm believer in keeping up with research and with ideas and trends in the mental health advocacy community. In addition to therapy, I write and am co-host of a podcast, The Bi-Polar Girl.

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