Dr. Kathe Hift, PhD

Psychologist | Clinical

103 E 86th St NEW YORK NY, 10028 Show map

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About

I have 30+ years experience taking care of patients in crisis and helping people with emotional concerns. My practice primarily involves adults who are struggling with relationship issues, work problems, anxiety, depression, or just a vague sense that something is wrong or missing in their lives. Many patients started treatment feeling unmotivated, empty, or cut off from their emotional life. It's rewarding to see people make profound changes. Much of my work also involves helping children and their parents. Areas of special expertise involve young children, children with regulatory problems, twins, adoption and autism.

I see child treatment as a partnership between therapist and parents - a kind of supervision and coaching in which we focus on trying to understand the child in terms of his temperament, emotional world and difficulties. And then, with that understanding, we plan out powerful and appropriate interventions.

What's important in therapy is for each person to have the opportunity to understand their unique story and be excited about who they are. Through understanding with emotional depth patients can develop inner capacities that enable them to have richer more meaningful lives. These changes go beyond symptom reduction.

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Education and Training

Tufts University Masters in clinical child psychology 1976

Mount Holyoke College B.A. Psychology 1972

Adelphi University PhD 1980

NYU postdoctoral Program postdoctoral program in psychotherapy & psychoanalysis 1992

Provider Details

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Dr. Kathe Hift, PhD

Dr. Kathe Hift, PhD's Expert Contributions

My Answers

Can psychoanalysis help in treating my bad dreams?
That's a very good question. Psychoanalysis would be a very good type of therapy for you. Bad dreams can be very upsetting in themselves, but what's really important about bad dreams is that they tell us that something is going on inside us that is upsetting us. Very often it's not easy to know why we're having bad dreams because what's causing them isn't something that we're consciously aware of. In other words, it's something unconscious that's bothering us. That's why psychoanalysis is particularly useful as a type of therapy that is designed to help a patient understand unconscious processes including dreams. By understanding the underlying conflicts or traumas that are causing the bad dreams a patient is able to gain insight into her emotional life and work through the conflicts that are causing her emotional distress. Kathe Hift, PhD READ MORE
Sudden fear of driving. What should I do?
It sounds like a terrible feeling. It is puzzling that you can't link it to any recent event. It might help to ask yourself what you're afraid will happen if you drive. The sudden fear may be linked to something that's come up in your life around a fear of loss or some kind of fear of loss of control. Sometimes these things can be triggered by unconscious fears. it could be very helpful to go to a therapist to talk about your fears of driving so that you can understand what's triggering the fear which probably has nothing to do with driving per se. Getting at the underlying issue that's causing your fear of driving would probably be very helpful. I would also try to see if there was any calming music that you could play in the car or whether listening to something would distract you from the anxiety. READ MORE
My son is having night terrors after a heart procedure he had. How can I help?
I would definitely take him to a child psychologist. Unfortunately, sometimes medical procedures can traumatize children. One thing I have found is helpful to children after they undergo cardiac catheterizations is to ask them if they could write and illustrate a book so that other children would know exactly what it would be like. It helps to make a passive, helpless experience into a more active experience. READ MORE
My son has a hard time paying attention to instructions, and tells me he feels nervous all the time. Should he be in counseling?
I think that your son is telling you that he's unhappy if he's saying that he's feeling nervous all the time. As a mom, all you can do is to try to explore what is making him feel nervous. If it was a specific thing, then you could try to correct his perception or intervene in some way. Often children can't tell you what is making them nervous so it is helpful to bring them to a child psychologist who has special training in helping children to talk and play out their internal concerns. In terms of his attentional difficulties, it could help you to consult with a psychologist to determine the nature of his difficulty paying attention and following directions. I would not assume that he necessarily needs counseling, but I would suggest that you bring him for a consultation so that a psychologist could determine the nature of his difficulties. A well trained child therapist will be able to tell you whether your son needs individual therapy or whether he could be best helped just by providing you with some support and guidance about how to help your son. READ MORE