Individual Therapy in Pittsburgh & Online
For Anxiety, Depression, and the Patterns That Keep You Stuck
Most people who come to me for individual therapy have already done a fair amount of thinking on their own. They’re not looking for someone to hand them a worksheet or walk them through breathing exercises. They’ve read. They’ve reflected. They may have tried therapy before and found it too surface-level — someone nodding along, offering generic validation, but never getting underneath the thing that actually keeps them stuck.
What they’re looking for is a therapist who will meet them at the level they’re already operating on — and then help them go somewhere they can’t get to alone.
The people I work with individually tend to be dealing with some version of the same core problem: they understand themselves intellectually, but that understanding hasn’t translated into change. They can name the pattern — the avoidance, the anxiety, the shame, the distance in their relationships — but naming it hasn’t been enough to shift it. Something deeper is running the show, and it operates below the level of insight.
That’s where this work begins.
Wondering if individual therapy could help?
Book a free 15-minute consultation →What Brings People Here
The concerns people bring to individual therapy here tend to cluster around a few themes — not because I treat a narrow set of problems, but because a certain kind of person finds their way to this practice.
Anxiety that lives in the body, not just the mind. You might not even call it anxiety. It shows up as overthinking, as a constant background hum of self-monitoring, as the inability to be present in a conversation or during sex without part of your brain watching from the outside. It’s the gap between knowing you’re safe and actually feeling safe.
Shame that organizes your life without your permission. Shame around desire, around needs, around who you are in relationships. The kind of shame that doesn’t announce itself — it just quietly narrows what feels possible. You stop reaching for things. You stop letting people close. You build a life that looks fine from the outside but feels constricted from the inside.
Avoidance as a way of life. Not dramatic avoidance — you’re functional, maybe even high-functioning. But there are things you’ve stopped doing, conversations you’ve stopped having, parts of yourself you’ve stopped showing. The avoidance has become so familiar you barely notice it anymore. It just feels like who you are.
Relationship patterns you can see but can’t stop. Pulling away when someone gets close. Choosing partners who confirm what you already believe about yourself. Losing desire the moment a relationship becomes safe. Performing closeness while keeping something essential behind a wall. You know the pattern. You may even know where it started. But knowing hasn’t changed it.
Sexual difficulties that aren’t medical. Sex therapy is a specialty of this practice, and many people begin in individual therapy to work on their relationship to desire, arousal, shame, or avoidance before — or instead of — bringing a partner into the room. If sex has become something you dread, perform, or avoid entirely, that’s something we can work with directly.
Depression that feels more like emptiness than sadness. Not always the dramatic kind. Sometimes it’s flatness — a sense that you’re going through the motions, that nothing quite lands. A low-grade disconnection from your own life that you’ve gotten so used to you’re not sure when it started.
How I Work
I don’t follow a script. There’s no manualized protocol I walk everyone through in the same order. But there is a way of working — a set of commitments about what therapy should actually do — that shapes every session.
Psychodynamic depth. I’m interested in why, not just what. Why does the pattern keep repeating? What function did it serve when it started? What feelings are being managed, and at what cost? This isn’t therapy that stays at the surface of your current symptoms — it moves toward the underlying structure. Not to be clever about your history, but because lasting change requires understanding what’s actually driving the behavior.
Attachment as a lens. How you learned to relate — to need, to ask, to trust, to protect yourself — shows up in everything. In your relationships, in your pattern of withdrawal or pursuit, in how you experience desire and vulnerability. I use an attachment-informed framework to help you see these patterns not as character flaws but as adaptations that made sense once and now cost you something.
Experiential work in the here and now. This isn’t therapy where you report on your week and I offer interpretations from the outside. Informed by my training in Emotionally Focused Therapy — an explicitly experiential modality — I work with what’s alive in the room: what you’re feeling right now, what’s happening between us right now. Patterns don’t just get talked about; they get felt, understood, and shifted in real time. This is what allows therapy to move faster and reach deeper than approaches that stay at the level of discussion.
Mindfulness and presence. Not as a relaxation technique — as a clinical tool. Much of what keeps people stuck is the habit of narrating experience rather than inhabiting it. Watching yourself instead of feeling. Analyzing instead of being in the room. I draw on a mindfulness and contemplative tradition to help you notice where your attention goes, what your body is doing when your mind takes over, and what becomes possible when you stop performing your life and start being in it.
Direct engagement. I’m not a blank screen. I’ll notice things, name what I see, and sometimes say the uncomfortable thing that needs to be said. Therapy here is a real conversation — not a monologue with a silent witness.
If this sounds like what you've been looking for, a free consultation is a good way to see if the fit is right.
Schedule a free consult →Who This Is For
This practice tends to attract a specific kind of person. If you’re reading this far, you might recognize yourself.
You’re intelligent and self-aware — maybe uncomfortably so. You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about your patterns, and you’re tired of thinking about them. You want something to actually shift, not just be understood better.
You may be a man dealing with sexual avoidance, shame, or the particular kind of emotional distance that comes from a lifetime of keeping things under control. A lot of the men I work with have never talked honestly about these things with anyone — not because they don’t want to, but because they’ve never found someone who felt like a serious enough interlocutor.
You may be navigating a difficult relationship dynamic — as the one who withdraws, or the one who pursues, or both at different moments — and want to understand your part in it before or alongside couples work.
You may be dealing with values conflict around porn use or compulsive sexual behavior and want a therapist who won’t moralize or minimize — someone who will take the problem seriously without pathologizing you as a person.
Or you may simply be someone who wants more from therapy than symptom management. You want to understand why you are the way you are — and whether something different is possible. If that resonates, psychodynamic psychotherapy may be especially relevant to you.
Explore Related Approaches
Depending on what resonates with you, I draw from different frameworks — including mindfulness-based therapy and Buddhist psychology. I also work with clients navigating personality disorder patterns and intimacy issues. You can explore each area in more detail on those pages.
Practical Details
I offer individual therapy in person at my office in Pittsburgh’s East End (134 S Highland Ave, East Liberty / Shadyside area) and online across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. Sessions are 53 minutes, typically weekly — the consistency matters for this kind of work.
This is a private-pay practice. I don’t bill insurance directly, but I can provide a superbill you can submit for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Private pay means no insurance company deciding what we work on, how many sessions you get, or what diagnosis goes in your permanent record. For the kind of therapy I do — which often involves sexuality, shame, and relational patterns that people understandably want to keep private — that matters.
Evening and Sunday appointments are available.
Individual Therapy in Pittsburgh & Online
I see clients in person at my office at 134 S Highland Ave in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood — walkable from Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Highland Park, and Friendship. If you live or work in Pittsburgh’s East End, getting to sessions is straightforward.
I also work with individuals across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Rhode Island via secure video. For many people, especially those working on shame-related or sexually focused concerns, online therapy can feel easier initially — there’s something about being in your own space that makes it less daunting to talk about things you’ve never said out loud.
Further Reading
Dear Person Hesitating to Start Therapy: Answering Your Unspoken Questions.
Unmasking Our Inner Protectors: Understanding Your Defense Mechanisms for Greater Self-Awareness.
The Protective Clinch: When Your Mind’s Defenses Start to Hurt More Than They Help
The Switchback Trail to Self: How Therapy Accesses Your Unconscious Mind
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does individual therapy usually take?
It depends on what you’re working on. Focused concerns — a specific anxiety pattern, a decision you’re stuck on — can shift in a few months. Deeper work around shame, avoidance, attachment patterns, or sexual difficulties typically takes longer, because you’re not just managing symptoms —you’re changing the underlying structure. I check in regularly about what’s working and what needs to shift.
What’s the difference between individual therapy and sex therapy?
They overlap. Sex therapy is a specialization that focuses specifically on desire, arousal, sexual avoidance, performance anxiety, and the relational dynamics around intimacy. Individual therapy here can include all of those themes, but it can also address anxiety, depression, relationship patterns, and personal development more broadly. Many clients move between both depending on what’s most alive in the work.
I’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t help. Why would this be different?
Most people who say therapy didn’t work describe a version of therapy where they talked about their week while someone nodded and offered supportive reflections. That can be pleasant, but it rarely produces change. The therapy I do is more direct, more psychologically specific, and more focused on what’s actually happening beneath the surface — not just what you’re reporting. If you found previous therapy too generic or too passive, this is a different kind of experience.
Do you take insurance?
This is a private-pay practice. I don’t bill insurance directly, but I can provide a superbill you can submit for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Private pay means no insurance company limiting our sessions, dictating what we work on, or attaching a diagnosis to your permanent record — which matters especially for work involving sexuality, shame, or relational patterns.
Is this practice a good fit for men?
Yes — male sexuality, shame, avoidance, and relational patterns are a particular focus. Many of my individual clients are men dealing with spectatoring, performance anxiety, emotional withdrawal, or the kind of quiet isolation that comes from never having talked honestly about these things. If you’re a man who overthinks sex rather than inhabits it, or who keeps people at a distance without fully understanding why, this work is built for that.
Can I do individual therapy and couples therapy at the same time?
Yes, though I typically don’t see both partners individually while also seeing them as a couple — it creates complicated dynamics. What works well is individual therapy alongside couples therapy with a different clinician, or individual work that addresses your relational patterns from your side of the dynamic. Many people start individually and eventually bring a partner into the work, or vice versa.
Do you offer in-person and online sessions?
Both. I see clients in person at my Pittsburgh office (134 S Highland Ave, East Liberty) and online across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. Many clients alternate between in-person and video depending on the week. Both formats work well — what matters most is showing up consistently.
How do I get started?
The first step is a free 15-minute phone consultation. It’s not an intake — it’s a brief conversation to see if the fit is right. You can schedule one here, or call or text 412-206-9080.
What should I expect in the first session?
The first session is about understanding what brought you here and what you’re hoping to change. I’ll ask questions, listen carefully, and start forming a picture of the patterns that may be keeping you stuck. Most people leave the first session feeling heard and with a clearer sense of what we’ll work on together.
What if I’m not sure therapy is what I need?
That uncertainty is completely normal and worth exploring. A free 15-minute consultation can help you figure out whether this kind of work makes sense for where you are right now. There’s no pressure to commit.
About Your Therapist
Jonah Taylor is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist practicing in Pittsburgh, PA. He specializes in Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples and individuals, with a particular focus on the intersection of attachment, sexuality, and shame. Jonah integrates psychodynamic understanding, mindfulness, and attachment science to help clients move beyond surface-level coping toward genuine change.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Whether you are just exploring or ready to begin, I am here to help. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit.
Schedule a Free Consultation