Annabelle Moore Seife, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Couples Therapy Team Leader
Supervising Psychologist
Midtown + Virtual
Many of my clients come to therapy stuck in the same patterns, unsure how to break the cycle but knowing they want to make a change. I help them understand where these patterns come from, how these patterns served them in the past, and empower them to shed those parts they have outgrown. I work collaboratively to integrate their past experiences with greater bodily and emotional awareness in order to make choices with agency and authentic presence. My clients appreciate my warm and candid perspective.
I am dedicated to helping my clients find the balance between the human need for connection and the desire for separateness with friends, family, romantic partners, and their own sexuality. The dilemmas of intimacy are particularly salient when I work with couples. As a couples therapist, my goal is to help couples break free from entrenched ways of relating in order to build a new path forward. I do this by helping each partner better understand how their emotions fuel their conflict, and find new ways to get unstuck from rigid response patterns. In my office, couples learn to express their wants and needs directly and with greater vulnerability. I firmly believe in the healing power of authentic connection with the person who means the most to us. In line with this strengths-based approach to relationships, I offer precommitment and premarital counseling, both individually and in a group format called Before the Leap, to promote greater connection and a solid foundation as couples move into the next phase of their relationships.
I work from a psychodynamic perspective, bringing the full emotional landscape into awareness in order to live with clarity and intention. I also integrate Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques when immediate relief is needed, and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) when working with couples. I have extensive experience working with people who have faced oppression and prejudice, including BIPOC, and am trauma-informed. I am a sex-positive, kink-aware psychologist, and am affirming of all sexual orientations, gender identities, alternative sexualities, and relationship structures.
In addition to my role as a therapist, I supervise psychology trainees, provide didactic training, and hold leadership roles in Therapists of New York's Couples Therapy and Early Career Psychologist training programs.
Training:
I received my M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University, Brooklyn. I have been trained in individual, group, and couples psychotherapy in a variety of settings, including Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, a college counseling center, and the Brooklyn and Manhattan VA Medical Centers. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at NYU – Bellevue Hospital Center, with a particular focus on trauma treatment. My research has focused on PTSD, romantic relationships, and sexuality.