Dr. Akasa Tseng

Licensed Psychologist

Beyond my formal clinical training, my work as a psychologist has also been shaped by four decades of lived experience across construction, music, alternative healing, and cross-cultural traditions. My experience restoring fixer-upper homes became an embodied metaphor for “the house of the psyche” — attending to what supports us, what has been neglected or compromised, and what may still be restored with care and attention. My long-standing engagement with Eastern, Western, and Indigenous traditions, as well as holistic practices, further deepened my understanding of body–mind–spirit integration and the many ways psychological suffering can be expressed emotionally, relationally, somatically, symbolically, culturally, and inter-generationally. My lived experience within a variety of spiritual traditions and communities also contributed to my understanding of spiritual bypassing — when spiritual beliefs or practices are unconsciously used to avoid unresolved emotional pain, psychological wounds, or relational difficulties — and the importance of grounding spiritual experience within deeper psychological integration and development. These experiences continue to inform my psychodynamic and depth-oriented approach, as well as my capacity to listen with curiosity, emotional depth, and respect for each person’s unique history, identity, and way of making meaning.

Therapy with me is not focused solely on symptom reduction, but also on understanding the deeper emotional, relational, and unconscious patterns that contribute to psychological suffering. Together, we may explore conflicting or disowned aspects of the self, including the protective roles that defenses, coping strategies, and survival adaptations once served. Rather than viewing these parts with judgment, therapy can help develop a different relationship to them with greater curiosity, self-reflective capacity, and psychological flexibility. My approach integrates psychodynamic, Jungian, EMDR and relational perspectives, recognizing that unresolved experiences are often carried emotionally, relationally, somatically, and unconsciously. At times, this work may involve exploring recurring relational patterns, dreams, symbolic imagery, body-based responses, or unresolved trauma that continues to shape one’s present experience. The goal is not to eliminate parts of oneself, but to support greater psychological integration, emotional capacity, authenticity, and meaning.

My life philosophy and treatment philosophy overlap in the belief that human experience is rarely linear, singular, or reducible to one fixed identity or way of being. While modern culture often emphasizes certainty, linear progress, and resolution, I understand the psyche as moving in more circular and spiral-like ways, where growth may involve revisiting unresolved experiences from new perspectives and developing the capacity to hold tension, contradiction, and multiple aspects of oneself simultaneously. At the same time, I also value the importance of practical and measurable forms of progress in therapy, including symptom relief, emotional regulation, improved relationships, and greater day-to-day functioning. Rather than viewing linear progress and deeper psychological exploration as opposing approaches, I see them as coexisting processes. Therapy may support immediate change while also honoring the slower and more complex unfolding of psychological development over time. Both my personal and clinical orientation are influenced by psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, and Jungian perspectives that recognize the psyche as containing many potentials, roles, and conflicting dimensions of selfhood, shaped not only by personal experience, but also by relational, ancestral, cultural, and unconscious influences. Psychological suffering is therefore not viewed simply as pathology to eliminate, but as something that may carry emotional, symbolic, relational, and developmental meaning. In therapy, I value both grounded clinical understanding and the deeper symbolic dimensions of psychological life. My approach integrates reflective insight, emotional processing, relational understanding, and EMDR-informed, evidence-based trauma work while also honoring the psyche’s movement toward greater integration and transformation. Although therapy may involve measurable forms of growth and symptom relief, I also recognize that psychological development often unfolds through recurring patterns, inner conflict, and gradual shifts in awareness that continue to evolve over time.