Problems Treated
- Anxiety
- Couples
- Depression
- Panic Disorder and Phobias
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- Psychotherapy and Relationship Problems
Dr. Forster has worked with hundreds of individuals with depression, combining medication treatment with psychotherapy. He receives referrals from psychotherapists and psychiatrists throughout Northern California. In addition, he has been able to help a number of professionals in the mental health field with their own problems with depression. He has given hundreds of lectures in the last ten years to psychiatrists, other physicians, and other mental health professionals on the topic of depression. As the chair of the Professional Education Committee for Northern California Psychiatric Society he organized four symposia on the treatment of depression to update psychiatrists throughout Northern California on the latest approaches to this common problem. His work with depressed patients includes expert treatment with medications (sometimes in conjunction with other therapists) and short-term psychotherapy that focus on thought, behavior, and relationship patterns that are common in people with depression.
Dr. Forster has given more than 50 presentations around the state and the country on the recognition and treatment of anxiety. He has written two book chapters on the treatment of anxiety. A few years ago he was one of three lecturers to the California Medical Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on the topic. His practice focuses on short-term psychotherapy and appropriate medication treatment of anxiety
Dr. Forster has given more than twenty lectures regionally and nationally on the recognition and treatment of panic disorder. His audiences have included psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and physicians. He specializes in time-limited symptom-focused treatment using psychotherapy techniques to change the patterns of thought and behavior that lead to the disabling symptoms of panic, and combining psychotherapy with appropriate and effective medication treatment where indicated. He has received referrals from mental health professionals throughout the Bay Area and has successfully treated many patients who were disabled by their panic disorder.
Dr. Forster completed a national fellowship in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He founded the Psychopharmacology Clinic at the PTSD Center in San Francisco and is the author of two chapters on the treatment of acute traumatic stress reactions. He has presented on this topic to psychiatrists and other physicians in Denver, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Jose, and other local and regional meetings. He is expert in: the short-term treatment of stress reactions; crisis intervention; critical incident stress debriefing; short-term and long-term treatment of acute and chronic stress reactions with medications; working with couples, and psychotherapy for stress reactions.
Dr. Forster took advanced course work during his psychiatry residency in couples counseling. He has worked with many couples (gay, straight, married) to help them resolve problems ranging from urgent crises to long-term communication problems. His special focus is on short-term (10-12 sessions) treatment of couples. Because he has had such good results, this is the kind of psychotherapy that he enjoys the most.
Dr. Forster has taken advanced courses in short-term and interpersonal psychotherapy. He combines techniques from a number of psychotherapy schools in order to create an approach that is most effective for each individual and fits best with that person’s beliefs and values. He uses techniques from Jungian psychotherapy, cognitive and behavioral psychotherapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, and hypnotherapy among others. He has consulted with psychotherapists from San Francisco, the Peninsula, and the East Bay when they have felt the need for help with their clients.
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