David Shapiro, Ph.D., Psychologist

Are you unsatisfied with one or more areas of your life? I collaborate with each individual, couple, and family with whom I work to craft their own individualized success plans. Quality therapy can be about more than relieving symptoms. I support my clients in materializing the lives they truly desire. Yes, of course, along the way they overcome barriers, such as inappropriate anxiety, depressed mood, counterproductive behaviors, self esteem issues, relational difficulties, etc. These are replaced with patterns of thought, feeling, behavior, relating to others that set up the conditions for life to unfold in ways that can be most fulfilling. Each person’s path to success is unique. For that reason, my approach to therapy is unique for each client with whom I work. Together, we collaborate to understand what changes are desired and the means to accomplishing their own vision of success.

After years running a thriving in person practice, I now offer the same high quality psychotherapy online. My services are considered out of network for PPO Insurance. I am an Ivy League trained Psychologist who is dedicated to provide high quality psychotherapy to adults, teens, couples, and families. Having expertise in a variety of treatment approaches and techniques, each case receives an individualized plan that focuses on promoting positive changes on a variety of levels, ranging from improvements in emotional management, coping strategies, interpersonal communication, self-esteem, health and wellness promotion, and much more. My goal is to empower the people with whom I work to establish skills and practices that enables them to make remarkable lasting changes quickly. One unique feature of my practice is that I am a traditionally trained Psychologist who has received intensive instruction and mentoring in combining clinical hypnosis and mindfulness promotion with traditional psychotherapy. As a result, my clients benefit from strategically working with consciousness to support the application of the skills and behavioral changes being worked on in therapy. Rather than listing all the conditions I treat, I will say that I can handle complex and challenging situations, that I have a reputation for helping people who haven't been satisfied with prior therapists, and if I don't feel I can help a person I will assist them in finding someone who can.

I was fortunate to evolve a thriving practice which moved from several locations - first in Lake Forest, then in Mission Viejo, next in Irvine. Along the way, I got to try out various models. One interesting thing that happened along the way was that my studying, practicing and ultimately teaching of Buddhist meditation led me to relocate to Thailand, where I have had the, opportunity to study with Monks care for Villagers, and to find a more peaceful life away from the hussle and bustle of suberbia. As part of this shift, I continue to run my private practice as a California Licensed Psychologist out of Orange County but I am providing these services remotely through online teletherapy. I think people are also valuing the influence I provide from my unusual experience providing care online from paradise.

I offer a range of types of therapies, often combining several, depending on the particular needs of each client. These include short term interventions designed to provide quick symptom relief and behavioral change, as well as longer-term approaches that aim at helping to extend these changes into a fulfilling life. I am proud to have dedicated years to developing proficiency as a Psychologist. My training and experience allows me now to craft individualized treatment plans with each client, couple, or family with whom I work. Usually my work involves integrating a variety of approaches to impact people on multiple levels in ways which allow them to replace patterns which are no longer serving them with more effective responses related to their thoughts, feelings, behavior, communication, and interpersonal relationships.

The integration of meditation, mindfulness, and other core Buddhist teachings with psychotherapy have helped me to be an even more effective therapist. So too, has being a therapist provided a venue for me to actualize values important to me, especially related to the vows I have taken to dedicate myself to helping liberate others from suffering. It is this spiritual path that brought me to Asia, and now with the help of the internet I am once again sharing it with a small group of cllients online. In addition to initially immersing myself in Tibetan Buddhism and a related tradition called Dzogchen, I spent 5 years studying with Thai Buddhist Monks at a Monastery in Escondido, CA. It was this exposure to those Monks that helped me to make the decision to move to Thailand with the goal of deepening my spiritual practice and serve Villagers without any expectation of payment. I now continue these activities while practicing online as a Psychologist serving those back home.