Interview of Dr. Felix Salomon: Special Characteristics of The Phoenix Institute for Psychotherapy and Dr. Felix Salomon

Intv: I am here this morning interviewing Dr. Felix Salomon.
Good morning Dr. Salomon, how are you today?

Dr S: Fine. Thank you.

Intv: Dr. Salomon, can you briefly tell us what your credentials are and a little about your background?

Dr S: Sure. I have a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University in New York and a Psy.D. in Contemporary Psychoanalysis from the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles.

Intv: But you live and practice in North Central Phoenix, Arizona?

Dr S: Yes, I moved here with my wife, Sharon Bonita, and my 2 daughters, Elise and Bianca, in 1977 from Queens, New York.

Intv: Are you originally from New York?

Dr S: Well, I was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. My parents were fleeing Hitler and the Nazis and there was a quota system then for how many Jews were allowed to come into the U.S., so they went to South America. In 1947, we were able to emigrate to the U.S. under the sponsorship of my Uncles who lived in New Jersey. I grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, until I was 16 years old, and then we moved to Queens, New York. After earning my doctor’s degree in Clinical Psychology, my wife and I decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona where it was quite a bit warmer than in New York City during the winter. In 2004, I began to commute to Los Angeles for my doctorate in Contemporary Psychoanalysis, which I completed in 2010.

Intv: When did you get interested in Psychoanalysis?

Dr S: Well, as a kid, my friends would come to me and trust me with their problems. Then, in college, I got interested in Psychology. Queens College of City University of New York, was offering a class, “Introduction to Psychoanalysis.” I took it and never wavered from seeing how this kind of depth-psychology could really help people long-term.

Intv: So, what is it that you really do or how can you describe your practice. I know you provide several different kinds of services.

Dr S: In my role as a Clinical Psychologist I do primarily Individual Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. I also do marital, couples, and family psychotherapy. I am also involved in Forensic Psychology, cases where the legal system and court is involved. In Forensic, I serve primarily as a Supervisor to my staff of psychologists. In my role as Director of The Phoenix institute for Psychotherapy, Ltd., I direct, mentor, and supervise a staff of psychologists and mental health professionals.

Intv: What is Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy?

Dr S: It is a method of treating psychological problems by getting to the root causes using the method of free association (the patient needs to express whatever comes to mind while they are in session without editing and without censoring anything). The patient is encouraged to express the feelings, thoughts, and whatever is going on inside of them during the session to the Psychotherapist.
This might include dreams they remember, things they imagine or think about, situations that they find themselves in, or just about anything that they have an inner experience with. The Psychotherapist tries to help them discover the basic causes, not just the symptoms, of their distress and problems, which often means going back to early childhood. Even the relationship between the patient and the Psychotherapist is explored and understood in terms of possible repetitions of early patterns of relating. This is referred to as Transference Analysis in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. A fundamental skill that the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist has is how to help the patient uncover unconscious meanings so that they use these deep understandings to help themselves in new ways. Another important skill that the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist has is to help the patient discover the ways that they avoid or interfere with their progress. This is referred to as Resistance Analysis in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Unless we discover the Unconscious dynamics at work and do the job of Resistance Analysis, we usually wind up chasing our tail, or repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Intv: What is involved in the Forensic work you do?

Dr S: There are several different Forensic areas PIP (The Phoenix Institute for Psychotherapy) is involved in. Firstly, we do a lot of work in Extreme and Exceptional Hardship Immigration cases. We do our best to illuminate for the court how deporting the undocumented member of a family may have devastating psychological effects on the children, on the documented spouse, and on the family as a whole. Secondly, we work in the area of Custody Litigation. While divorce is sometimes a crucial option, it also can have devastating psychological effects on the children. This is especially true in cases where the children are used as pawns against the other parent. When children are involved, there needs to be a civil and cooperative bond between the divorcing parents for the children’s sake. Our evaluations try to bring this out and to point to best options under the circumstances. Thirdly, we work in the area of Sentence Mitigation, when there are psychologically extenuating circumstances that a Judge can consider in sentencing.
Fourthly, we perform evaluations in Sexual Risk Offending. Fifth, we evaluate Violence Risk potential.
These evaluations require a great deal of training, selecting and administering the right psychological standardized tests, and performing various in-depth interviews, as well as writing detailed reports.

Intv: I know Marital Therapy must be very complex, but can you give us one principle that you use when you are doing Marital Therapy?

Dr S: One of the most important principles of marriage and Marital Therapy is reaching for a satisfying and sustainable compromise.

Intv: How is that done?

Dr S: That is a whole science by itself. I will only mention that each partner needs to hold on to their sense of Core Self while the giving and taking process proceeds.

Intv: In terms of Child Therapy, what can you say about that?

Dr S: I believe it is critical to recognize that children are still developing their verbal abilities, that is, their abilities to put into words what they feel and think. They do have, however, this marvelous ability to express their inner selves through the medium of play. So, Play Therapy often becomes the medium to learn about the child and to help the child resolve conflicts.

Intv: Well, thank you Dr. Salomon for spending this time with me and letting us know a little about yourself, your practice, and The Phoenix Institute for Psychotherapy.

Dr S: Thank you for your interest.

Intv: If you would like to get in touch with Dr. Salomon, call (602) 870-0991.
PIP is located in North Central Phoenix at 7111 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85020.