Dr. Schwarz

is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in practice since 1981. She provides individual and group psychotherapy with women and men, individual psychotherapy with adolescents and older children, couples therapy, psychological testing, consultation, and workshops.

Dr. Schwarz specializes in longterm psychodynamic psychotherapy. She has particular expertise in women’s issues (including lifespan development, sexuality, self-esteem, and the effects of dysfunctional family and societal systems), adolescent psychology, abuse survivors (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse), anxiety disorders, geriatrics, sexual identity concerns, gender roles, and the integration of psychology with spirituality and religion. She conducts research and writes on many of these topics, and consults with several national church reform groups.

She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) (Division of Psychotherapy, Society for the Psychology of Women, Division of the Psychology of Religion, Division of Psychoanalysis), California Psychological Association (CPA), Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP), California Association for Psychology Providers (CAPP), San Mateo County Psychological Association (SMCPA), Association of Women in Psychology (AWP), and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She is a former Executive Board member and Committee Chair of the San Mateo County Psychological Association.

Dr. Schwarz is a native San Franciscan, raised on the San Francisco Peninsula. She attended Notre Dame High School in Belmont, California. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Religious Studies, with a minor in Sociology, from Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. She completed an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley / Alameda, with emphasis on psychodynamic / psychoanalytic theory and women’s development. She has done post-doctoral coursework at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC). She also attends several continuing education classes each year.