Dr. David Karol Gore

I am an Atlanta child psychologist and have seen children as young as four. But I don't see kids alone. I see children as a function of where they are within their family. It's not okay to have parents in the waiting room while I cure their child. Parents need to be in the therapy room with us, contributing solutions and working on changing their contributions to the difficulties.

I don't do much play therapy, and don't believe in it as a primary form of treatment for children unless they are orphans with no living relatives. I believe the number-one problem with children today is that parents are reluctant to be fully in charge, preferring instead to treat their children as peers and equals. I've seen many families in which the children are in charge of their parents when therapy begins. That soon changes.

I treat teenagers within the context of their families, usually alternating between individual and family therapy. I love rebellious teenagers. I love unhappy teenagers. I love teenagers who can't fit in. I remember being there not too long ago. I deal head-on with drug and alcohol use, abuse, and experimentation.

I treat addicts, alcoholics, and people who may not be full-blown dependents but are abusing chemicals to the detriment of their lives and the lives of those around them. My experience has taught me that subtlety is not the way to go with chemical abusers. I challenge them, hard. I work with their spouses, parents, children, and whomever else the use impacts. Family therapy is essential to recovery.

I believe in the 12-step approach and push it hard. If someone refuses to go to AA, NA, or CA meetings, I will work with them anyway and continue to push them toward meetings. These programs aren't perfect, but they're free, readily available, and the best thing available for addiction recovery.

I treat a lot of couples with postpartum depression and postpartum mood disorders, which include anxiety issues. I fell into this specialty because Emory University has a world-renowned program, and the founder of that program admired how I worked with the couples he was treating and sent me the majority of his marital therapy cases. I am good at getting husbands involved in their wives' recoveries from depression.

I see these folks most often in my office, not because they have more issues, but because they seek therapy more often than others. Although therapy takes place with just the individual client, I always consider where the client is relative to their family of origin, and in the context of their life today: work, relationships, and everything else.