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Name: Dr. Max Belkin
Profession: Psychologist
License Number: York State License # 016444-1
Location: New York City, New Jersey Shore
Education
2004 Ph.D., Counseling Psychology, New York University
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Professional experience
2001 – present Adjunct Assistant Professor, New York University, New York City
2003 – 2006 Staff Psychologist, Supervisor, Interfaith Medical Center, Brooklyn
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Published work
Cytrynbaum, S. & Belkin, M. (2004). Gender and authority in Group Relations
conferences: Implications for theory and research. In S. Cytrynbaum & D.A. Noumair (Eds.), Group Dynamics, Organizational Irrationality, and Social Complexity: Group Relations Reader 3. 443-457. A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems Series. Maryland: Waldorf.
Mattis, J.S., Eubanks, S., Zapata, A.A., Grayman, N., Belkin, M., Mitchell, N.K.,
& Cooper, S. (2004). Factors influencing religious non-attendance among
African American men: A multimethod analysis. Review of Religious Research, 45, 4, 386-403.
Belkin, M. (Under submission). Variability in African American men’s norms of
masculinity.
Mattis, J.S., Belkin, M., Grayman, N., Mitchell, N., Zapata, A., Eubanks, S., & Cooper,
S. (Under review). Religion, optimism, pessimism, and volunteerism among
African American adults.
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Clinical interests
I have been working with individuals and couples to help them tackle emotional and relational problems. My approach to counseling integrates the focus on self-awareness with attention to individuals’ relational experiences. I believe that many of our psychological difficulties are rooted in our family history, which continues to affect our emotional and psychological development. I also view our psychological and relational difficulties as deeply connected to our struggles to make sense of existential issues (separateness, aging, the meaning of life).
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Love-Life interests and expertise
After completing my training in couples and family therapy at Northwestern University’s Family Institute, I have been working with a variety of single, divorced, and married individuals. My clinical experience continues to inform the graduate courses in marriage and family therapy that I teach at NYU. I have learned to recognize the important role that our sense of self and self-esteem play in our ability to be intimate with another person. I hope that Love-Life Workshop will become a safe forum for discussing a wide range of members’ relational and emotional issues (identity, self-esteem, intimacy, eroticism, and commitment).
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Practice information
Greenwich Village, Manhattan
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Personal relationship status
I am happily married to a wonderful man.
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Love-Life biography
I spent a decade figuring out what I need from and bring to my relationships. In the process, I realized how much of my past involvement with charismatic yet emotionally immature men reflected my tumultuous relationship with my father. In the nutshell, I kept replaying my childhood experiences of closeness and abandonment, hoping that this time my love and commitment will transform the other person. In the end, I had to learn to focus on my own anxiety about intimacy and commitment, which gradually allowed me to break the familiar and self-defeating relational patterns.
In the present, I am still discovering the joys and complexities of a committed monogamous relationship. In particular, I have found that living with another person has profoundly changed my experience of emotional intimacy, passion, and eroticism. I believe that marriage challenges us to grow emotionally and sexually. It seems to me that many relationships fail because partners stop investing time and energy in their personal growth. I hope that through connecting with each other via Love-Life Workshops we will inspire, facilitate, and support our commitment to fulfilling our emotional potential.
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