- Guilt and shame
- EMDR and trauma
- Perfectionism work
About Cynthia
Dr. Cynthia Curnan is an LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) practicing in California with 32 years of clinical experience. She works with stress, anxiety, relationship concerns, trauma and abuse, grief, and intimacy-related issues, and lists guilt and shame among her focus areas. Her background includes a PhD in psychology and a long history of teaching inner guidance and personal development.
She favors plain talk and practical tools in sessions. She helps people notice which part of themselves is doing the thinking and decision making. That awareness is used to reduce perfectionism and to strengthen a more constructive inner drive toward excellence.
Her experience includes published work on perfectionism and many years teaching skills for inner guidance. In therapy she uses conversation alongside experiential methods such as breath work, focused meditation, dream reflection, and interactive hypnotherapy. She also applies trauma-focused tools when needed, including EMDR and related approaches.
Clients can expect to work on identifying unhelpful patterns like control issues, avoidance, or guilt that keeps them stuck. She offers ways to build self-knowledge, shift harsh self-judgment, and practice different responses in relationships. Sessions may include goal setting and skills for staying present in everyday life.
Over the course of therapy, she supports people in noticing perfectionist habits and learning alternatives. The emphasis is on practical steps that change how a person thinks and acts, with attention to emotional healing and clearer decision making.
How her approaches translate to online work
Dr. Curnan uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify thoughts and behaviors that keep someone stuck and then practices new, more helpful responses. CBT is useful for anxiety, stress, and relationship patterns by focusing on small, testable changes.She also uses EMDR to address traumatic memories and their emotional impact through guided processing techniques. EMDR can reduce the intensity of traumatic reactions and help people carry forward different beliefs about themselves.
Finding the right approach happens together. She will discuss options and decide with the client which methods to try first based on goals, symptoms, and preferences. That may mean starting with CBT skills, moving to trauma-focused work, or integrating breath and hypnotherapy elements.
If you plan to work online, confirm the session formats offered before booking. The profile does not list specific formats, so checking options helps set expectations. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove travel time. Therapists can adapt exercises, guided breathing, EMDR protocols, and goal-setting tasks for remote sessions so practical therapeutic work continues even when meeting remotely.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
32+ years
Listed in
California
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she address?
She works with stress, anxiety, relationship issues, trauma and abuse, grief, intimacy-related problems, and related areas such as guilt and shame.
How does she approach shame and guilt?
She combines talk therapy with techniques that identify unhelpful internal parts and reduce perfectionist thinking, then offers exercises to shift self-judgment.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has 32 years of experience and earned a PhD in psychology following earlier work teaching inner guidance.
What credentials and region are listed?
She is an LMFT licensed in California and practices there.
Are sessions available in other languages or internationally?
Sessions are offered in English and the profile indicates international clients are accepted.
What session formats are offered?
The original biography does not specify session formats; confirm current session options before booking.
How are fees handled?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What steps start the process?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, use the crisis numbers.