Sheila Khaleghian, Psy.D.

Sheila Khaleghian, Psy.D. Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Los Angeles, Ca

Individuals, Family, and Couple Psychotherapy

Work Experience & Specialization

Relationship Issues
S*xual Dysfunctions
Addiction and Substance Abuse
S*xuality (LGBTQ)
Anxiety and Depression
Parenting without Conflict
Family Conflict
Life Transitions
Issues of Adolescence


Fluent in English and Farsi

Moving in together can shift the dynamic of a relationship faster than most couples anticipate. Research on cohabitation...
02/07/2026

Moving in together can shift the dynamic of a relationship faster than most couples anticipate. Research on cohabitation shows that nearly half of couples experience a noticeable drop in intimacy within the first year of living together. Not because love disappears — but because novelty fades and everyday stress begins to replace intentional connection.

Shared bills. New routines. Unspoken expectations.
These subtle shifts can quietly take center stage.

Psychologists emphasize that couples who move in with clear communication, defined boundaries, shared goals, and intentional rituals for emotional and physical closeness are significantly more likely to sustain long-term desire and relationship satisfaction.

Intimacy doesn’t simply disappear — it erodes when it’s no longer protected.

If you’re navigating cohabitation, relationship transitions, or looking to strengthen emotional intimacy, proactive communication and intentional connection matter more than most people realize.

Sources: National Marriage Project (University of Virginia); Journal of Social and Personal Relationships; Institute for Family Studies

Anxiety doesn’t need to disappear for you to live fully.The real work isn’t silencing anxiety — it’s learning how to sto...
02/06/2026

Anxiety doesn’t need to disappear for you to live fully.

The real work isn’t silencing anxiety — it’s learning how to stop letting it narrate your reality.

Anxiety can sound convincing. It can distort perception, magnify fear, and shrink possibility. But thoughts are not facts. Feelings are not forecasts. And discomfort is not danger.

When we strengthen emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, and nervous system resilience, anxiety loses its authority — even if it’s still present.

You can feel anxious and still:
• Have the conversation
• Launch the project
• Set the boundary
• Show up in your relationship
• Go after the life you want

Practical tools to stop anxiety from running the show:

• Name it instead of becoming it.
“I’m noticing anxiety” creates distance. “I am anxious” fuses with it.

• Regulate your body first.
Slow exhale breathing (longer exhale than inhale) signals safety to your nervous system faster than logic ever will.

• Challenge the prediction.
Ask: What are the actual facts? What’s the most likely outcome? What would I tell a friend in this situation?

• Shrink the time horizon.
Anxiety jumps to catastrophic futures. Bring it back to: What is required of me in the next 10 minutes?

• Take one values-based action.
Small forward movement weakens avoidance — and avoidance is anxiety’s fuel.

You don’t overcome anxiety by waiting to feel calm.
You overcome it by building capacity while it’s there.

Secure relationships don’t happen by accident — they’re built intentionally.Research consistently shows that securely at...
02/05/2026

Secure relationships don’t happen by accident — they’re built intentionally.
Research consistently shows that securely attached couples prioritize curiosity, trust, emotional regulation, and ongoing individual growth.

Healthy relationships aren’t about perfection. They’re about repair, playfulness, intimacy, and the willingness to grow together while still honoring individuality.

If you’re working on strengthening your relationship, start by protecting the foundation: emotional safety, honest communication, and genuine connection.

If you walk into the wrong relationship, don’t rearrange yourself to make it work.If you’re constantly adjusting, over-e...
02/04/2026

If you walk into the wrong relationship, don’t rearrange yourself to make it work.

If you’re constantly adjusting, over-explaining, or shrinking your needs just to keep a relationship alive — that’s your sign. Healthy relationships don’t require self-abandonment. They support emotional safety, mutual respect, and growth.

The right relationship feels grounding, not exhausting.
Choosing yourself isn’t selfish — it’s self-respect.
Leave the spaces that cost you your peace.

Healthy dating isn’t about chasing potential or tolerating confusion — it’s about clarity, consistency, and mutual effor...
02/03/2026

Healthy dating isn’t about chasing potential or tolerating confusion — it’s about clarity, consistency, and mutual effort.

Secure relationships begin with:
• Clear standards
• Open communication
• Honest boundaries
• Mutual investment

If dating requires you to shrink, abandon your needs, or tolerate inconsistency, it’s information — not a challenge to work harder.

Healthy partners don’t guess your needs. They listen.
Healthy dating should add to your life, not cost you your peace.

AI is “built to sound endlessly understanding, to mirror emotion without challenging it,” write Dr. Jesse Finkelstein an...
01/25/2026

AI is “built to sound endlessly understanding, to mirror emotion without challenging it,” write Dr. Jesse Finkelstein and Dr. Shireen Rizvi.

The concern? “Therapists have long seen how the human drive to avoid pain can unintentionally strengthen it.

“Current chatbots can mimic empathy, but they cannot intervene, build real therapeutic momentum, or hold someone through the hard work of change ... The danger is that people may mistake it for therapy, and then miss the meaningful help that could actually improve or save their lives.”

Read the full column at the link in bio.



Anxiety doesn’t have to disappear for us to live fully. Research consistently shows that psychological well-being is not...
01/23/2026

Anxiety doesn’t have to disappear for us to live fully. Research consistently shows that psychological well-being is not about eliminating anxious thoughts, but about changing our relationship to them. Studies on emotion regulation and acceptance-based therapies demonstrate that allowing anxiety to be present—without letting it dictate behavior—is associated with greater psychological flexibility, resilience, and life satisfaction (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010; Hayes et al., 2016).

The same principle applies to relationships. Securely attached couples aren’t anxiety-free; they are skilled at responding rather than reacting. Longitudinal attachment research shows that relational strength is built through trust-consistent behavior, curiosity about one another’s inner worlds, effective conflict regulation, and maintaining both closeness and autonomy (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2019; Overall & Simpson, 2015). Importantly, secure bonds thrive when partners allow imperfection, express emotions assertively, and prioritize friendship, playfulness, and sexual connection over rigid expectations (Gottman et al., 2015).

The work—individually and relationally—is not silencing anxiety, but learning not to let it narrate reality. When anxiety is acknowledged rather than avoided, and when relationships are treated as spaces for growth rather than performance, both individuals and couples become more resilient, connected, and secure.

Couples who last aren’t conflict-free — they communicate with clarity and repair. Research shows that expressing needs d...
01/22/2026

Couples who last aren’t conflict-free — they communicate with clarity and repair. Research shows that expressing needs directly, taking responsibility for impact (not intent), pausing when emotions are high, and returning to repair predict greater relationship satisfaction and long-term stability (Overall & McNulty, 2017; Lavner et al., 2016; Gottman & Silver, 2019). Healthy relationships don’t avoid conflict — they build the skills to move through it safely.

Healing is rarely about feeling better all the time; more often, it reflects an increased capacity to tolerate discomfor...
01/10/2026

Healing is rarely about feeling better all the time; more often, it reflects an increased capacity to tolerate discomfort without reverting to old survival strategies.

Research consistently shows that distress tolerance and expansion of the window of tolerance are central mechanisms of psychological change, allowing individuals to remain present with emotional pain, relational tension, or internal conflict without dissociation, substance use, or maladaptive reenactments (Leyro, Zvolensky, & Bernstein, 2010; Siegel, 2020).

Neurobiological studies demonstrate that recovery is associated with improved prefrontal–limbic integration, enabling individuals to experience emotional activation without impulsive or avoidant behavior (Etkin, Büchel, & Gross, 2015; Arnsten, 2021).

Across trauma, mood disorders, and substance use treatment, higher distress tolerance is linked to better emotional regulation, improved interpersonal functioning, and lower relapse rates (Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2022; Addiction, 2021; Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2023).

In this way, a lowered tolerance for dysfunction—and a higher tolerance for discomfort—is not regression; it is a measurable and clinically supported marker of genuine healing.

Healing is rarely about feeling better all the time; more often, it reflects an increased capacity to tolerate discomfor...
01/10/2026

Healing is rarely about feeling better all the time; more often, it reflects an increased capacity to tolerate discomfort without reverting to old survival strategies.

Research consistently shows that distress tolerance and expansion of the window of tolerance are central mechanisms of psychological change, allowing individuals to remain present with emotional pain, relational tension, or internal conflict without dissociation, substance use, or maladaptive reenactments (Leyro, Zvolensky, & Bernstein, 2010; Siegel, 2020).

Neurobiological studies demonstrate that recovery is associated with improved prefrontal–limbic integration, enabling individuals to experience emotional activation without impulsive or avoidant behavior (Etkin, Büchel, & Gross, 2015; Arnsten, 2021). Across trauma, mood disorders, and substance use treatment, higher distress tolerance is linked to better emotional regulation, improved interpersonal functioning, and lower relapse rates (Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2022; Addiction, 2021; Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2023).

In this way, a lowered tolerance for dysfunction—and a higher tolerance for discomfort—is not regression; it is a measurable and clinically supported marker of genuine healing.

Healthy, long-term relationships aren’t sustained by intensity — they’re sustained by safety, consistency, and repair.De...
01/09/2026

Healthy, long-term relationships aren’t sustained by intensity — they’re sustained by safety, consistency, and repair.

Decades of research show that couples who feel emotionally safe are more likely to communicate openly, resolve conflict effectively, and remain satisfied over time. The “honeymoon phase” naturally fades as novelty decreases, but that shift is not a problem — it’s how secure attachment and real intimacy form. What predicts relationship longevity isn’t the absence of conflict, but the ability to reconnect after it, prioritize understanding over being right, and show up in small, reliable ways.

Trust is built through consistent responsiveness. Feeling heard matters more than winning an argument. And respect during hard moments is one of the strongest predictors of long-term stability.

Healthy love is not found — it’s built, day by day, through care, accountability, and repair.

(Research support: attachment theory; Gottman & Levenson’s longitudinal studies on marital stability; recent findings on emotional safety, responsiveness, and relationship satisfaction in adult attachment research, 2018–2024.)

Our present isn’t happening in a vacuum.The ways we love, cope, react, attach, and protect ourselves are often shaped lo...
12/15/2025

Our present isn’t happening in a vacuum.
The ways we love, cope, react, attach, and protect ourselves are often shaped long before adulthood—rooted in early childhood experiences and the relationships that first taught us what to expect from the world.

Research shows that early attachment patterns influence how we regulate emotions, navigate conflict, and form relationships later in life. When our needs were consistently met, we’re more likely to feel secure and resilient. When they weren’t—through neglect, inconsistency, trauma, or emotional unavailability—those adaptations don’t disappear; they quietly show up as hyper-independence, people-pleasing, anxiety, avoidance, or reactivity in the present.

The nervous system learns early what feels safe. Experiences in childhood shape stress responses, self-worth, and how the brain interprets threat well into adulthood. This doesn’t mean we’re “stuck” or broken—it means our behaviors once made sense. Healing begins when we understand that many of our present struggles are echoes of earlier survival strategies.

Awareness creates choice. With insight, support, and evidence-based therapy, we can update old patterns, regulate the nervous system, and respond from the present rather than the past.

You are not overreacting—you are responding from history. And history can be rewritten.

Research highlights:
• Bowlby & Ainsworth – Attachment theory and adult relational patterns
• Felitti et al. (1998) – Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study and long-term mental/physical health outcomes
• Schore (2001, 2012) – Early relational trauma and right-brain development
• van der Kolk (2014) – How trauma is stored in the body and nervous system
• Siegel (2012) – Neuroplasticity and the brain’s capacity for change

Healing isn’t about blaming the past—it’s about understanding it so the present can feel safer, freer, and more intentional.

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About Me

Dr. Khaleghian is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who has been practicing in the Los Angeles area for the past 10 years. She is dedicated to the well-being of her patients and is committed to helping them achieve their goals.

Her education, training, and ongoing professional experience has prepared her for providing services to adults, adolescents, couples, and families.

Dr. Khaleghian treats people struggling with: Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Addiction/Substance Abuse, Relationship and Family Conflict, Divorce, S*xual Dysfunctions, Life Transitions, Stress, and Parenting.