Casey J Simon, MS, LMFT

Casey J Simon, MS, LMFT I specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of personality, affective, & psychotic disorders. At California Lutheran University I earned an M.S.

Background:

I began my professional life behind the camera, capturing images for directors who—whether they admitted it or not—were really staging their own unconscious dramas. Filmmaking taught me that every frame is a confession, every cut a defense mechanism. That realization pulled me from studio backlots into the far more volatile set of the human mind. in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, learning how love, rage, and betrayal get spliced into the daily reel of family life. Still, I wanted to go darker—into the edits no one screens in public. So I completed a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, specializing in Depth Psychology and psychoanalytic theory. There I traded storyboards for dreams, discovering how archetypes stalk our relationships and how unspoken desire can light up a room—or burn it down. In practice, I work psychoanalytically: we slow the film, study the frame, and listen for the lines you’ve never spoken aloud. Transference isn’t a clinical buzzword; it’s the projector beaming your past onto the present. Together we confront the shadow material you’d rather keep out of the shot, because only by facing it can the plot twist toward freedom. Whether you’re rehearsing old roles, drowning in someone else’s soundtrack, or wrestling with a villain you secretly wrote yourself, I’m committed to sitting in the darkness with you until we find the cut that rings true. Therapy should be transformational—less tidy montage, more raw director’s cut. Clinical Experience:

I specialize in personality disorders—borderline personality disorder in particular—where identity tilts on a knife-edge and emotions detonate without warning. Beyond that high-wire act, I traffic in the full spectrum of human undoing: psychosis that warps reality into a fun-house mirror, bipolar highs that flirt with the gods, OCD rituals performed like sacred liturgies, addictions that promise salvation but deliver annihilation, and the quiet famine of eating disorders. I’ve sat with autistic minds mapping their own galaxies, mourners crossing Styx, trauma survivors whose bodies still keep the score, and identities in flux over gender, grief, or existential vertigo. I’ve worked every clinical theater imaginable—school districts where recess hides ruptured attachments, county clinics where symptom management is triage, group homes buzzing with adolescent chaos, and psychoanalytic institutes where dreams sprawl across the couch like art- house cinema. At Roundtable Counseling, an intensive outpatient program, I guided patients emerging from the raw turbulence of recent hospitalization, helping them storyboard a narrative sturdy enough for everyday daylight. These days I run my own analytic studio in Westlake Village, California. Children, adolescents, adults, couples, families, and groups all take a seat. The setting is quieter, but the material never is: we screen the raw footage, trace the jump cuts, and confront the shadows that keep hijacking the script. The goal isn’t merely symptom relief—it’s a radical rewrite of the story you’ve been living on repeat.

🌿 Now accepting new patients 🌿I work with children, teens, and adults, specializing in Borderline Personality Disorder (...
10/03/2025

🌿 Now accepting new patients 🌿
I work with children, teens, and adults, specializing in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), trauma, and relational challenges. Offering telehealth across CA & OR, and in-person sessions in Westlake Village.

📧 therapy@caseysimonmft.com
🌐 caseysimonmft.com

09/23/2025

Let me be clear. Tylenol. Doesn’t. Cause. Autism. Vaccines. Don’t. Cause. Autism.
09/23/2025

Let me be clear. Tylenol. Doesn’t. Cause. Autism. Vaccines. Don’t. Cause. Autism.

APA Statement on White House Announcement on Autism https://ow.ly/jUVc50X0zCj

09/23/2025

Tylenol doesn’t cause autism.
Vaccines don’t cause autism.
These myths are dangerous, false, and directly contradict decades of scientific evidence.

Political Violence: Leadership as Container vs. Divider (a psychoanalytic lens)Containment vs. Division:Bion argued that...
09/11/2025

Political Violence: Leadership as Container vs. Divider (a psychoanalytic lens)

Containment vs. Division:
Bion argued that groups need a container: a leader or institution able to receive raw, overwhelming feelings—beta elements—and metabolize them into meanings people can think with (via “alpha function”). When a leader rejects that role and instead amplifies grievance and splitting, the system loses containment. What returns to the crowd is unprocessed affect—panic, rage, nameless dread—rather than thought.

Attacks on Linking:
In this atmosphere, facts, relationships, and institutions that could help us think together are devalued or attacked—what Bion called attacks on linking (−K). The result is a deterioration of shared reality: rumor replaces reflection; symbolism collapses into concreteness; enemies become repositories for unwanted feelings via projective identification.

Applied to Trump’s style:
When political rhetoric leans into division over unity—naming enemies, escalating grievance, rewarding certainty over curiosity—it functions as an anti-container. Instead of transforming collective anxiety, it ejects it back into the social field, where it seeks discharge rather than symbolization. Psychoanalytically, that raises the temperature for action over thought, threat over dialogue.

A different leadership task:
Containment doesn’t mean blandness; it means naming loss and anger, holding ambiguity, and returning affect in forms the body politic can use to think—restoring the K-link (knowledge) instead of −K (unknowing).

A civic note: security assessments and scholarship warn that polarization correlates with higher risks of political violence—an environment where uncontained affects can more easily turn into action rather than thought.

Question: If a leader’s style rewards splitting and grievance, does it function as an anti-container that helps seed the political violence we’re seeing—or are other forces doing more of the work? How do we restore containment in civic life?



References Available on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/caseysimonmft_psychoanalysis-bion-leadership-activity-7371724719793790976-YLq4?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAUVG9UBf-QHGRIQlFbEPR6Vyku4og43oZQ

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has released new Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Deli...
09/05/2025

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has released new Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Delirium, the first comprehensive update since 1999.

🔎 Key Points:
-Prevalence: Delirium affects ~23% of adult inpatients, ~31% of ICU patients, and up to 75% of those on mechanical ventilation.
-Development: A multidisciplinary panel—psychiatry, internal/family medicine, and critical care nursing—developed the guideline using Institute of Medicine standards.
-Content: 12 recommendations and 3 suggestions, each graded by strength of evidence. Prevention strategies are emphasized, a shift from prior editions.
-Resources: APA will provide an online summary, appendices, printable versions, and upcoming tools such as clinician guides, training materials, and patient/family resources.

🩺 Why it matters:
Delirium is linked with longer hospital stays, higher complication rates, increased healthcare costs, and significant stress for patients and families. Clear, evidence-based guidance can improve recognition, prevention, and management across care settings.

Full article here →

A new guideline from the APA enhance the prevention and treatment of delirium, aiming to improve patient care and outcomes in clinical settings.

🌀 The Homicidal–Suicidal Pathway: A Psychoanalytic PerspectiveWhen we talk about school shootings, the conversation ofte...
08/29/2025

🌀 The Homicidal–Suicidal Pathway: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

When we talk about school shootings, the conversation often polarizes around “mental illness” vs. “psychopathy.” But the picture is more complex.

One trajectory I’ve studied is the homicidal–suicidal pathway: where profound despair and suicidality collapse inward, then flip outward as retaliatory violence.

In psychodynamic terms, this is a fusion of self-destruction and object destruction. Su***de becomes meaningful only when tied to the annihilation of others:
“My death will matter only if yours accompanies it.”

This isn’t simply murder plus su***de — it’s a psychic script born from narcissistic injury, shame, rage, and the collapse of symbolization. Violence becomes the last, perverse form of communication.

Understanding this pathway doesn’t excuse the act. But it may help us better identify warning signs, interpret “leakage” of intent, and intervene before despair crystallizes into destruction.

** What are your thoughts on how clinicians, educators, and communities can work together to notice and disrupt these dangerous trajectories earlier?

***dePrevention

💡 Did you know ADHD medications do more than just help with focus?A large BMJ study shows they’re linked to major real-l...
08/27/2025

💡 Did you know ADHD medications do more than just help with focus?

A large BMJ study shows they’re linked to major real-life benefits:
✨ 17% fewer su***de attempts
✨ 15% less substance misuse
✨ 13% lower criminality
✨ 12% fewer transport accidents

This research highlights how ADHD treatment supports healthier, safer lives—not just symptom relief.

👉 Read more here: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/adhd-meds-offer-benefits-far-beyond-core-symptom-relief-2025a1000ly1?ecd=WNL_mdpls_250826_mscpedit_psych_etid7669302&uac=254751AK&spon=12&impID=7669302

What are your thoughts on how treatment impacts everyday life beyond the clinic?

📚 An insightful and important read! Shedler's 2010 article in The American Psychologist delves into the efficacy of . C...
09/24/2023

📚 An insightful and important read! Shedler's 2010 article in The American Psychologist delves into the efficacy of . Contrary to some beliefs, the research indicates strong empirical support for this therapeutic approach. It's more than just a momentary fix; it has the potential to bring about lasting changes in individuals. For anyone interested in mental health research, this is a must-read! 📘

Psychodynamic therapy emphasizes understanding hidden aspects of oneself, with techniques focusing on emotional expression, confronting avoidance patterns, recognizing recurring themes, and understanding past experiences in relation to the present. The therapy, grounded in fostering interpersonal relationships and understanding fantasies, not only aims at symptom remission but also at nurturing holistic psychological growth.


Original Article:
Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American psychologist, 65(2), 98.

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