About
Gretchen Mattox, LMFT, CSAT, CMAT CA License #86715
Clinical Director, Psychotherapy Works, Inc., CSAT, CMAT, M.A. Psychology, Antioch University, M.A. Creative Writing, New York University, B.A. English, University of Colorado, and EMDRIA-approved (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) trained. I am a psychotherapist who specializes in sex therapy. I successfully treat patients who struggle with vaginismus, erectile dysfunction, porn addiction, sex addiction, and trauma. Originally from Denver, Colorado, I was educated in New York and Los Angeles. My training as a clinician includes work at the Early Childhood Development Center in Santa Monica, CA, an extension of a program based at UCLA, the Southern California Counseling Center, and with IITAP, International Institute for Trauma & Addiction Professionals.
I have lived in numerous places including Germany, London, Chicago, Nebraska, Seattle, New York, and Provincetown, Massachusett. My work as an artist, a writer, and educator all continue to contribute to my therapeutic approach. Compassion and gentleness are the cornerstones of this work so that the compartmentalized, abandoned self can begin to re-surface and thrive. Who we have been does not need to define who we become. I view addiction as a defensive mechanism meant to rather ineffectually and destructively numb pain. The neurobiological and genetic components of both substance and process addictions cannot be ignored but it is reductive to view them wholly through a behavioral prism.
Whether there are secrets you no longer want to carry or sexual acting out behaviors that leave a residue of self-loathing and shame once the hit wears off, there is hope.
"All of life and social constructs at large are already moving in tandem with a more wholistic approach to healing, whether through a consideration of the foods we eat, how we spend free time, what we want sexually, and for many a curiosity about meditation or at least a call to relax the nervous system."