About

Joan Dittrich Ph.D.
(California Licensed Psychologist: Psy10075)

Joan ‘Joni’ Dittrich has been a practicing clinical psychologist in Napa, California since 1987. She works out of her comfortable office across from the Public Library in Old Town Napa. Dr. Dittrich specializes in the treatment of anxiety, depression and “co-dependencies.” She has advanced training and extensive experience in the areas of couples therapy; family mediation and stress reduction through guided meditation and relaxation techniques. Dr. Dittrich is also an advanced practitioner of EMDR (Eye Movement and Desensitization Re-Processing) a treatment for post-traumatic stress.  Dr. Dittrich also helps clients with issues around body weight and food addiction.

As a psychotherapist, Joan collaborates with her clients to develop the most helpful strategies for helping you to live more effectively and be happier. She treats her clients with deep respect as she guides them to a more genuine and clearer understanding of themselves and their behavior. She helps clients to appreciate their own positive qualities and also to understand how they sometimes “get in their own way” in interpersonal relationships. She helps client to get unstuck from these habitual yet ineffective patterns of communication and behavior.

Dr. Dittrich is also a student of world religions and mystical traditions. Thus she can offer guidance to spiritual seekers and those experiencing what is termed “spiritual emergency” or crises of spiritual awakening.

Dr. Dittrich is also a Reiki Master and a teacher of  Yoga and Meditation.  As such she can help you integrate some of these well researched and effective complementary practices for stress-reduction and well- being into your daily life.  To learn more about these practices and how Dr. Dittrich teaches them please go to movingintolight.com .

The American Cancer Society has approved meditation, Reiki, and yoga as beneficial complementary therapy for cancer patients – including those with mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer. When used in conjunction with mainstream cancer treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, these complementary treatments can not only relax a patient who is feeling stressed or overwhelmed, but may also reduce pain and ease nausea. For more mesothelioma information, and additional content on complementary therapies like Reiki, meditation and yoga for cancer patients, please visit Mesothelioma.com.

Educational Background:
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, University of Memphis, 1985.
Master of Science in Human Development Counseling, George Peabody College (Vanderbilt University) 1978.
Bachelor of General Studies, Religious Studies, University of Michigan, 1974.

Publications:
Dittrich, J. “Group Treatment of Wives of Alcoholics”, Chapter 4, in
Treating Alcohol Problems; Marital and Family Interventions, T. O’Farrell, ed., Guilford, 1994.

Dittrich, J. and Trapold, M.A. A Treatment Program for Wives of Alcoholics: An Evaluation. Bulletin of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 1985, 3 No. 2,
92-102.

Dittrich, J., Houts, A.C., & Lichstein, K.L. Panic Disorder: Assessment and Treatment. Clinical Psychology Review, 1983, 3, 215-225.