Dr. Barbara Mazer’s clinical work includes assessment of children and adults, and therapy with couples, families, and adults experiencing a wide range of difficulties. Her particular areas of interest and expertise include problems in living such as parenting difficulties, relationship distress, achievement frustration, and an inability to enjoy life or find meaning in everyday living. Dr. Mazer’s approach to both assessment and treatment is greatly influenced by her research in the areas of normal development and family social interaction. She believes that many difficulties leading to emotional distress are best understood as issues of mastery. Thus, her approach to therapy is designed to identify barriers to success while guiding the development of more effective strategies for pursuing one’s goals.
Earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Dr. Barbara Mazer left a successful corporate career in telecommunications deregulation policy to formally pursue a long-standing interest in psychology. Dr. Mazer earned her master’s degree from San Francisco State University,and her Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America, both in clinical psychology. Dr. Mazer is a resident in clinical psychology working towards licensure under the superivision of Dr. Varia and Dr. Guadagnoli.
Dr. Mazer has acquired a wide range of clinical experience including intervention with kindergartners experiencing adjustment problems; outpatient treatment with children, adults, couples and families; treatment with severely mentally ill adults transitioning to independent living; and evaluation and treatment planning at San Francisco General Hospital’s Psychiatric Emergency Room. She also developed and presented a program to enhance social skills for kindergarteners. Her experience conducting psychological evaluations includes preschoolers to adults and covers a wide range of issues including disruptive behavior, academic difficulties, emotional distress, and custody evaluations.
Dr. Mazer pursued her interests in normal development and the impact of different styles of family interaction on family functioning, by contributing to several related research projects. Her developmental research included an investigation of predictors of academic achievement among school aged children, and a study of infant emotional, social, and cognitive development at the Institute of Human Development at the University of California, Berkeley. At the National Institute of Child and Human Development, Dr. Mazer investigated associations between infant cognitive and toddler social, emotional and intellectual functioning. Dr. Mazer’s research on family interactions, also at the University of California, Berkeley included studies of mother-child and married couple interactions.
Dr. Mazer’s doctoral research investigated the benefits of youth community service as it relates to adolescents’ moral development and the acquisition of social responsibility.She also co-authored an evaluation of a Fairfax County Department of Social Services treatment program designed to assist families caring for foster children with severe behavior problems. To deepen her understanding of the human condition, Dr. Mazer studies Buddhist philosophy.