About Arlene
Dr. Arlene Unger uses practical, evidence-informed therapies to help people manage stress, anxiety, and life changes. She brings three decades of experience as a California psychologist to each session.
Her style balances practical coping tools with attention to emotion and relationships. Dr. Unger often blends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Emotionally-Focused Therapy approaches.
She helps people notice unhelpful thinking, practice values-based choices, and address emotional patterns that affect close relationships.
How Arlene works
Sessions focus on clear steps someone can try between meetings. Her background includes a PhD in clinical psychology and more than 30 years of clinical work in California. She also has training in nutrition, wellness, mindfulness, life coaching, and substance abuse, which she uses to broaden how she supports clients.
Dr. Unger has written mindfulness visualization books and articles that reflect her practical focus. People come for a range of concerns including grief, depression, addictions, relationship and intimacy issues, parenting strain, anger, low self-esteem, and trauma.
She also supports those facing career shifts, compassion fatigue, ADHD-related concerns, panic attacks, and questions about life purpose and social anxiety. In sessions she invites collaboration and clear goals. She introduces exercises and skills, then helps people adapt them to daily life.
Appointments may include talking, guided mindfulness exercises, and short behavioral experiments to try at home.
Arlene lists 3 ways of working on the entry:
What Arlene works with
The areas below are the ones Arlene selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
Training and background
| Register | CA Psychologist |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 30 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | California |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How ACT, CBT, and EFT work online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on helping people clarify what matters to them and take small steps toward those values while learning to live with difficult thoughts and feelings. It can help with anxiety, stress, and deciding how to move forward after loss.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It teaches practical skills to challenge unhelpful thinking, reduce panic and worry, and build routines for better sleep, eating, and daily functioning.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy, or EFT, pays attention to emotional patterns that show up in relationships and in how people manage close connections. It helps identify emotional responses and create new ways of communicating and connecting.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Dr. Unger collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. She may combine elements from these approaches and adjust them as progress is made.
Online sessions make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and guided exercises. Phone sessions can be a simpler option when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for brief check-ins, coaching-style support, and continuing practice between meetings. These options give flexibility for different schedules and routines while keeping therapeutic goals central.
Start online instead of waiting
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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