Aliza Spruch-Feiner, PhD
Clinical psychologist specialized in psychodynamic psychotherapy, transference-focused psychotherapy, diagnostic and personality assessment, suicide-specific care, and thoughtful treatment planning for complex and co-occurring presentations.
In-person and clinically appropriate telehealth
PhD in Clinical Psychology, City College of New York, City University of New York
Transference-Focused Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic and Integrative Psychotherapy, Mentalization Based Treatment (for Adults and Adolescents), Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality
Complex presentations, personality functioning, trauma, anxiety, mood and emotion regulation, identity, relationships, life transitions and adjustments, creativity
The personbehind thepattern.
A formulation should help people understand themselves, not reduce them to a diagnosis.
Dr. Spruch-Feiner looks beyond symptoms to understand the whole person — how they function, relate to others, and see themselves. This can include identity, emotion regulation, trauma and attachment, current relationships and life circumstances, and personal strengths and supports.
Treatment always begins with a comprehensive psychological evaluation, informed by Dr. Spruch-Feiner's depth of experience in personality assessment, neuropsychological testing, differential diagnosis, and psychodynamic formulation. The evaluation process culminates in feedback designed to translate findings into a clear, practical treatment direction — the starting point for the work that follows.
Depending on a patient's presentation and needs, treatment may include psychodynamic psychotherapy, transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), and behavioral interventions, along with coordination with family and previous or current providers.
How Dr. Spruch-Feiner Works
Seven shared specialty pathways reflect the clinical work offered across The Sheppe Group.
Complex Clinical Evaluation
Complex clinical evaluation at The Sheppe Group brings psychiatric and psychological perspectives into one coordinated process. Dr. Spruch-Feiner contributes comprehensive clinical interviewing, psychological and personality assessment, psychodynamic formulation, risk assessment, and careful review of how symptoms, relationships, development, identity, and prior treatment fit together.
Her psychology-based perspective can complement Dr. Sheppe’s psychiatrist-led diagnostic, medication, and treatment-planning work. The goal is a coherent formulation that helps the patient, family, and existing care team understand what may be primary, what may be interacting, and what kind of treatment structure is most appropriate.
Personality Assessment & Development
Personality assessment considers how a person experiences the self, understands other people, regulates emotion and self-esteem, sustains relationships, and responds to conflict or stress. Dr. Spruch-Feiner has conducted psychological, neuropsychological, diagnostic, and personality-focused evaluations across outpatient, inpatient, and specialty settings.
Her work includes assessment of personality structure and development of formulations that integrate personality functioning with symptoms and DSM-5 differential diagnosis. The purpose is not simply to assign a label, but to create a useful explanation that can guide treatment and support meaningful development over time.
Transference-Focused Psychotherapy
Transference-Focused Psychotherapy is a structured psychodynamic treatment that pays close attention to patterns emerging within the therapeutic relationship. The work can help patients recognize sharply divided, unstable, or conflicting experiences of themselves and other people and develop a more integrated and flexible sense of identity and relationships. Dr. Spruch-Feiner has received didactic training and weekly individual and group supervision in TFP.
Adolescents & Emerging Adults
Adolescence and emerging adulthood bring rapid changes in identity, relationships, independence, school or college demands, work, family roles, and emotional regulation. Difficulties during this period may involve mood, anxiety, trauma, attention, behavior, personality functioning, self-esteem, safety, or uncertainty about the transition into adult life.
Dr. Spruch-Feiner has worked with children, adolescents, college students, emerging adults, and adults across community, outpatient, inpatient, and specialty settings. Her training in psychodynamic and integrative psychotherapy, TFP-A, MBT-C, assessment, trauma-focused settings, and suicide-specific care supports developmentally informed treatment planning.
Family Consultation
Clinical concerns often affect an entire family system. Parents, partners, and relatives may be trying to help while also managing conflict, uncertainty, different expectations, or unclear roles in treatment. Family consultation creates a structured setting to understand how communication, boundaries, caregiving, and repeated interaction patterns may be shaping the concern.
Dr. Spruch-Feiner’s experience includes couples work, family-therapy training, child and adolescent treatment, personality-focused care, and collaboration within multidisciplinary settings. Consultation can help families respond more constructively while preserving the patient’s appropriate privacy, autonomy, and treatment goals.
Failure to Launch
Difficulty moving forward with education, work, relationships, daily responsibility, or independent living is rarely explained by motivation alone. Anxiety, depression, trauma, attention difficulties, personality functioning, avoidance, self-esteem, family patterns, substance use, or a mismatch between expectations and developmental capacity may all contribute.
Dr. Spruch-Feiner’s psychology-based role can include assessment, psychotherapy, personality formulation, family consultation, and collaboration with the broader treatment team. The aim is to understand what is maintaining the impasse and identify a realistic path toward greater agency, responsibility, and independence.
Integrated Psychiatry & Psychology / Psychotherapy
Some patients benefit when psychological assessment and psychotherapy are coordinated closely with psychiatric evaluation, medication consultation, and the work of other treating professionals. Integration helps prevent each part of care from operating from a different explanation of the problem.
At The Sheppe Group, Dr. Spruch-Feiner’s psychology-based perspective complements Dr. Sheppe’s psychiatric role. Her work may contribute personality assessment, psychodynamic formulation, psychotherapy, risk assessment, and insight into developmental and relational patterns, while the team develops a shared direction for treatment.
Professional record.
Clinical psychology training, research, teaching, publications, and presentations across institutions, including the Mount Sinai Health System, Silver Hill New York, Lenox Hill Hospital, City College (CUNY), New York State Psychiatric Institute, and the Austen Riggs Center.
Who Dr. Spruch-Feiner works with
Children & Adolescents
Developmentally informed assessment and psychotherapy for concerns involving emotion, behavior, trauma, relationships, identity, family context, and safety, including experience with child, adolescent, and inpatient settings.
Emerging Adults
College, work, identity, independence, trauma, relationships, self-esteem, diagnostic uncertainty, and the transition into adult roles, considered alongside personality functioning and the surrounding support system.
Adults
Complex or recurring concerns involving mood, anxiety, trauma, personality, self-esteem, relationships, and substance use, which are not fully captured by current diagnoses and formulations, and/or have not been adequately addressed in prior treatments.
Families & Couples
Conflict, communication breakdown, recurring relational patterns, and difficulty navigating closeness and separateness, considered alongside each partner's or family member's internal world and how it shapes the relationship — with attention to shared formulation, coordinated treatment, and the relational and system-level factors that sustain difficulty.
Roles, training & distinctions
Clinical Roles & Training
- Clinical Psychologist in private practice, New York City
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Silver Hill New York
- Pre-Doctoral Intern, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, with rotations at the World Trade Center Mental Health Program, Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders, Addictions Institute, and Adult Outpatient Clinic
- Inpatient and Outpatient Psychology Extern, Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health
- Training Psychotherapist in Residence, The Psychological Center at City College of New York
- Counseling Extern, Manhattan School of Music
- Group Facilitator, New York State Psychiatric Institute / Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Education & Advanced Training
- PhD in Clinical Psychology, City College of New York, CUNY
- BA in Psychology with High Honors, Oberlin College
- Visiting psychology student, University College London
Specialized Training
- Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP): Over two years of weekly didactic training and individual and group supervision
- Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT): Three-day training in MBT for pathological narcissism, three-day training in MBT for children, plus over two years of weekly group supervision
- Suicide-Prevention: Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) training, experience, and research across inpatient and outpatient settings, advanced training in structured risk assessment, safety planning, follow-up, and family engagement
Research, writing & presentations
Dr. Spruch-Feiner's scholarship focuses on personality assessment, relational processes, and suicide-prevention practice, including research at institutions such as the Austen Riggs Center, the City College of New York, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations on topics ranging from personality measurement to suicide-specific care. She has also taught and mentored students in clinical psychology and mental-health research.
Midtown care, withclinically appropriate telehealth.
In-person care is available at The Sheppe Group’s Midtown Manhattan office. Telehealth may also be available when clinically appropriate and permitted by the treating clinician’s licensure.
Ready to takethe next step?
Request a consult to discuss fit, clinical needs, and the most appropriate next step for you, your child, your relationship, your family, or a patient you are helping support.