Jordan Conrad, PhD, LCSW
People often come to my practice repeating behaviors that feel natural but that realize the same painful outcomes they want to avoid: dating the same type of person, getting into the same arguments, feeling the same anxiety. By focusing on both the practical decisions we make and the deep systems of belief and value that inform these decisions, I help patients cultivate a sense of self that aligns more intentionally with who they want to be. Good therapy is not just about symptom remediation or diagnosis, it is about creating a life worth living.
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As a clinician trained both in psychotherapy and philosophy, I get to know how my patients’ minds operate – how beliefs, desires, and emotions form a sense of self and sustain patterns of thought and behavior. I work to understand how these fit together, and when they do not, what prevents that from happening. I pay careful attention to your lived experience to understand not only what is going wrong but what is going right and work with you to increase that in your life and relationships. I believe that good therapy is not just about symptom remediation or diagnosis, it is about creating a life worth living.
While the bulk of my practice is with adults, I have extensive experience working with kids and teens. I know that navigating middle school and high school is harder than ever. You feel under constant scrutiny by parents, teachers, coaches, and friends - and with social media, its often impossible to escape that feeling of needing to perform. And then, just as you have (mostly) figured out who you are, you find yourself in college where you don't know anyone and you have to do it all over again. Having someone to talk to who isn't mom or dad can really help during those years when everything feels unstable and you feel like you don't have any control.
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In addition to my psychotherapeutic training, I have studied philosophy, receiving my PhD from KU Leuven (Belgium) and an MSc in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). I was a visiting scholar at NYU's Center for Bioethics from 2018-2021 and have published widely in several leading journals. Just as the study of philosophy has informed my work as a psychotherapist, my therapeutic practice continues to influence my philosophical research. ​My research has explored the meaning of the concept of “disorder”, issues in neurodiversity, the history of mental health in the United States, Nietzsche, artificial intelligence and psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis.
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As a New York University trained psychotherapist with certifications in both psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), I believe that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. I am an integrationist, meaning that I am fluent in multiple therapeutic approaches and combine these to provide therapy that is highly individualized and tailored to your specific needs. The therapy I practice balances addressing the immediate distress of today with an understanding of how your history and relationships inform and sustain those feelings. The result is an evidence-based approach to therapy that focuses both on the here-and-now as well as the underlying, and not always acknowledged, beliefs and values that got you here.
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Academic Work
My academic work is primarily in philosophy of medicine focusing on the concept "disorder," issues in neurodiversity, and the history of mental health in the United States. I sometimes branch out to write on Nietzsche and psychoanalysis. I have tried to make my publications accessible below, but my GoogleScholar page is often more up-to-date.
Articles
Book Chapters
Conrad, J. A. (forthcoming). Psychotherapy, Politics, and the Limits of Professionalism. American Journal of Psychotherapy.
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Conrad, J. A. (2024). Digitization and its discontents: The promise and limitations of digital mental health interventions. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. doi: 10.1007/s10879-024-09620-2
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Conrad, J. A. (2024). Nietzsche on evolution and progress. Nietzsche Studien. https://doi.org/10.1515/nietzstu-2023-0002
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Conrad, J. A. (2021). Drive theory, redux: A history and reconsideration of the drives. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 102(3), 492-518. doi: 10.1080/00207578.2020.184389
Conrad, J. A., Jimenez, S., & Manuel, J. I. (2021). Pathways to substance use: A qualitative study of individuals in short-term residential treatment. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 21(4), 363-381. doi: 10.1080/1533256X.2021.1973830
Wakefield, J. C., Baer, J. C., & Conrad, J. A. (2020). Levels of meaning, and the need for psychotherapy integration. Clinical Social Work Journal, 48, 236-256. doi: 10.1007/s10615-020-00769-6
Conrad, J. A. (2020). A black and white history of psychiatry in the United States. Journal of Medical Humanities. doi: 10.1007/s10912-020-09650-6
Wakefield, J. C., & Conrad, J. A. (2020). Harm as a necessary component of the concept of medical disorder: Reply to Muckler and Taylor. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 45(3), 350-370. doi: 10.1093/jmp/jhaa008
Maye, M., Gaston, D., Godina, I., Conrad, J. A., Rees, J., Rivera, R., & Lushin, V. (2020). Playful but mindful: How to best use positive affect in treating toddlers with autism. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(3), 336-338. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2019.09.003
Wakefield, J. C., & Conrad, J. A. (2019). Does the harm component of the harmful dysfunction analysis need rethinking? Reply to Powell and Scarffe. Journal of Medical Ethics, 45, 594-596. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2019-105578
Lushin, V., Becker-Haimes, E., Mandell, D. S., Conrad, J. A., Kaploun, V., Bailey, S., Bo, A., & Beidas, R. (2019). What motivates mental health clinicians-in-training to implement evidence-based assessment? A survey of social work trainees. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 46(3), 411-424. doi: 10.1007/s10488-019-00923-4
Conrad, J. A. (2018). On intellectual and developmental disabilities in the United States: A historical perspective. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 24(1), 85-101. doi: 10.1177/1744629518767001
Wakefield, J. C., & Conrad, J. A. (2024). The Harmful Dysfunction Analysis: An evolutionary approach to emotional disorders. In L. Al-Shawaf & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions (pp. 1085-1108). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Conrad, J. A., & Wakefield, J. C. (2024). Rethinking the neurodiversity debate from the Harmful Dysfunction perspective: The implications of DSM category evolutionary heterogeneity. In L. Al-Shawaf & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions (pp. 1238-1261). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Wakefield, J. C., & Conrad, J. A. (2022). “A little Oedipus”: Freud’s analysis of the Hans case. In Freud’s Argument for the Oedipus Complex: A Philosophy of Science Analysis of the Case of Little Hans. New York: Routledge.
Wakefield, J. C., & Conrad, J. A. (2021). The harmful dysfunction analysis of mental disorder and its implications for the social sciences. In C. Neesham (Eds.), Handbook of Philosophy of Management (p. 1-24). New York: Springer.
Wakefield, J. C., Wasserman, D., & Conrad, J. A. (2020). Neurodiversity, autism, and psychiatric disability: The harmful dysfunction perspective. In A. Cureton & D. Wasserman (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability (pp. 501-521). Oxford: Oxford University Press.