I have a passionate commitment to helping people create fuller, more abundant and mindful lives.
I love what I do, and I bring my diverse and well-grounded personal, educational and clinical experiences as a psychologist to my psychotherapy practice.
My training, credentials, and expertise, together with authenticity, directness, and empathy, help people get the traction they need to create real change.
Over twenty-five years as a psychologist, and I still find psychotherapy to be an invigorating and compelling experience with my patients. I really love what I do!
I'm straightforward, compassionate, and authentic in therapy.
Together with my training and experience, these support and energize the work my patients and I do together.
I feel strongly that increasing well-being is far more effective than "decreasing" pathology.
I focus on helping people create and experience changes in their lives, like:
- emotional growth and evolution
- better relationships with yourself and with others
- healthy and useful self-understanding
- greater resilience
- improved physical health through psychological wellness
- greater life satisfaction
In addition to my extensive background in clinical psychology, I'm a neuropsychologist.
I respect and am fascinated by the connections between physical and emotional well-being, and I stay up to date on the research and clinical use of understanding those connections. Before entering private practice, I was an assistant professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, working with patients who had sustained traumatic brain injuries, strokes, and other physical and psychological challenges. From that, I developed a special interest in interpersonal neurobiology, which I bring into the psychotherapy work I do. For example, there's an effective integrative approach between neuropsychology and the practice of mindfulness, with strong, evidence-based research showing real, measurable changes in the brain that support well-being and improved relationships.
Some of the current researchers and writers whose work I find helpful in my work as a psychotherapist include (and these are only a few):
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD
- Richard Davidson, PhD
- Daniel Siegel, MD
- Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, PhD
- Ronald Siegel, PsyD
- Sara Lazar, PhD
- Jack Kornfield, PhD
- Tara Brach, PhD
- Belleruth Naparstek, LISW
- Mary Ainsworth, PhD
Educational Background:
- PhD, Clinical Psychology – Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
- Internship, Clinical Psychology – U.N.C. Medical School at Chapel Hill
- MA, Psychology – State University of New York at Binghamton
- BA, Psychology (with Distinction) – University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Professional Memberships:
- American Psychological Association
- Society for Neuroscience
- American Academy of Psychotherapists
- International Neuropsychological Society
- National Academy of Neuropsychology
- Credentialed by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists
In addition to my psychotherapy practice, I've written a best-selling book, Rewire Your Brain for Love, about changing the brain, mindfulness, and creating healthier relationships.
As an advocate of psychological and physical well-being, I'm also regularly interviewed and quoted in the media, in addition to teaching and speaking nationally.
Marsha Lucas, PhD – Psychologist
1350 Connecticut Ave NW, at Dupont Circle Washington DC 20036
(202) 331-3318
Licensed in Washington DC and Maryland
I am also approved to provide Telepsychology in all U.S. states that are part of PSYPACT. Currently, that includes the following states:
Alabama • Arizona • Arkansas • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • District of Columbia • Florida • Georgia • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Kansas • Kentucky • Maine • Maryland • Michigan • Minnesota • Missouri • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming