Licensed Clinical Psychologist · Garden City, NY & Remote

What you see is
rarely all there is.

Joel Weinberger, Ph.D., has spent more than three decades practicing psychotherapy and studying the unconscious forces that shape how people think, feel, and act — as a clinician, professor, and researcher.

Practice & teaching Research & the unconscious
Scroll
About

Psychotherapy works best when it treats the part of the mind we don't see — not only the part we do.

Dr. Joel Weinberger is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than three decades of experience treating patients and training the next generation of clinicians. His work spans numerous forms of psychotherapy — with particular depth in psychoanalytic and integrative approaches — grounded in a research career built on human motivation, longitudinal personality research, and unconscious mental processes: the motivations, conflicts, and patterns that operate outside conscious awareness but shape behavior all the same.

He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in human motivation at Harvard University. For 35 years, he has taught at Adelphi University's Derner School of Psychology, in its nationally recognized, APA-approved clinical psychology program. One of his responsibilities is to supervise Ph.D. students as they learn to conduct psychotherapy. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 1, 8, 12, 29, and 39) and of the Association for Psychological Science, and is the author of the award-winning book, The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications. He is co-editor of books on personality change and on the art and science of psychotherapy, and author of roughly 100 scholarly publications read and cited widely across the field. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. He has appeared on numerous podcasts, is interviewed as an expert for various news outlets, and has a TEDx talk.

~100Publications, articles & chapters
5,100+Citations of his research
35 yrsProfessor, Adelphi University
FellowAPA & Association for Psychological Science
Expertise

Above the waterline, and below it.

Clinical training is the visible part of the work. What sits beneath it — decades spent studying why people do what they do, often without knowing why — is what shapes every session.

◇ In the room

  • Individual psychotherapy across numerous modalities, tailored to the person, not the diagnosis
  • Clinical supervision of Ph.D. students conducting psychotherapy at Adelphi University
  • Teaching in a nationally recognized, APA-approved clinical psychology program
  • Public education — lecturing on psychotherapy via podcast, YouTube, and a TEDx talk

◆ Beneath the surface

  • Unconscious processes — how motives outside awareness drive behavior, choice, and symptom
  • Human motivation research, developed during a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard
  • Numerous scholarly articles contributing to the empirical study of psychotherapy
  • Doctoral-level training, shaping how new clinicians understand the mind they're treating
Academic & Research

Three institutions, one throughline.

A career built at the intersection of the clinic and the classroom.

Ph.D.

New School for Social Research

Doctorate in clinical psychology, Graduate Faculty.

Postdoctoral

Harvard University

Postdoctoral fellowship in human motivation.

35 Years

Adelphi University

Professor in the university's nationally recognized, APA-approved clinical psychology program; supervises Ph.D. students conducting psychotherapy.

Ongoing

Scholarly publication

Author of 81 published articles, chapters, and books — including The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications — cited more than 5,100 times. Full record on ResearchGate.

Awards & Recognition

Recognized across research and teaching.

2013

Professor Recognition Award

Adelphi University.

Book Prize Award

American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis, for The Unconscious (with Valentina Stoycheva).

Division 39 Research Award

American Psychological Association, Division of Psychoanalysis.

1998

Ulf Kragh Award

University of Lund, Sweden, for research on unconscious processes.

1993–1997

First Award

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

1990

Merit Award

For scholarship and teaching.

Selected Publications

A sample from the record.

Media & Public Speaking

Bringing the research to a wider audience.

Dr. Weinberger regularly translates clinical and research findings for the public.

TEDx

TEDx Talk ↗

A public talk summarizing his research on implicit motivation in politics.

Podcast & YouTube

Recurring lectures

Ongoing lectures on psychotherapy delivered via podcast and YouTube.

Press

Interviews

Interviewed by numerous podcasts and newspapers on psychology and mental health.

Broadcast

CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°

Featured discussing research on voters' unconscious associations with presidential candidates.

Practice Information

Two ways to work together.

Dr. Weinberger sees patients both remotely and in person, depending on what works best for you.

In person

Sessions are held in person at his office in Garden City, New York.

Request an in-person session

Remote

Teletherapy sessions are available for patients who prefer or require remote care.

Request a video session

Send a message

Fill out the form and Dr. Weinberger will get back to you — or write directly to researchberger@yahoo.com.

Preferred session