About Darlene
Dr. Darlene Viggiano is a licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on relationship strain, trauma, grief, anxiety, addiction, and parenting concerns. She brings 18 years of clinical experience and a PhD in psychology to her work.
Dr. Viggiano uses a grounded, practical style to help people manage stress, improve communication, and cope with life changes. She blends body-focused methods with attachment and emotion-focused approaches.
Sessions often include breathing, mindful movement, and attention to physical signals that connect to feelings.
Background and approach
Clients are invited to notice bodily sensations alongside thoughts and memories to better understand distress and respond differently. Her background includes work in intensive outpatient programs and supervisory roles in clinical settings. Early in her career she provided batterers’ intervention and later worked with dual diagnosis and perinatal substance concerns.
She has also led trainings for paraprofessionals and students on working with abuse and addiction. Dr. Viggiano earned a PhD in psychology from Saybrook University and a master’s degree from National University.
She holds the California LMFT credential, CA LMFT 35420. She has written two books and presented workshops on Jungian and transpersonal topics as well as clinical hypnosis. In sessions she aims for clear goals and steady progress.
Conversations are direct but compassionate. Practical skills are paired with exploration of relationship patterns and the body’s role in emotion. People who choose her work with concerns such as depression, bipolar disorder, panic, trauma, addiction, and codependency.
She offers therapy in English from California and does not take international clients.
How somatic and attachment approaches translate to online therapy
Somatic work pays attention to the body as part of emotion. In online sessions this can mean noticing breathing, posture, muscle tension, and simple movement exercises to help release stress and clarify feelings. Attachment-based therapy looks at how past relationship patterns affect present connections and helps people change how they relate to others and to themselves.Client-centered work focuses on listening, empathy, and following what matters most to the person in front of the therapist. Together these approaches help address trauma, relationship conflict, anxiety, grief, and addiction by combining practical skills, reflective conversation, and awareness of bodily signals. The therapist will work with each person to decide which combination fits their needs and goals, making adjustments as therapy continues in a collaborative way.
Online sessions offer flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people practice new communication skills and notice physical responses in real time. Phone and chat are useful for shorter check-ins or when video is not convenient. These options make it easier to attend regular sessions, fit therapy into a busy schedule, and continue work even during life transitions.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family of origin issues
- Grief
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Stress, Anxiety
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Gottman Method
- Hypnotherapy
- Imago Relationship Therapy
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English