Nehjla Mashal, Ph.D.
Dr. Mashal, PhD, ABPP, is a licensed clinical psychologist (PSY28893) at Pacific Anxiety Group, board certified in Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology. She specializes in evidence-based psychotherapies for anxiety, depression, and trauma in teens and adults. She has a direct and collaborative style and treats each client with warmth and respect. Her areas of expertise include the treatment of anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, depressive disorders, such as Major Depressive Disorder and Persistent Depressive Disorder, and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She also delivers psychotherapy to couples to increase emotional and physical intimacy.
Dr. Mashal received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Northwestern University. She has served as a study therapist on a randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for generalized anxiety disorder and a pilot study of problem-solving therapy for anxiety disorders. Dr. Mashal had a dual appointment as a postdoctoral fellow at the Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Centers (MIRECC) at VA Palo Alto Health Care System and at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Dr. Mashal has a background in treatment outcome research and presents workshops to providers on topics such as assertiveness and effective communication strategies, case conceptualization, and the use of humor, metaphor, and story in psychotherapy. She is also interested in topics such as assertiveness and effective communication strategies, diversity and intersectionality, and the relationship between anxiety and interpersonal functioning. She strives to help her clients make meaningful changes in their lives and is inspired and energized by their strength, resiliency, and capacity for change.
Dr. Mashal has extensive training in and delivers: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills, Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Behavioral Activation (BA), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and couple therapy focused on increasing intimacy. Dr. Mashal provides clinical supervision to trainees, communicates evidence-based psychotherapy strategies to the public locally and abroad, and occasionally coauthors academic journal articles. Her writing has also appeared in Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Money, and Popsugar.