About Darlene
Dr. Darlene Viggiano is a licensed marriage and family therapist who helps people facing anxiety, relationship struggles, trauma, grief, and parenting stress. She uses practical, compassionate methods to help people manage strong emotions and regain a sense of control.
Her approachable style is direct and calm, aimed at making therapy feel doable and relevant to everyday life. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology from Saybrook University in 2010 and earned a Master’s in Psychology from National University in 1995.
Background and approach
Dr. Viggiano has worked in intensive outpatient programs and has experience as a case manager and clinical lead supervisor. Her license as an LMFT dates back to 1999.
Her clinical work has included addressing addiction, dual diagnosis, perinatal substance use, and adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. She has led batterers’ intervention work and facilitated groups in anger management and couples communication. She also integrates hypnosis when appropriate and has presented on Jungian and transpersonal topics.
Dr. Viggiano has authored two books on dreams and pregnancy loss and holds a certification in clinical hypnosis from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. She is a member of professional associations including the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
In sessions she blends tools from attachment-based work, client-centered methods, cognitive behavioral techniques, emotionally-focused approaches, and existential ideas. She aims to help people build clearer communication, manage panic or sleep problems, address codependency, and find direction during life transitions.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Attachment-based work focuses on how relationships shape feelings and reactions. Online sessions can help people notice patterns in connection and try different ways of reaching out or setting boundaries. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, teaches practical skills to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is often used for anxiety, panic, sleep problems, and mood, and works well through structured video or phone sessions with exercises between meetings.Finding the best approach is part of the process. The therapist will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and together decide which methods to try. That collaborative planning means the work can shift if something isn’t helping or if priorities change during therapy.
Online therapy offers flexibility for busy lives. Video calls let people read facial cues and work through exercises in real time. Phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be easier to fit into a lunch break. Live chat or text-based messaging can support brief check-ins, homework discussion, or ongoing coaching between sessions. These options make it easier to keep steady progress while juggling work, parenting, or caregiving.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- 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
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