Qualifications
Education:
Undergraduate: Cornell University
Graduate: University of Florida
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology granted
in 1988
Award:
Florence Shafer Memorial Award for
Excellence in Psychotherapeutic
Counseling
Residency Training:
Northwestern Univ. Medical School
Post-Doctoral Fellowship:
Northwestern Institute of Psychiatry
Years in Practice: 20+
Professional Affiliations:
Asst. Professor, Rush University
Medical Center
Member, American Psychological
Association
Member, Illinois Psychological
Association
Member, Chicago Association for
Psychoanalytic Psychology
Treatment Focus
Ages Treated: 16+
Modalities:
Individual Therapy
Couples Counseling
Treatment Approaches Used:
Psychodynamic
Cognitive Behavioral
Interpersonal
Specialties:
Anxiety/Fears
Relationship Issues
Depression
Stress Management
Men's Issues
Anger Management
Impulse Control/Compulsions
Health/Medical Issues
Career Issues
Loss or Grief
Other Services
Expert Witness Consultation in
Malpractice Litigation

Effective Therapy for Individuals & Couples
Robert Aber, Ph.D. & Betty Burrows, Ph.D.










The aim of counseling is to help you improve your life by making meaningful
changes. A good therapist should, first and foremost, be able to help you
reduce the immediate distress that has pushed you to look for therapy. Once
that initial relief is accomplished, the way is then cleared to focus in
counseling on the bigger-picture of your life: your beliefs and feelings about
yourself and others, your interpersonal style, the usual ways in which you
protect yourself from getting hurt, the influence of your childhood experiences,
and many other factors, including highlighting and using your hard-won
strengths, all with the aim of bringing about changes that lead to lasting
improvements in quality of life. Psychotherapy offers a wonderful opportunity
to discover more about who we are and what it is that we want and need
from life and can help us feel compassion for ourselves and the courage to
live more fully in the moment. Counseling also offers us the opportunity to
grow in and improve our relationships.
I believe that therapy works best when it is tailored to the personality and the
individual needs of each patient. Rather than relying on just one of the many
modern approaches to psychotherapy, I pull from several disciplines,
including psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral, which I believe yields
faster and longer-lasting results. In my career I have treated, and helped,
people from all walks of life, stages of life, gender identities, education
levels, sexual orientations, diagnoses, personality styles and presenting
problems, and most religions, ethnicities, and races. As of 2011 I have
conducted more than 26,000 therapy sessions and I can say with confidence
that my deep experience will be of benefit to you if you decide to take me on
as your therapist.
My Background: I attended Cornell University as an undergraduate and the
University of Florida for graduate school. I came to Chicago in 1986 for a
Residency in Clinical Psychology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and in
1989 completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Northwestern University
School of Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry. For several years following the
completion of my formal schooling, I was fortunate to be invited to join a
group of psychologists who met weekly with an eminent psychoanalyst,
Merton Gill, MD., to learn from him through the presentation of our clinical
work to the group.
Since 1989 I have been an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences at
Rush University Medical Center and have split my professional time between
my private practice and a position as a Staff Psychologist at the Rush
University Student Counseling Center. At the Student Counseling Center I
have gained unique expertise in conducting therapy with medical students,
medical residents, nursing students, and graduate students from a variety of
healthcare-related programs. At Rush I have also served as the Director of
the Outpatient Psychotherapy Service and have taught medical students and
residents on a wide range of subjects: personality theory, psychodynamic
therapy, psychoanalysis, interpretation of objective and projective personality
measures, etc. In addition, and most enjoyably, I supervise the clinical work
of Behavioral Sciences Residents and Fellows eager to improve their skills
as psychotherapists.