Xander Krieg, PhD, LP

Dr. Alexander Krieg ("Xander") is a clinical psychologist born and raised in Michigan. He works as a tenured professor at a local university in Kobe, Japan, teaching psychology and communication. Though located outside the state currently, he strives to support his community back home in Michigan by offering online psychotherapy services with the goal of enriching and improving the lives of those he works with.

Dr. Xander works with adolescents and adults experiencing a wide range of distressing concerns and holds special expertise in such areas as anxiety, panic, depression, emotion management, high functioning autism spectrum disorder (formerly Asperger's syndrome), and issues related to stress, acculturation, and adjustment. He is especially passionate about helping clients better articulate the values that make their lives meaningful and building the therapeutic process to work to move clients towards that valued direction.

Dr. Xander primarily utilizes an acceptance commitment therapy (ACT) and a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) approach to work with his clients, and will also incorporate techniques and strategies from other therapies such as functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP), applied behavioral analysis (ABA), and motivational interviewing (MI). He employs a strength-based model that capitalizes on the client's relative strengths while supporting areas of growth. Dr. Xander strives to meet clients where they are at and work with them to move toward where they want to go in their lives. Previous clients have described Dr. Xander as "not overly 'gushy' but 100% on your side," "honest, genuine, and very knowledgeable about what would actually help me," and "someone who proved to me that therapy could actually work."

Clients who are most successful in treatment with Dr. Xander are those who (1.) have goals for the time together, (2.) are open to the idea that psychotherapy could change their life, and (3.) are willing to genuinely discuss painful thoughts and feelings. Both Dr. Xander's clinical and research interests are related to "transformative moments," where clients make a deep connection with the meaning behind their pain in a way that transforms their relationship with that pain, themselves, and their world.

Outside his work as a clinician, Dr. Xander has received a number of prestigious awards and recognition for his clinical and scholarly contributions. These include the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship Grant, Crown Prince Akihito Fellowship, and American Psychological Association National Research Award.