Marlys Rixey, PsyD
5530 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite 801
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Marlys Rixey is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with a Doctorate in Psychology who has specialized in Health Psychology for over 20 years in the Washington, DC area. Her areas of focus include anxiety disorders, depression, stress related issues, lifestyle transitions, and medical illness counseling.
In addition to her private practice, she works as a Behavioral Health Consultant to Suburban Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit, where she counsels cardiac patients and their families. She is also a guest lecturer with the Diabetes Education Program through John Hopkins and Suburban Hospital.
Her studies have ranged from traditional techniques, including cognitive behavioral and humanistic therapy, to therapies which enhance mind/body integration, such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, yoga, meditation, qigong, and the expressive arts.
The terms counseling and psychology, although sometimes used interchangeably, are different in structure. Counseling is generally short term, from one to five sessions, and is seen as more problem solving, information giving, and advice. Psychotherapy is a process of helping people to discover how their thinking and behavior affect their lives in satisfactory and unsatisfactory ways.
Dr. Rixey empowers individuals to enhance understanding of their behaviors and to learn how to gain more effective control of their emotions. Such awareness facilitates growth and change, which leads to wisdom and insight.