Dr. William Conti, PhD

About Dr. William Conti, PhD

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I have always been intrigued by human behavior and the motivations, causes and reasons for behavior. For example, a person might attend church because:

1) he/she was raised to attend.

2) he/she wishes to please parents, family, etc.

3) Fear of retribution , punishment, or even damnation from God.

4) They seek and enjoy the social interaction/affiliation/ community

5) They have a deep spirituality of their own and highly value this connection with something more.

6) Some combination of the above.

It seems that, from an early age, I became aware of how people presented themselves in various interpersonal and social situations, each of which requiring a specific presentation of self and behaviors appropriate to that particular venue and situation. For example, we are taught to be quiet in church or school classes where listening to another person is favored over talking oneself.  Another example: When meeting a new person, it is expected that we smile, make good eye-contact, and possibly shake hands, etc. When someone is asked, “How are you?”, the standard response is, “Fine, and you?”

As I moved through the various activities, venues, interpersonal interactions, and situations of my life, involving my parents, siblings, friends, teachers, clergymen, retail personnel, etc. I often wondered, “What is really going on with that person? Do they really feel as happy as they seem, for example, to see me, be here, doing their work, be married, have three children, etc.?  OR…on the other side, “Why are they so unhappy, angry, depressed, negative?” I wondered then if people were aware of these feelings and merely covering them with “appropriate” behavior.

I think these observations of human interactions and behavior and my curiosity around them constituted the roots of my decision to formally study psychology and embark on my own spiritual journey and quest. I entered the seminary to study for the Catholic Priesthood and joined an order where I worked with priests suffering from emotional problems . I also served as a youth minister in the Southern California desert communities where I developed and facilitated a psych/spiritual/social program for mainly Latino teens.  While working with Children’s Protective Services, I was given the Native American families to help.  I provided and facilitated individual, couples, and family therapy with clients enrolled in residential and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment at a Native American Social Services agency in the Pacific Northwest. I also worked for many years with children and families in the Los Angeles area and in Hawaii where I facilitated Individual Therapy, Couples Therapy, and Family Therapy as well as Play Therapy with children. This work afforded me extensive and invaluable experience working in richly ethnically and socio-economically-diverse communities.

I received my MA in Dance/Movement Therapy from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA and my PhD in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA. I am a candidate in the Certified Jungian Analyst program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles.  I think I was attracted to Jung’s perspective because his own profound personal experiences and forays through his psyche revealed to him the connection between aspects of our beings that we separately label, “psychological” and “spiritual.” He found that psychological terminology is often used to describe experiences which are actually spiritual and vice-versa.