How is this different from therapy apps like BetterHelp or Talkspace?

Therapy apps assign you a subscription. Here, online therapy means one doctor - a licensed clinical psychologist and board-certified psychoanalyst with over 50 years of experience - who knows you personally. Sessions are held by secure video for residents of Florida, Washington DC, and Michigan.

What does online therapy cost?

Individual sessions (50 minutes) are $325 and couples sessions (90 minutes) are $475, with a free first 15-minute consultation and a sliding scale available. Insurance is out-of-network; you may be reimbursed by your insurer.

Online Therapy & Psychoanalysis with a Board-Certified Psychoanalyst | John J. Hartman, Ph.D.

Q: What happens in the first online therapy session?

We simply talk. You tell me what brings you in - there is nothing to prepare and no right way to begin. By the end, we will discuss whether working together makes sense.

The Practice

A depth approach, for difficulties that run deep.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice. I have over 50 years of experience working with patients from adolescence to old age in individual psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, couples therapy, and family therapy.

I am trained in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Rather than managing symptoms alone, we use the relationship that develops in therapy to understand the individual conflicts — often originating in childhood — that underlie the difficulties you experience today.

"Understanding why you feel what you feel is the beginning of lasting change."

Credentials & Appointments

A.B.

Harvard College

Magna cum laude with highest honors, Social Relations

Ph.D.

University of Michigan

Clinical Psychology

Cert.

Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute

Psychoanalytic training

Prof.

UCLA · Michigan · Tampa · USF

Taught psychology & psychiatry; tenured Associate Professor, University of Michigan; currently Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, University of South Florida

FABP

American Board of Psychoanalysis

Board-certified psychoanalyst

F.P.C.

Florida Psychoanalytic Center

Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst

Lic.

Florida · Washington, DC · Michigan

Licensed psychologist, DC license PSY200001229

PsyPact

42 Participating Jurisdictions

Authorized under PSYPACT to provide telehealth psychological services in 42 jurisdictions, including Maryland and Virginia

Who I Help

Conditions treated

Fifty years of practice — with patients from adolescence to old age — brings breadth as well as depth. I treat a wide range of conditions with psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

DepressionIncluding suicidal feelings

Anxiety & PanicWorry that won't resolve

Self-EsteemSelf-image problems

Relationship ConflictsMarital & interpersonal

Sexual IssuesIndividual & couples

Personality DisordersLong-standing patterns

Eating DisordersAdults & teens

Work & SchoolPerformance & meaning

Your First Session

What to expect

Reaching out is often the hardest step. Here are honest answers to the questions people rarely ask out loud.

What happens in the first session?

We simply talk. You tell me what brings you in, in whatever way it comes out — there is nothing to prepare and no right way to begin. By the end, we will discuss whether working together makes sense. If I am not the right fit, I will help you find someone who is.

What if I don’t know what to say?

That is common, and it is not a problem. Silences, false starts, and “I don’t know where to begin” are part of the work, not obstacles to it. My job is to listen for what is underneath the words — including the difficulty finding them.

Are online sessions as effective?

In my experience, yes. I have practiced by video for years, and the depth of the work carries. Many patients find that speaking from their own home makes it easier to be candid.

What if therapy hasn’t worked for me before?

Then something important likely went unaddressed. Symptom-focused approaches can bring relief that fades; psychoanalytic work looks for the reasons difficulties keep returning. A free consultation is a low-stakes way to find out whether that difference matters for you.

No judgment. Nothing to prepare. Just a conversation.

A Life’s Work

A clinician who also wrote the literature

Dr. Hartman is one of the earliest researchers of group process, a contributor to the psychoanalytic literature for more than five decades, and — as of 2026 — still publishing. He has taught at UCLA, the University of Michigan, the University of Tampa, and the University of South Florida.

Selected Books

Perversion of Faith: The Psychology of Racist Propaganda in FilmEthics Press · 2024

A psychological study of how racist propaganda works on emotion, myth, and fantasy — called “nothing short of an intellectual feast” by historian Anna Cichopek-Gajraj of Arizona State University.

Analysis of GroupsJossey-Bass · 1974 · edited with G.S. Gibbard & R.D. Mann

A foundational text in the study of group dynamics, still cited half a century later.

Scholarly Publications — Articles (partial list)

Belonging as a Psychoanalytic Concept (in preparation)

Dali’s Homage to Rothko. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

Anna Freud and the Holocaust. International Journal of Psychoanalysis

Empathy and Understanding. In Bornstein & Silver, Empathy

Primary Process Mentation and Neurotic Symptoms. In Berry, The Science of Psychoanalysis

Five Decades in Print

The start

The beginning

Ph.D. training at the University of Michigan after Harvard College; licensed and in practice ever since.

1974

Analysis of Groups

Among the first researchers to map how emotion and fantasy move through groups.

1970s

The academy

Tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Michigan; taught at UCLA.

1999

Psychology of conflict

“The Psychoanalytic View of War,” Encyclopedia of Violence, Conflict and Peace; landmark study of the Nazi propaganda film Der ewige Jude.

2015

Board certification

Fellow of the American Board of Psychoanalysis.

2026

Still writing

“Belongingness as an Antidote to Social Malaise,” Clio’s Psyche — plus articles in the Psychoanalytic Quarterly and the International Journal of Psychoanalysis along the way.

Practical Matters

Sessions, fees & insurance

Online Therapy Sessions

All sessions are held by secure video — online therapy, online psychotherapy, and online psychoanalysis, with the same depth as the consulting room.

Therapy apps assign you a subscription. Here, online therapy means a doctor: fifty years of clinical experience, board certification, and one analyst who knows you — not a chat queue.

Licensed in Florida, Washington DC, and Michigan — if you live in any of these, we can work together.

Office hours Monday–Friday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, by arrangement.

Fees

Individual session (50 minutes)$325

Couples session (90 minutes)$475

First 15-minute consultationFree

A sliding scale is available — ask whether you may be eligible. Payment by cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, or wire.

Insurance

I do not take insurance, but if you are covered you may be able to be reimbursed by your insurance company for an out-of-network provider.

If your plan covers out-of-network mental health care, you may submit my bills to your insurer for reimbursement.

Contact

Begin with a conversation.

Call or email for a free 15-minute consultation. We will talk about what brings you, and whether working together makes sense.

Phone

(813) 787-2048

jjhartman2@gmail.com

Location

5333 Connecticut Ave NW, Unit 115
Washington, DC 20015, United States

Hours

By mutually agreed arrangement — generally Monday–Friday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

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What happens next

Reach outCall or email — either is fine.

II.

Free 15-minute consultationA brief, no-obligation conversation about what you're looking for.

III.

BeginWe schedule a first session and start the work.

Call (813) 787-2048 Send an Email

Fifty years of listening — and helping people truly change.