Therapy Services at Magnus Mental Health

Magnus Mental Health provides individual therapy, couples therapy, and family therapy for adults and relationships in Pittsburgh, Mt. Lebanon, and nearby South Hills communities. Sessions are led by Michael Ortenzo, LMFT and are available for people looking for structured, practical support with anxiety, OCD, stress, relationship conflict, communication problems, family transitions, grief, and habit change.

Individual Therapy

Individual therapy begins with a focused conversation about what is happening now, what has helped before, and what would make treatment feel useful. Work may include CBT, mindfulness, exposure and response prevention for OCD, solution-focused therapy, attachment-informed reflection, and practical routines for emotion regulation and daily follow-through.

Anxiety and stress: Understand the worry cycle, reduce avoidance, and build tools that help you move toward what matters.
OCD and ERP: Approach intrusive thoughts with exposure and response prevention, the evidence-based gold standard treatment for OCD.
Relationships and family-of-origin: Explore how early patterns shape current boundaries, conflict, expectations, and connection.

Couples Therapy

Couples therapy helps partners slow down repeating conflict cycles, rebuild trust, and create more direct conversations about needs, repair, intimacy, and shared decisions. Work may include Gottman Method tools, attachment-informed reflection, Bowen family-systems work, and solution-focused planning. Couples often use therapy for dating and long-term relationships, marriage, pre-marital conversations, empty nest transitions, and periods when conflict has started to crowd out connection.

Family Therapy

Family therapy focuses on the patterns between people, not on assigning one person as the problem. Sessions may address communication, boundaries, parent-child strain, transitions with adolescent or adult children, caregiving stress, and the family-of-origin patterns that shape how people respond under pressure. Structural, Bowen, attachment-based, and solution-focused family approaches may be used depending on the family's goals.

Evidence-Based Methods

The approach is selected for the concern, not forced into one model. CBT can help identify the thoughts and behaviors that keep anxiety and stress in motion. Behavioral activation can support people who feel stuck, shut down, or disconnected from meaningful routines. Exposure and response prevention is used for OCD when the goal is to face feared thoughts or situations while reducing compulsions. Gottman Method, Bowen, attachment-based, structural, and solution-focused approaches may be used in couples or family sessions when the work is relational.

What to Expect

A typical 55-minute session includes a check-in, focused work on one or two priorities, and a practical next step to try between sessions. The pace is adjusted as your needs change, so treatment stays specific rather than generic. Some clients benefit from short-term focused work around a defined goal; others use therapy for longer-term pattern change, relationship repair, or OCD and anxiety treatment that requires steady practice.

The first few sessions usually clarify the main concern, the history behind it, and what progress should look like in daily life. For individual therapy, that may mean fewer avoidance patterns, more workable routines, or a clearer response to intrusive thoughts. For couples and families, progress may mean fewer repeated arguments, more direct repair, and a shared way to talk about hard topics without the conversation collapsing.

Clinician note: therapy works best when it is both honest and usable. The goal is not only insight, but clearer choices in the relationships, routines, and pressure points that matter outside the session.

Choosing a Starting Point

You do not need to know exactly which therapy category fits before reaching out. Many people start with a problem that crosses categories: anxiety affecting a relationship, OCD symptoms creating household strain, a life transition reopening family patterns, or stress making communication harder. The first consultation and early sessions help sort whether the work should be individual, relational, or a combination over time.

Sessions are designed to be practical enough for everyday use while still making room for the deeper patterns underneath the immediate concern. When helpful, between-session practice may include communication exercises, exposure practice, reflection prompts, routine changes, or a specific conversation to try differently before the next appointment.

Fees and Google Reviews

Individual therapy is $140 USD per 55-minute session. Couples therapy and family therapy are $170 USD per 55-minute session. Magnus Mental Health currently has a 5.0-star Google rating from 3 public reviews. To protect client privacy, this website does not republish private therapy review text. Read the public listing and reviews on the Magnus Mental Health Google Business Profile.

Related Resources

For more context before scheduling, review The Magnus Approach, fees and insurance FAQs, areas served, and the Magnus Mental Health blog. When you are ready to talk through fit, request a free consultation.

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Family Therapy

Family transitions: Maintain connection while navigating major life milestones, role changes, grief, caregiving, or household stress.
Adolescent and young adult children: Support development with clearer expectations, reasonable boundaries, and more flexible communication.
Adult family relationships: Shift old patterns, reduce reactive conflict, and make room for a healthier next chapter.
Structural and Bowen family work: Map roles, boundaries, hierarchy, and generational patterns so family members can respond with more choice.

Clinician note: family work is most useful when every person can be understood in context. The goal is a more workable system, not a courtroom.

Fee: $170 USD

Session Duration: 55 minutes

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Couples Therapy

Dating and long-term relationships: Build a lasting foundation by naming what each partner needs, what each partner fears, and what patterns keep repeating.
Marriage: Improve communication, conflict repair, emotional responsiveness, and the practical habits that support connection.
Pre-marital counseling: Prepare for the future by discussing expectations, family patterns, values, finances, conflict style, and life goals.
Retirement and empty nest: Reorient the relationship during a major life transition and strengthen the connection partners want in the next stage.

Clinician note: many couples arrive after trying to solve the same problem several times. Therapy creates a structured setting where the pattern can be named clearly and changed together.

Fee: $170 USD

Session Duration: 55 minutes

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For Individuals

Behavioral Activation: Re-engage with meaningful activities to counter low motivation, shutdown, and avoidance patterns.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Identify thought patterns that keep anxiety, stress, and unhelpful behavior in motion, then practice more balanced responses.
Exposure and Response Prevention: Gradually face feared thoughts or situations while reducing compulsions, using the evidence-based gold standard for OCD.

For Couples

For Families

Attachment-Based Therapy: Explore how bonding patterns shape connection, protest, withdrawal, and repair in the relationship.
Bowen Couples Therapy: Understand how each partner's family-of-origin patterns appear in conflict, closeness, and decision-making.
Gottman Method Couples Therapy: Build friendship, manage conflict, support repair, and create shared meaning.
Solution-Focused Therapy: Define concrete goals and build on what already works in the relationship.

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Attachment-Based Therapy: Strengthen felt safety, responsiveness, and connection between family members.
Bowen Family Therapy: Map recurring patterns across generations so the family can respond to stress with more flexibility.
Solution-Focused Therapy: Use existing strengths to move toward specific, agreed-upon family goals.
Structural Family Therapy: Clarify roles, boundaries, and hierarchy to support healthier day-to-day functioning.