Coaching with a psychiatrist who trades.
Most trading psychology coaching is sold by traders who have read some psychology. This is the other direction. The clinical training came first — psychiatry, then addiction medicine, which is the field that actually studies loss-chasing — and the trading is his own account, in real size, on the same screens you use.
Coaching is the non-clinical half of that. It is performance work on how you execute, with someone who knows exactly what the clinical half looks like and will tell you plainly if you have crossed into it.
Coaching is not treatment
Worth being blunt about, because the two get marketed as if they were interchangeable. Psychiatric treatment means a diagnosis, a clinical record, prescribing where it is indicated, a doctor–patient relationship, and a license that only reaches one state. Coaching means none of those things: no diagnosis, no prescriptions, no chart, no medical relationship — and no state lines. Therapy sits between them, and it is still health care for a condition rather than performance work on a process.
The practical test is which question you are asking. What is my process doing to my account is a coaching question. What is wrong and how is it treated is a clinical one. The full version of this distinction is written out at doctheo.com/performance-coaching.
What the work actually is
Name the pattern that is doing the losing. Chasing, fear, stimulation-hunting, state drift — four different engines with four different fixes, which is why generic discipline advice lands on none of them. If you have not run the free screener yet, that is the fastest first read.
Build rules that fire without your cooperation. Willpower is the wrong layer. A daily max-loss that closes the platform, locked size, defined hours, and a stop placed before the position exists are all decisions made by a version of you who is not currently down money.
Treat state as a risk parameter. Sleep debt, time of day, and an accumulated loss sequence move your risk tolerance without announcing it. Most people manage position size carefully and manage the operator not at all.
Install a review loop. A log that records what you were running on, not just entries and exits — then a weekly read of it specific enough to change next week.
How it runs
Everything is remote, by video. The first call is mostly a read of your process — how you size, when you break rules, what the bad days have in common — and ends with what the work would target. After that, sessions run on a regular cadence, weekly or every other week, with something concrete to install between them. Caseload is deliberately small; this is a part-time practice, not a program with a waitlist funnel.
Where it is available
Coaching is available anywhere. Psychiatric care is not: treatment requires licensure in the state the patient is physically in, so clinical work is California only. If you are outside California and what you need turns out to be treatment, you will be pointed toward it rather than coached around it.
Some losing patterns are the visible edge of something treatable. The markers are consistent: escalation, concealment, repeated failed attempts to stop, money that could not be afforded, and changes in mood or sleep that outlast the losing streak. Coaching that ignores those is just expensive company.
If that list is familiar, the better next step is an evaluation — in California, by telehealth at doctheo.com/trading-psychiatrist. If gambling is a concern for you or a family member, 1-800-GAMBLER is free and confidential. If things ever get dark, call or text 988.
What is the difference between coaching and therapy?
Coaching is performance work on how you execute: the pattern costing you money, the rules that stop it, the review loop that keeps them honest. Therapy and psychiatric treatment are health care for a condition, with a diagnosis, a clinical record, and a treating relationship. Coaching has none of those and does not replace any of them.
Can I do this if I am outside California?
Yes. Coaching is not medical care, involves no diagnosis or prescribing, and is not restricted by state or country. Sessions are remote. Psychiatric treatment is the part that is California only.
Why does it matter that the coach is a psychiatrist?
Because a real share of consistent losing is not a process problem, and a coach who cannot recognize that will keep coaching something that needs treating. Addiction medicine is the field that studies loss-chasing directly; that is the training that makes the line visible early instead of after a blow-up.
Is there a free way to start?
Two. The screener names which pattern is behind your losses in about two minutes, and there is a free monthly online meetup on trading psychology — details on the home page.
Also on Psychiatrade: The free screener · The StillTrade protocol · Losing money? · All Learn articles