Process-Based Therapy in Pittsburgh, PA

Brian Nuckols, LPC-A, practices process-based therapy (PBT) in Pittsburgh, PA. He specializes in eating disorders (including ARFID), gambling addiction, and couples therapy, and he built a clinical tool called the Idiographic Clinical Network System (ICNS) to map the specific processes maintaining each patient’s distress.

What Process-Based Therapy Does

Most therapy protocols assign you a diagnosis and then follow the treatment manual written for that diagnosis. Process-based therapy works differently. PBT identifies the specific psychological patterns that keep your problem going, patterns like experiential avoidance, cognitive rigidity, or interpersonal withdrawal, and targets those patterns directly. Two people with the same diagnosis might need completely different interventions because their maintaining processes differ.

Steven Hayes and Stefan Hofmann developed the PBT framework from decades of research showing that diagnostic categories often obscure what is actually happening in a given person’s psychology. The question shifts from “What disorder do you have?” to “What processes are keeping you stuck, and what do we do about each one?”

How Brian Uses PBT in Pittsburgh

Brian’s approach to PBT draws on a custom-built clinical tool, the Idiographic Clinical Network System (ICNS), which collects repeated data from patients between sessions and generates a visual map of how their specific processes interact. Rather than relying on a single intake interview to guess which processes matter, the ICNS uses your actual data to show which nodes in the network are driving the others.

This means treatment is not based on a generic flowchart. It is based on the measured relationships between your specific patterns. When a process is central to the network, that process becomes the primary treatment target regardless of what the DSM label might suggest.

Who Benefits from PBT in Pittsburgh

Process-based therapy is particularly useful for people who have tried standard protocols (CBT, DBT, exposure therapy) and found that gains stalled or reversed after treatment ended. If previous therapy addressed skills you already had, or targeted processes that were not actually driving your distress, PBT offers a different path by identifying what was missed.

Brian works with adults and couples in the Pittsburgh area presenting with eating disorders, gambling and behavioral addictions, relationship distress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. Because PBT is transdiagnostic, it is especially well suited for patients who carry multiple diagnoses or whose presentation does not fit neatly into a single category.

Insurance and Fees

Brian is in-network with Highmark and UPMC in Pennsylvania. He also accepts VCAP (Victims Compensation Assistance Program) for patients who qualify. For insurance plans outside those networks, he provides a superbill that you can submit for out-of-network reimbursement. Private pay sessions are $150.

Learn More

For a detailed explanation of how process-based therapy works, the evidence behind it, and what sessions look like, read the full guide: What Is Process-Based Therapy?

If you are looking for therapy in the Pittsburgh area across multiple modalities, visit the Pittsburgh Therapy page for a complete overview of Brian’s practice.

Schedule a Consultation

To discuss whether process-based therapy fits your situation, contact Brian at brian@briannuckols.com or call the office to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a process-based therapist in Pittsburgh?

Yes. Brian Nuckols, LPC-A, practices process-based therapy in Pittsburgh, PA. He built the Idiographic Clinical Network System (ICNS), a clinical tool that maps the unique network of processes maintaining each patient's disorder. He accepts Highmark, UPMC, and VCAP insurance.

What insurance does Brian Nuckols accept?

Brian Nuckols is in-network with Highmark and UPMC in Pennsylvania. He also accepts VCAP (Victims Compensation Assistance Program). For other plans, he provides a superbill for out-of-network reimbursement. Private pay sessions are $150.

Get Started

For questions about whether Process-Based Therapy is the right fit for your situation, or to schedule a consultation:

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