Coping with the Loss of a Pet

Our Pets Are Part of Our Families
We love and nurture our pets and they bring us joy. So when a beloved pet dies, it can feel as devastating as the death of a close relative. We can grieve as profoundly as losing our best friends, and for some of us, they are our best friends.

Coping with the Loss of a Pet

Whether you've had your pet for a short time or for years, it's very sad when they pass from your life. After the loss of a pet, you need emotional support from other people who understand. Often, people who don't have pets don't understand how normal and natural it is to feel very sad after a pet has died.

Allow Yourself Time to Grieve
So, what can you do to help yourself feel better? Just like with the death of a person who is close to you, know that it will probably take time to heal from this loss. Allow yourself to take the time to grieve and don't judge yourself for the depth of your feelings.

Coping With the Loss of a Pet

You will probably go through many of the same feelings that I discussed in my last article about losing a loved one. Some people find it helpful to make a scrapbook of photos or special mementos related to their pet. Other people find it comforting to keep an urn with their pet's ashes. No one can tell you what will be right for you.

People often ask me if they should go out and buy another pet immediately. For most people, this is not helpful. For one thing, you're still grieving for your pet who just died, and you're probably not open to accepting a new pet into your heart and home.

You might also feel guilty if you get another pet too soon--like you're betraying the pet that you just lost. If you get a new pet immediately, without even realizing it, you might also expect that pet to be just like your last pet when, in reality, each pet has his or her own personality.

The other reason that it's usually not a good idea to get another pet immediately is that you might be doing this to avoid dealing with your grief. When the time is right, after you've gone through a natural period of grief, you can open your heart again and enjoy having a new pet.

Our Pets Bring Us Joy

The important thing to know is that grief usually subsides over time if you allow yourself to feel your feelings.

About Me
I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with individual adults and couples. 

I have helped many people to cope with the loss.

To find out more about me, please visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

How Our Expectations and Beliefs Affect Us

How Do Our Expectations and Beliefs Affect Us?

In her book, Counterclockwise, Dr. Ellen Langer describes how our expectations and beliefs affect our own lives as well as other people in our lives. She makes a strong case that our thoughts and feelings affect our health and the aging process. According to Dr. Langer, the first step is to become mindfully aware of our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and others.

As part of her research, Dr. Langer conducted social experiments with the elderly in a nursing home to see how beliefs, self perceptions and a sense of autonomy affect health. In the experimental group, she encouraged residents to make more decisions for themselves. They were encouraged to make their own decisions about where they saw visitors and when to watch movies. They were also given an opportunity to choose a house plant as well as when and how much to water it. The control group was given house plants, but they were told that the nursing home staff would water it.

After a year and a half, Dr. Langer discovered that the first group was much happier and alert, based on tests that were administered before and after the experiment. The first group was also much healthier and, on average, lived longer than the second group. She discovered that being allowed to make choices created mindfulness and helped the residents to be more engaged in their lives. Being happier, more mindful, and having a sense of autonomy contributed to the first group's longevity.

When we think about how, even in the best nursing homes, the staff often have such low expectations of residents and how few choices residents can make in their daily lives, Dr. Langer's research is compelling.

Recently, I went to visit my aunt in a nursing home. She has dementia, but she still knows who she is and who I am. When a new nurse came by with his chart, instead of asking my aunt her name, he turned to me and asked, "What's her name?" I saw my aunt's expression change from being engaged to looking disconnected. I wondered how many times the residents in this nursing home are objectified in this way, and it made me feel angry. I responded to him by turning to my aunt and asking her her name. She perked up suddenly and announced her name in a strong and confident voice.

Without realizing it, we all create self fulfilling prophesies. This nurse, who seemed kind and efficient in other ways, had certain beliefs and expectations of the nursing home residents in general and my aunt in particular. Anyone who has spent time around people with dementia knows that it can vary a lot in the same person from day to day or even in the same day or hour. But what happens when a person with dementia, who still knows who she is, is treated like she's incapable of responding to question asking her name? Based on the brief interaction I saw with my aunt and the nurse and the research that Dr. Langer has done, we disempower people. I saw very clearly how my aunt went from being engaged one moment to being disengaged the next when she was objectified by the nurse. Was the nurse being intentionally cruel and rude? That's not my impression. I think he was simply engaging in his duties in a mindless way, trying to get through his tasks as efficiently as possible.

Even though there might be variability from day to day for a person who has dementia, why not start out assuming the best instead of the worst? How much more empowering this would be! This can apply not only to the elderly, who are often stereotyped, but to any group of people.

For an eye-opening look at how we can all learn to become more mindful in our everyday interactions, I recommend reading Ellen Langer's book, Counterclockwise. The implications of Dr. Langer's work are very powerful for all of us. And, the next time I visit my aunt at the nursing home, I might give a copy of this book to the nursing staff.

About Me

I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist who provides dynamic talk therapy, clinical hypnosis, EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing therapy to individuals and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.



Photo Credit:  Photo Pin

Common Myths About Psychotherapy - Therapy Always Takes a Long Time

In recent years, I've found that most people who call me to set up a psychotherapy consultation tend to be much better informed about psychotherapy than even a few years ago.  When they call, they're often asking about particular types of psychotherapy, like EMDR, clinical hypnosis or Somatic Experiencing.

Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Therapy Takes a Long Time

Often, they've been in psychotherapy before or they've done their research online or spoken to friends who have been in therapy, so they are coming to therapy as "informed consumers."  But I find that there are still many people who have misconceptions about psychotherapy due to the many ongoing myths about psychotherapy.  So, I thought I would start with one of the most common myths--that therapy takes a long time.

There Are So Many More Choices For Therapy Now: 

I can't even count how many times new clients have come in and said, "I don't want to be like Woody Allen--in therapy for 50 years."  Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest misconceptions about psychotherapy, complete with the client lying down on the analytic couch free associating to whatever comes to his or her mind and the therapist (usually a man looking very much like Sigmund Freud with white hair and a beard) sitting silently behind the client taking notes.  

This stereotypical image is a throwback to the days when the only type of therapy that was available to clients was classical psychoanalysis.

As a therapist, my original training was in psychoanalysis.  If a client is interested in psychoanalysis, I'm happy to engage them in the psychoanalytic process.  But, even if we are working psychoanalytically, I usually work in a very contemporary, dynamic and interactive way.  I combine many different types of contemporary psychodynamic ways of working, including a post-Jungian dream work called Embodied Imagination.

 On the other hand, if a client prefers to work with more silences, I am also trained to work in this way.  So, there are choices.

Progress in Psychotherapy:

I also like to see clients making the kind of progress in treatment that they're seeking.  How"progress" is defined is also very specific to the client.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the client leaves therapy feeling good after each session or that each session brings about revelations every time.

For some people, it might take a while for them to even  trust the therapist to open up and be able to talk about their problems.  For them, this is progress.

For other people, progress might be gaining insight into their problems and being able to take action in their lives.  A lot depends on the client's internal motivation, willingness to make changes, the therapist's skills, and whether the client and therapist are a good match.

Aside from being psychoanalytically trained, I'm also certified in mind-body psychotherapy.  I'm trained in EMDR, clinical hypnosis and Somatic Experiencing, which tend to be shorter forms of therapy as compared to traditional psychoanalysis to clear up certain types of trauma.  So, my approach is eclectic and flexible. 

When clients ask me "How long will I be in therapy?," I tell them that therapy is a very individual process.  It depends on what they want.  Some clients come in for a very specific problem that they want to overcome.

If they don't have layers of trauma and the problem is not related to deeper issues, short-term therapy can help them to clear up the problem.  For other clients, their current problems are part of many layers of trauma that began since childhood.  This type of problem is more complicated and would probably take longer.  

Getting Help in Therapy:  Start Therapy with a Consultation:

At the beginning of therapy, it's helpful to talk about the problem that brings you into therapy and what you would like to accomplish.

Of course, you're not required to know this beforehand in order to come to therapy.  For instance, many people know that they're "not feeling right" and they're not sure what the problem is, so this becomes part of the work in therapy with the therapist helping the client to understand this.

But for those people who do know what they would like, it's helpful to define the problem and what would constitute success in therapy.  This can help to give the therapy clarity and direction, but nothing is carved in stone.  There's flexibility and there are choices.

In future blog posts, I'll address the other common myths about psychotherapy.  

If you're interested in finding out about the various types of therapy that I've mentioned in this blog post, you can find more information on their professional websites:

Resources:

Clinical hypnosis:  American Society of Clinical Hypnosis

Somatic Experiencing:  Somatic Experiencing Training Institute

EMDR:  EMDR professional association

About Me

I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist,  EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist.  I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 or email me.


See my article: Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Going to Therapy Means You're Weak

Also, visit my Psychotherapy Daily News for updates on mental health issues, health education, and science news.

Creating Emotional Balance in Your Life

We've all had days when we feel anxious, frustrated, angry, sad or at our wit's end.  When you're overwhelmed occasionally by these kinds of emotions, it helps to have a reliable way to bring yourself back into emotional balance.  One way, which was originally developed in hypnosis, is to have a Safe Place or Relaxing Place to focus on so you can bring yourself back to a calm state.

Creating Emotional Balance in Your Life

Learning Coping Strategies in Therapy:
When clients come to see me in my psychotherapy private practice in NYC, I usually teach them coping strategies, especially if they're coming in to overcome trauma.  One of those coping strategies is the Safe or Relaxing Place meditation.  Whether you're trying to overcome trauma or you're just having a bad day, learning to do the Safe Place meditation is a good way to help bring yourself back into a state of calm and emotional balance.

Safe Place Meditation:
To begin, think of a place which is linked to a positive memory.  It can be somewhere in nature, like a beach or in the woods.  When you choose a place, it should be completely positive without any negative memories associated with it.  So, for instance, choosing a beach that you like is fine, but not if it causes you to think of times when your parents used to argue at this beach.  A relaxing scene by a waterfall is great, but not if it was the place where your boyfriend broke up with you.

Once you have a place that you associate with feeling calm and relaxed, close your eyes and engage as many of your senses as possible.  First, feel yourself standing in this place.  If you're at the beach, what does it feel like to have your toes in the sand?

Then, look around and notice what you see.  Notice the colors, shapes and textures of things.  Are there any sounds associated with this place?  If so, what are they?  If you're at the beach, do you hear the sound of the waves on the shore or the seagulls flying overhead?  Are there any sensations associated with this place?  Do you feel the warmth of the sun or the breeze off the ocean against your skin.  What about smells?  Smells can be so evocative?  Can you smell the salt in the ocean?  Maybe you can even taste the salt in the air.

With some practice, you can learn to make these sensory experiences vivid.  And, you'll begin to feel yourself calming down.  Notice that your breathing has slowed down and muscles in your body that might have been tight might be relaxing.

You can also give this place a name--whatever works for you that would allow you to associate the name with the calm feeling.  It can be the word "beach," if that's your relaxing place or just "relaxing place."  When you practice pairing the word with the calm feeling, you can just use the word at times when you can't close your eyes to do the meditation.

The place you choose can be either real or imagined, a scene from a movie or a book.  It doesn't matter.  All that matters is that it helps to get you back into emotional balance.

For some people, trying to come up with a relaxing place can be challenging.  If that's the case for you, you can try to think of the face of a person associated with positive experiences.  This can be a friend, a family member, a teacher, a coach or a mentor.  The point is to use the visualization to get yourself back into an emotionally balanced state.

Practicing the Safe (or Relaxing) Place meditation can help you get through a difficult moment, and it only takes a few minutes a day for you to gain the benefits of this meditation.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist.  I am certified in mind-body oriented psychotherapy.  

I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.


Also, visit my Psychotherapy Daily News for updates on mental health issues, health education, and science news.

Mindfulness Meditation: Coping with Painful Emotions

Mindfulness Meditation: Coping With Emotional Pain

"Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional."
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

In his book Full Catastrophe Living, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., discusses how even a moderate amount of mindfulness meditation can help to ease both physical and emotional pain. 

In my December 26, 2010 blog post, I described mindfulness meditation Mind-Body Connection: Mindfulness Meditation. In this blog post, I discuss how mindfulness meditation can help you with emotional pain.

Coping with Emotional Pain with Mindfulness Meditation:
Often, when people are feeling upset, whether they are angry, sad, resentful, anxious, fearful, jealous, or ashamed, their tendency is to either suppress these uncomfortable feelings or to deal with them in other unhealthy ways.

Suppressing emotional pain only intensifies it. You might manage to distract yourself for a while by suppressing your feelings, but these feelings will eventually come back to the surface again, even stronger than before.

Unhealthy or maladaptive ways of suppressing feelings might include: drinking excessively, abusing drugs, overeating, acting out sexually, working excessively or other negative ways of coping.

Rather than suppressing their feelings, other people become so flooded by their emotions that they lose control. They might lose their temper. Other people berate themselves and engage in negative self talk.

An alternative to these maladaptive strategies is to practice mindfulness meditation. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, people who practice mindfulness meditation find that, at the very least, some of the edge of the emotional pain is taken off. Rather than avoiding their emotions, people who practice mindfulness meditation learn to stay with them. Over time, they build a stronger capacity for containing these emotions.

This might seem completely contrary to what you might think. After all, no one wants to feel emotions that are uncomfortable for them. But when you practice mindfulness meditation, you learn to observe and deconstruct your emotional pain in a non-personal way. You get to witness your emotional pain without clinging to it.

When you become adept at using mindfulness meditation, you will usually see and accept that you're not your feelings. You also see that nothing remains the same, your feelings are transitory, and will pass.

Who is the "You" Who is Watching During Mindfulness Meditation?
Often when people are upset and in the throes of emotional pain, they have little or no awareness that they are not their feelings. But this might sound strange to you. What do we mean by "You're not your feelings?"

When you practice mindfulness meditation, you realize that the core of who you are is separate from your thoughts and feelings. You come to experience this over time because you become aware that there is another part of yourself, which I call your Core Self (other people call it by other names), who is witnessing what is going on with you--what you're feeling and what you're thinking.

Your Core Self:
It is my belief that we all have a Core Self, even people with multiple personalities, who have been emotionally fractured into many parts by trauma, have a Core Self. We're not always aware of our Core Self in our everyday lives. But most people have had the experience, at some point in their lives, of a deeper part of themselves that knows intuitively what's right for them.

Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., who developed the Internal Family System (IFS) model of psychotherapy described the Core Self of consisting of the "8 C's": compassion, calmness, curiosity, clarity, confidence, creativity, courage, and connectedness (Internal Family Systems - Self Leadership). The Core Self is that part of us that knows what's best for us.

Through the practice of mindfulness meditation, which is also called Insight Meditation, over time, we get in touch with the Core Self. The Core Self is aware that, even though we might be in a lot of emotional pain, these feelings and thoughts are not part of the core of who we are. We are much more than that.

When clients come to see me in my private practice in New York City, I often recommend that they consider mindfulness meditation as part of their coping strategies.

About Me

I am a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, Somatic Experiencing therapist, and EMDR therapist in New York City.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Are You Overreacting to Routine Disappointments?

Are You Overreacting to Routine Disappointments?

What Are Routine Disappointments?   
We all experience routine disappointments from time to time.  Rainy weather on the day you plan an outing, missing a sale for something you really like, or having to reschedule a brunch because a friend can't make it.  These are all examples of what are usually considered routine disappointments.  They're disappointing, but for most people they're not traumatic.  They're the kinds of situations that happen to everyone.  In order to preserve your own well-being and maintain your relationships, what's most important in these situations is how you respond to them.

Learning to Deal with Routine Disappointments is Part of the Developmental Process
Small children usually don't have the capacity to deal with disappointments.  It's something they have to learn over time.  Young children don't have much of a capacity to tolerate frustration.  If you've ever witnessed a small child being told by his mother that they had to leave the park to go home and the child had a temper tantrum because he didn't want to leave, you've witnessed this lack of frustration tolerance.

This is a normal part of a child's development.  If all goes well and the parents are able to weather this stage in the child's development (without either frustrating the child too much and too often, or giving in and gratifying the child's every wish), the child will learn to develop an increasing ability to handle routine disappointments as he gets older.

What Happens When Adults Haven't Learned to Tolerate Routine Disappointments?
As adults, if we don't learn to tolerate routine disappointments, we can become easily overwhelmed by stress.  We can also damage our relationships with family, friends, and colleagues.  With regard to how we respond, we need to be able to differentiate between routine disappointments and major disappointments.  Continuously responding to small disappointments as if they're major disappointments will exhaust you and can leave you feeling bitter, brittle and lonely.

Case Example
The following vignette, which is a composite of many different cases, illustrates the above:

Francine:
Francine, who was in her early 30s, wanted more than anything to be in a romantic relationship and to have close friends.  But her romantic relationships and friendships usually ended in a bad way.  Sooner or later, she would alienate people, and they would tell her that she was too demanding and disappear from her life.

By the time Francine came to therapy, she was very lonely.  The last man she dated, Tom, just ended their relationship because Francine got angry when Tom's boss sent him out of town on a business trip, and Tom asked to reschedule their date.

They were only dating for five months.  Most of the time, Tom was reliable, considerate, and easy going.  They usually enjoyed each other's company.  But, two months earlier, Francine got upset when Tom got sick and had to cancel their date.  It wasn't that she didn't believe him--she could hear that he was coughing and losing his voice.  Nevertheless, she got angry because she felt very disappointed and lonely, and she didn't want to spend the evening alone.  Afterwards, she realized that she was being inconsiderate and self centered, she apologized, and they made up.  But when it happened a second time, Tom said he felt she was overreacting, too demanding, and he had enough.

This was the ongoing pattern in Francine's life.  Usually, when she calmed down, she realized that her reactions were out of proportion to the situation but, by then, she had already alienated people.  After Tom stopped seeing her, she knew she had to change, but she didn't know how, and she was starting to feel hopeless about it.

Francine's family history was one of emotional neglect.  Her parents divorced by the time Francine was 10.  She was sent back and forth between them throughout her childhood.  They were both highly narcissistic people who had little time for her, so she spent most of her time with a succession of nannies and housekeepers.  She was given everything she could have wanted materially, but she grew up being an insecure, lonely child who had difficulty making friends.

Francine felt deeply ashamed that she was unable to keep a boyfriend or any close friends.  She had some acquaintances that she saw from time to time, but even those relationships became problematic when Francine became disappointed.

Learning Not to Overreact to Routine Disappointments

In therapy, she mourned the emotional neglect that she experienced as a child.  We worked on her self esteem and coping skills.  We also worked on how to develop and maintain friendships.  She began learning basic life skills to handle routine disappointments without overreacting. After a while, Francine also learned how to be alone without feeling lonely.  She eventually got married and had children.

It wasn't easy.  There was no "quick fix." It was a process, and it took time.

Getting Help in Therapy
Some people only realize that they are overacting to routine disappointments after they've worn themselves out emotionally and physically, and they've lost a succession of people in their lives.  

By then, it can be become a vicious cycle of disappointments, ruptures in relationships, more disappointments, loneliness and feelings of hopelessness.  

If you're motivated and willing to take the time and make the effort, a skilled therapist can help you to overcome this problem.  Rather than continuing to perpetuate this cycle, you can get help to become healthier and happier.

About Me

I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist.  I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Overcoming Separation Anxiety

When most people think about separation anxiety, they think of children having problems separating from their parents.   But separation anxiety can occur at any time in life.  It often has its roots in childhood, but it can continue into adulthood causing panic and shame as well as discord in relationships.

Overcoming Separation Anxiety

Elizabeth Bernstein of the Wall St. Journal online wrote an interesting article called When It Never Gets Easier to Say Goodbye about separation anxiety.  The examples that she gives remind me of many psychotherapy clients that I have treated for separation anxiety over the years.

Case Example
The following vignette illustrates how the separation anxiety affects the person who suffers from it as well as how it can affect a relationship.  As always, this is a composite of many different cases with all identifying information changed to protect confidentiality.

Rose and Mike
Rose and her husband, Mike, were together several years when he started a job where he had to travel at least once a month.  The trips were usually short and not that far from home, but they often involved his staying away at least a couple of nights.

Prior to taking this job, Mike had been out of work for several months.  Both he and Rose were concerned about how his being away from home would affect Rose because she got very anxious whenever Mike was away.  But they both felt that Mike had no choice but to take this job because he was unemployed and he had no other offers.

As soon as Rose heard from Mike that he had an upcoming trip, she would begin to worry immediately.

It could be weeks before Mike had to leave, but she would worry obsessively, asking him countless times if he really needed to go, and talk about all the things she worried about that could go wrong:  What if the plane crashed? What if a burglar broke into the house while he was away?  What if there was some other kind of emergency that she couldn't handle by herself?

Mike did his best each time to reassure Rose, but nothing he said every reassured her.  After a while, inevitably, they would get into an argument about it because Mike would lose his patience.  He felt frustrated and annoyed because nothing he said had any impact on Rose's anxiety.  She, in turn, felt hurt and misunderstood.  She also felt deeply ashamed about her worrying and out of control.

Mike and Rose tried different strategies to help her feel better:  He called her as soon as his flight landed and he would call her a few times during the day to assure her that he was all right.  But these strategies never  helped Rose stop worrying incessantly that something awful might happen to Mike and then she would be alone.

After several of these arguments, he told Rose that she needed to get help because it was affecting their marriage as well as his ability to focus on his work while he was away.   Rose decided, somewhat reluctantly, that Mike was right--she needed to get help.

After a few sessions, it was evident that Rose had separation anxiety that stemmed from a chaotic childhood with parents who were very unpredictable.  They would often leave Rose, as a child of five or six, alone at night while they went out drinking.  Understandably, she was very afraid of being alone and she would beg them each time not to leave, but they told her to "stop being a baby" and they left anyway.  When her baby brother cried at night, she didn't know what to do to soothe him, which made her even more anxious.

Then, one day, when Rose was six, she woke up to find her grandparents and aunts in the living room with her mother.  Everyone was very upset and crying, but they wouldn't tell her what was wrong.  Her father wasn't there, and when Rose asked about him, her mother told her that he was "gone," but she wouldn't give Rose any more information.  Later that day, Rose overheard her aunt talking about a car crash.  She tried to ask her aunt and her mother about it, but they refused to talk about it and sent her to her room.

Rose never saw her father again. No one ever told her, as a child, what happened to her father.  She missed him terribly, but she felt she couldn't ask her mother about it any more because she feared her mother would get angry with her and leave too, and then she'd be all alone.  It wasn't until she was in her early 20s that she heard from an uncle that her father was drunk and had a fatal car accident.

We used EMDR to help Rose to process this earlier loss, as well all the times she felt abandoned by her parents even before her father died.  While we were working on these issues with EMDR, we also worked on Rose developing better coping skills.  She learned to meditate and she also began attending yoga classes.  She also strengthened her emotional support network among her friends.

Once she worked through her earlier losses and experiences of separation anxiety, Rose was no longer anxious about Mike going on business trips.  She and Mike began getting along much better.  They stopped arguing and even planned a romantic getaway, which was something they had not done in a while.

Getting Help in Therapy
If you suffer with separation anxiety, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to get help from a licensed mental health professional who has experience working with separation anxiety.  Getting help can make all the difference between living a life of constant anxiety and a fulfilling life that you and your loved ones can enjoy.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist.  

I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.