Risky Business: Having a Sexual Affair with Your Boss

Having a sexual affair with your boss is engaging in risky business with your career and your emotions. What might start out as seductive and exciting could end up a disaster for you and  your boss.  

Risky Business:  Having a Sexual Affair with Your Boss

Office Affairs
Before I went to college, I spent a few years working as a secretary in the corporate world.  Having graduated high school at 17, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I became a secretary while I did some soul searching about my life.  At the time, secretarial jobs were plentiful and it was the way that many women entered the workforce.  Being young and naive, I had a lot to learn about the world of work and the complicated relationships that people had with each other, and I certainly knew nothing about sexual affairs between bosses and their subordinates.

On Day One, I was escorted to my desk by the vice president's executive secretary, a tall, beautiful Argentinian woman, Alicia (not her real name) who dressed impeccably and left a faint seductive trail of her perfume as she walked by.  She carried herself like a queen, and I soon learned that she wielded a lot of power in the office over everyone who reported to her boss.  Although she was very charming, her manner was also intimidating.  I sensed immediately that people were afraid of her.  They also hinted salaciously that Alicia was having a longstanding sexual affair with her boss, the vice president, who was a married man with children.

Having a Sexual Affair with Your Boss Can Jeopardize Your Emotional Health and Your Career

Soon after I arrived, I was warned by the other secretaries that I shouldn't do anything to cross Alicia because one word from her to her boss and people were fired.  By the second week, I observed Alicia berating my boss in front of other managers.  She eviscerated him in her imperial manner and then she walked away.  When she left, he stood by his desk speechless and looking ashamed and powerless.  I turned away and pretended not to see what had just happened to help him save face.

On the surface, the secretaries and the managers went out of their way to ingratiate themselves with Alicia.  But, behind her back, they engaged in revenge fantasies about her downfall.  Being so young and inexperienced about the work world, I tried to steer clear of the vicious gossip.  But I couldn't help observing how Alicia and her boss barely concealed their sexual affair.  They were openly flirtatious with each other in front of everyone, and they took long lunches together, coming back all smiles.

If this sounds like something out of the TV program, "Mad Men," it's because, at the time, this wasn't unusual behavior at the office.  This was before companies instituted sexual harassment policies and bosses were warned about the dire consequences to the company and themselves if a sexual affair went south and a subordinate filed a complaint against the boss.

One day, I came in and I was surprised to see Alicia sitting at her desk with puffy red eyes, looking nervous and ill at ease.  It was obvious that she had been crying.  When her boss came out to give her work, rather than lingering around her seductively as he usually did, he was stone faced.  He handed her the work, barely looking at her, and went back in his office closing the door.  Soon, the office rumor mill was gleefully buzzing:  The vice president broke it off with Alicia, telling her that he had no intention of leaving his wife and children.  This was the day people were waiting for and they couldn't be more elated than if they had won the lottery.

Sitting alone at my desk, I pretended to be engrossed in my work.  I didn't dare make eye contact with Alicia.  Although, like everyone else, by then, I had experienced her tongue lashings on more than one occasion, I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.  I could feel the waves of sadness coming from her direction.  She sat silently typing at her desk, wiping away tears, and looking shrunken and humiliated in her grief.  Somehow, she even looked older.  She was an intelligent woman with excellent administrative skills.  If this had been 20 years later, she could have run the place as a vice president herself, but there were fewer opportunities for women at that time.

A few weeks later, I was offered another job and I left.  Many years went by and I didn't know what had become of Alicia or her boss--until I ran into her on the street near Saks Fifth Avenue.  She called out to me and, at first, I didn't recognize her.  When she told me who she was, of course, I remembered her.  At that point, she was easily in her mid-60s.  She was statuesque and beautiful, but I sensed that something was missing.   Her face told the whole story--she looked lost and sad.

Over coffee, she told me that she had never married and lived with her older sister.  She was retired now and spent most of her time at home.  She alluded to being pushed out of her job by the vice president and how the staff was openly hostile to her before she left.  Since Alicia and I had never talked about her affair with her boss before, I was surprised at how candid she was with me now.  I didn't know quite what to say, so I just listened.  I sensed that she didn't have many friends that she could talk to and her older sister was very straight laced.

Apparently, the breakup had been disastrous for her.  She really loved her boss and hoped that he would leave his wife.  She felt she wasted many precious years having an affair with him, taking work home, and helping him to rise in the company.  And in the end, when he got tired of her, she was, unceremoniously, shown the door and she never got over it.

Putting Your Emotional Health and Career at Risk
Not every office affair ends so dramatically or with such long lasting consequences.  This isn't the late 1960s with anything-goes sex at the office. Women and men have a lot more opportunities than they did before.  We also have Federal laws and corporate policies that help to protect people like Alicia who get fired after their bosses get tired of the affair.

But allowing yourself to become involved in an office affair can be disastrous for you emotionally and financially.  Even during the time when the sexual affair is going on, if you're the "other woman" or the "other man" in  your boss's life and you're hoping to transform the affair into a relationship, chances are that you'll be hurt and disappointed, especially if your boss is married.  Although there are exceptions, most people don't leave their spouses to be with the "other woman" or "other man."

As alluring as a sexual affair at the office might seem at first, it's best to steer clear of these situations.  The emotional pain and potential damage to a career isn't worth it.

About Me

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

To find out more about me, see 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 see my blog article:  Leading a Double Life as the "Other Woman" or "Other Man" in an Affair


photo credit: Rachid Lamzah via photopin cc

photo credit: LatinaPower2009 via photopin cc

Managing Your Emotions During Stressful Times

Managing our emotions during stressful times can be challenging.  There are many situations where managing emotions can be challenging:

Family Stressors Can Challenge Our Ability to Manage Our Emotions
Family-related stress can also challenge our ability to contain our emotions.  For instance, a friend, Lisa (not her real name) was recently telling me how she was dreading an upcoming visit from her mother-in-law.  According to Lisa, her mother-in-law is constantly giving unsolicited advice to Lisa on just about everything--cooking, childrearing, bargain hunting, you name it.

Managing Your Emotions During Stressful Situations

Lisa is afraid she won't be able to manage her anger about what she feels is subtle criticism from her mother-in-law.  It doesn't matter what topic they're discussing, according to Lisa, her mother-in-law is a self-proclaimed expert.  Lisa says she has tried in subtle and tactful ways to tell her mother-in-law that they each seem to have their own ways of doing things.  But Lisa says her mother-in-law still insists that she knows the "right way" and she doesn't let up.  Lisa says that whenever this happens, her husband suddenly has "selective hearing" and tunes his mother out, leaving Lisa to deal with her on her own.

Learning to Contain and Manage Our Emotions is a Skill
Learning to contain and manage our emotions is a skill.  We learn this skill over time from the time we're children.  Infants want what they want and they want it now.  They haven't developed the skills to manage their emotions.

Under favorable circumstances, parents are attuned to their child and respond in optimal ways so that the child gets what s/he needs and learns, over time, that they're not always going to get what they want, like a new toy or being allowed to stay up late on a school night.  Children often test the limits with their parents and parents need to learn to set limits in a reasonable way.  Over time, under optimal circumstances, children learn how to tolerate reasonable amounts of frustration, so that when they're adults, they're not reacting emotionally whenever they get upset.

In successful therapy, psychotherapy clients learn to develop a greater capacity for emotional containment so that they can manage their emotions with a degree of self control.  Containment is different from stifling our feelings.  When you stifle your feelings, you're suppressing your emotions.  Rather than acknowledging and containing your emotions, you're pushing them down.  If this is your usual pattern, you risk developing a psychophysiological disorder (e.g., migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, body aches, etc) because the emotions remain stored in the body and can create physical problems.

When you contain your emotions, you're not disavowing them.  On the contrary, your acknowledging and observing your emotions in a mindful way, but you're able to manage them.  Hopefully, if you frequently find yourself in situations where you have to contain your emotions (like, dealing with a difficult boss), you have other outlets, whether this is going to the gym, doing yoga, journaling, or talking to supportive friends.

But none of us are perfect, and even the most tolerant, emotionally mature and flexible person can lose it during stressful times.  If this isn't a usual pattern, all we can do during those rare occasions is forgive ourselves and make amends with whoever was affected by our inability to manage our emotions.  Needless to say, I'm not talking about extreme behaviors like physical violence.

There was a time when people were encouraged to express their anger and other unpleasant feelings as a form of catharsis.  Now we know that allowing ourselves to yell, scream and carry on, as a way to let go of our negative emotions, is actually unhealthy.  It might feel good at the moment (for you, but not for those around you), but it does nothing in terms of teaching you how to manage your emotions and develop emotional maturity.  On the contrary, it's more like allowing yourself to have a temper tantrum similar to a two year old.

Stressful times, whether it's the stress of the holidays or the stress of difficult in-laws, tests our ability to   be emotionally mature in terms of how we handle ourselves.  Rather than letting lose with a temper tantrum, it's much more healthy for you and those around you to take a deep breath, go for a walk, tell yourself "this too shall pass" or whatever works to help you manage and contain difficult emotions.

In the long run, you build greater resilience if you learn to develop the important skill of emotional containment.

About Me
I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Exeriencng therapist who works 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 regular business hours or email me.

Making Changes Within Yourself to Create the Life You Want

One of the most challenging and eye-opening things to discover in therapy is that you need to make changes within yourself if you want to create the life you want.  

Making Changes Within Yourself to Create the Life You Want

By this, I mean that there are times when you discover that your unhappiness isn't so much about the external circumstances in your life, but more about what's going on with your internally, your relationship with yourself and how you interact in the world.  

Why People Begin Psychotherapy

People come to therapy for various reasons.  Some people start therapy because they're struggling with a particularly difficult event in their lives, like a divorce, a death in the family or some other kind of loss.

When the reason for begining psychotherapy is a one-time event (even if it's a traumatic event) in an otherwise happy and stable life, working through this issue is less challenging than someone who experiences a similar event in a life that has been a struggle all along.  When there is a secure foundation of stability and happiness, it's easier to bounce back from life's challenges.  

Many people don't come to therapy because they want to gain a better understanding of themselves.  At least, it doesn't start out that way.  They start therapy focusing on external circumstances that are making them unhappy, which are usually legitimate concerns.  But when, for example, there's a lifelong pattern of particular problems, people often discover that they're having these problems because they need to make changes within themselves and how they interact with others.  

Discovering that You're the One Who Needs to Change Isn't Easy

Discovering that you need to make changes within yourself isn't always such a welcomed discovery.  It can be hard work.  It's easier to focus on the external than the internal.

Making Changes Within Yourself to Create the Life You Want: Discovering You're the One Who Needs to Change

It's easier to focus on:  "How can I fix my boyfriend who's an alcoholic" rather than looking at a lifelong pattern of choosing boyfriends who have alcohol problems.  It requires an internal perspective and a willingness to make changes in yourself.

The following scenario is an example, which is a composite with all identifying information changed:

Alice:

When Alice began therapy, she was very unhappy because she wasn't in a relationship.  She had a long history of choosing men who were emotionally abusive towards her.  After going through several of these breakups, she felt doomed to either be alone or with men who would mistreat her.  She felt helpless and hopeless about these choices.

In general, Alice had a very low opinion of men.  She thought that they were either "weak and passive" or "self centered and mean."  She said these were the only kinds of men that she met and she felt she had a lot of evidence of this both within her adult life and in her family.  She saw no evidence of there being the kind of man that she said she would like to meet--someone who would be kind, caring and respectful.  As far as she was concerned, men like this didn't exist.

Since she saw no other alternatives, she felt very conflicted about being in a relationship.  On the one hand, she didn't want to be with a "weak" or "mean" man.  But, on the other hand, she didn't want to be alone.  She felt it was an unresolvable dilemma.  Even though she wasn't hopeful that therapy would help her, she felt deeply unhappy and didn't know what else to do.

When I asked Alice how she went about meeting men, she told me that she and her friends went to bars, even though they didn't like bars.  None of them liked the idea of online dating so, with a feeling of heavy resignation, they kept going back to the bars.  They all seemed to have low opinions of men, and before they went they would complain to each other about men.  

Not surprisingly, by the time they got to the bar, they were feeling miserable because they were prepared for the worst and this is often what they found.  

Listening to her talk about how she interacted with the men in the bar, I could see that Alice often turned away men who might have been the kind of men that she wanted to meet.  But she never found out because she would see any kind gesture from these men as being "weak" and she would ignore them or send them packing.  She was more attracted to the handsome "bad boy" sitting in the corner drinking by himself.  There was something exciting about this type of man to Alice.  

Inevitably, these men often had serious drinking and emotional problems.  But, at the initial stage of being in therapy, Alice couldn't see that she was choosing the wrong men over and over again.  She felt very defensive about exploring this at first.  She felt like she was being blamed for her "bad luck" with men.  But she stuck it out in therapy and, over time, she began to understand that she wasn't just a victim of bad luck--she was actively participating in creating what she said she didn't want.

It took courage and a willingness to be open to change for Alice to change her attitudes and her actions. Over time, Alice developed a better perspective about how she was contributing to her unhappiness.  She stopped trying to meet men in bars and began attending other singles events that didn't involve alcohol.

She also began to play with the idea that the type of man she was looking for just might be out there, so she didn't go to these events feeling defeated before she met men.  She also became more open to changing her perspective about how she characterized kindness as "weakness" and allowed herself to get to know some of these men without dismissing them immediately.

Over time, she also realized that her family background played a major role in her feelings about men.  She realized that she was recreating her parents' relationship in her own romantic relationships, and she didn't want to do that any more.  In addition, she was able to see beyond the alluring facade of the handsome "bad boy," let go of her illusions about these men, and they actually became unattractive to her.   

She also realized that part of her hadn't felt deserving of being treated well, and this unconscious feeling of low self worth contributed to her problems.  She worked through her feelings of low self worth and, eventually, she felt deserving of an emotionally rewarding relationship with someone who would treat her well.  By being willing to make both the internal and external changes, she eventually met and married a man that she's happy with.

Making Changes Within Yourself Can Lead to a More Fulfilling Life: Getting Help in Therapy

Making changes within yourself, rather than being exclusively focused on external changes, isn't easy.

Most people don't like giving up attitudes and perspectives they've held for a long time.  It's a challenge to your sense of self and how you see the world.

Making Changes in Yourself Can Lead to a More Fulfilling Life:  Getting Help in Therapy

It takes courage and a trusting relationship with your therapist to be willing to transform yourself.  But the willingness and courage to make personal transformations can lead to a more fulfilling life.

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.

Overcoming Fantasies of Being Rescued

Who hasn't gone through a life crisis, at one time or another, and fantasized that someone would come along and rescue them from all their problems?  This person would know just what to say and do to make things right again.  Indulging in this kind of fantasy, knowing that it's really a fantasy and that, as adults, we're ultimately responsible for ourselves, isn't unusual. It's a little like wishing that we'd win the lottery.  We might have the wish, but then we come back down to earth and deal with the reality of our situation.

Overcoming Fantasies of Being Rescued

It's one thing to have an occasional fantasy about being rescued and it's another thing to live your life waiting for someone to come along, the proverbial "knight in shining armor," to sweep you off your feet and take you to his castle.

Often, not surprisingly, people who have rescue fantasies weren't nurtured as children, and the inner child in them is still hoping that someone will come along to fulfill that unmet need.  This isn't always apparent to the person with this fantasy or the people who are close to him or her (there are men who also have rescue fantasies).

Overcoming Fantasies of Being Rescued 

Making matters worse, there are people who have fantasies about rescuing people who find people who want to be rescued and form an unhealthy, codependent relationship.  If they remain in the rescuer-rescuee dynamic, they don't grow as individuals or as a couple.  They remain stunted in their rigid roles.  This is very different from two mature adults who come to a relationship as whole individuals and who rely on each other in a healthy way for emotional support.

Inner child work with a skilled, licensed mental health professional can help you to overcome the fantasy of being rescued.  Rather than making a maladaptive effort to heal by pinning all your hopes on someone else, it's much more empowering to develop your own internal resources to heal your inner child.

Clinical hypnosis and Somatic Experiencing are safe and effective forms of therapy to heal the inner child. A skilled clinician can guide you through the inner child work process so that you mourn what you didn't get and, more importantly, your adult self learns to take care of your inner child, and the different parts of yourself are more integrated.

As an integrated individual, you will attract healthier people and you'll be much more likely to have a happier and healthier relationship than if you remained stuck in the fantasy that someone will come along to rescue you.  But even if you're not in a relationship, you'll still feel like an emotionally healthy, whole person.

About Me
I am a licensed New York City 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.

Practicing Tolerance and Compassion in Your Relationship

Long term relationships can be challenging to maintain.  They require work and a lot of patience, tolerance and compassion.  Two of the biggest destroyers of relationships is excessive criticism and intolerance.  All long term relationships go through tough times and many survive those tough times and flourish.  Both people are often able to grow from these experiences, as individuals as well as couples.  But when the problems aren't part of an isolated difficult time and criticism and belittling have become a way of life in the relationship, over time, many couples breakup because the relationship can't withstand this.

Criticism and Contempt Ruin Relationships

In the worst cases, one or both people in the relationship feel and express contempt for each other.Expressing contempt doesn't necessarily mean that they're telling each other, "I hate you" (although this might be part of it).  Contempt can be expressed in many different ways, including contemptuous looks, back handed comments, and other indirect ways of communicating contempt.  In my opinion, it's the most damaging interaction a couple can engage in.  It erodes the other person's self esteem as well as the integrity of the relationship.

When I was in graduate school, I remember meeting a fellow student's husband after class.  I was appreciative of their offer to drive me home--until I heard my fellow student's husband call her "stupid" several times during the short ride.  Not only did he call her "stupid," but he said it with such contempt, as if she was the stupidest person that he ever met.  She pretended to laugh it off, but I could tell that it bothered her, as it would bother anyone.  Sitting in the back seat, I felt so uncomfortable being around them.  After that, I continued to associate with her, but I tried to avoid being around them as a couple.  Several years later, I was not surprised to hear that they got a divorce.  

Compassion and tolerance in a relationship can be very helpful in preserving a relationship.  Needless to say, I'm not talking about being tolerant of abuse, whether it's physical or verbal.  Rather, I'm referring to the common things that tend to annoy people.  No matter how charming we might find our partners or spouses at the beginning of the relationship, sooner or later we discover that they have annoying ways that irritate us, and vice versa.  Sometimes, the very things that we find charming in the beginning end up being the things that get under our skin later on.  

Rather than overreacting to what annoys you, it's much more helpful to have a larger perspective about the relationship.  If you want your relationship to grow and flourish, treat each other with lrespect, tolerance and compassion.

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.

Healing Shame in Psychotherapy

Shame is an emotional that seems to be experienced by people regardless of their culture and origin.  We can begin to feel shame even as an infant, even before we have an understanding of what we're feeling ashamed about.

Healing Shame in Psychotherapy

Shame can cause us to withdraw into ourselves, fearing that others will see our shame and judge us.  If we withdraw into our shame, we feel even more isolated and the emotional pain of the shame often increases, sometimes to the point of feeling unbearable.  

Experiencing shame as an adult can trigger earlier memories of feeling ashamed, so that we're not only dealing with the current issues that cause us to feel ashamed but also the earlier incidents.  

We can feel shame even when we know, logically, that we have nothing to feel ashamed about.  In many instances, telling ourselves that we have no reason to feel ashamed or hearing someone else tell us does little or nothing to take away the shame.  It's as if there's a disconnect between what we know rationally and what we feel on an emotional level.

If we feel safe enough to talk to people that we trust, whether it's a close friend, family member or a therapist, about our shame, we soon realize that we're not alone in experiencing these feelings.  Talking about feeling ashamed often reduces or helps to alleviate the shame.

Shame and guilt often go together.  These two emotions are often confused with each other or used interchangeably.  But shame is an emotion that we feel about ourselves, whereas guilt is usually about something we did or didn't do in relation to someone else.  For instance, if you promise to do  something for a friend and you don't do it, you might feel ashamed of yourself and guilty about not following through with your friend.

Many people feel ashamed even when someone compliments them.  Often, this is because they feel they don't deserve the compliment or they're not "good enough."  

A pervasive feeling of shame often begins early in life, especially if there was emotional or physical neglect or abuse.  Children usually feel responsible for abuse and, as adults, they often carry these feelings with them, even after they know, on a rational level, that they're not responsible for the abuse.  

Getting Help in Therapy

The good news is that it's possible to work through issues about shame.  Clinical hypnosis, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing are all effective, in used by a skilled mental health professional, in helping clients to overcome shame so they can lead more fulfilling lives.

When you're no longer burdened by shame, you have an opportunity to live with a sense of inner peace and in a more open and harmonious way with your loved ones.

About Me

I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist.  I work with individuals and couples, and I have helped many clients overcome shame and guilt.

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.

Intergenerational Trauma: Recurring Nightmares

For many years, a friend of mine, Ann (not her real name), was having a recurring nightmare, which was very close to a dream she heard about from her mother when Ann was about four years old.   In her mother's nightmare, her mother couldn't find Ann, who was an infant in the dream.  She was panic stricken, in the dream, and she looked all over for Ann, but couldn't find her.  Finally, a man came along and took her to a place where there were lots of babies.  She looked at all the babies, hoping to find Ann, but all the babies looked alike and she still couldn't find Ann.

Transgenerational Trauma: Recurring Nightmares

Clearly, this was a recurring anxiety dream that stemmed from Ann's mother's long history of emotional trauma.  Hearing her mother's dream at such a young age stirred up a lot of anxiety for Ann that she was unable to contain because she was too young to handle it.  Her mother, who was a loving mother in many ways, didn't realize that she was overwhelming Ann by telling her about these recurring dreams, which she had at least a few time a month.

You can imagine how frightening it must have been for a child of four to hear that her mother kept losing her in her dreams.  Children of that age are completely dependent upon their parents and couldn't survive without them.  Trying to contain this type of anxiety at such a young age is beyond a child's capacities.

Soon after hearing about her mother's recurring nightmare, Ann began having a similar dream that involved losing her cat in the same way that her mother lost her in her mother's recurring dreams.  This dream about losing her cat and trying to find her cat among many cats that looked like hers went on until Ann was in her mid-30s.  She recognized that her recurring dream was related to her mother's anxiety dreams, but she didn't know what to do about it until she got help in therapy, at which time the nightmares stopped.

I'm using Ann's experience (with her permission) to illustrate that this is a common phenomenon with children who grow up trying to contain overwhelming amounts of anxiety that one or both parents are unable to contain themselves.  These recurring nightmares, which bear a remarkable resemble to a parent's dream, can go on for many years.  As an adult, an individual has a greater capacity to handle these anxiety dreams.  But they're still disturbing and carry the trauma that the parent was unable to carry.

Transgenerational Trauma
We know a lot more now about intergenerational trauma than we did when Ann was growing up.  We now know that emotional trauma can be passed on through many generations, even if the family members, who were originally affected by the trauma, never speak about it.  The children of many children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are examples of this type of intergenerational trauma being passed on.

Dreams reveal what is going on for a person on an unconscious level, and even though Ann appeared to be a healthy, stable child, her dreams revealed that she was carrying a great deal of anxiety related to her mother's trauma.  Fortunately, she was able to get the help she needed from a psychotherapist who specialized in doing trauma work, and she was able to overcome the vicarious trauma.

Getting Help in Therapy
If you think you've been traumatized by intergenerational trauma, you owe it to yourself to get professional help from a licensed trauma therapist.

It is possible to overcome intergenerational trauma with the right help.

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 regular business hours or send me an email me.

Also see my article:  Psychotherapy and Intergenerational Trauma