Becoming a mother in New York City is often idealized as a joyful milestone—but for many high-achieving women, the postpartum experience is layered with exhaustion, emotional overwhelm, and a deep sense of disorientation. You may look like you’re managing on the outside, but inside you’re navigating mood swings, persistent sadness, irritability, and a loss of connection to yourself. Insomnia, intrusive thoughts, and the pressure to “bounce back” can make even the simplest moments feel unmanageable. Postpartum depression is not a personal failure—it’s a physiological and emotional response that deserves expert, compassionate care.

At Holistic Therapy & Wellness New York, my boutique psychotherapy practice in Manhattan, I work closely with women facing postpartum depression, perinatal anxiety, and other hormone-related mental health challenges. Using a trauma-informed blend of EMDR, somatic therapy, and mind-body psychotherapy, I help you process the emotional toll of new motherhood, regulate your nervous system, and gently reconnect with a sense of stability, clarity, and self-worth. For many clients, therapy becomes a vital sanctuary—a place to speak honestly, feel supported, and heal without judgment.

In addition to emotional support, I provide holistic care integration, including referrals for functional medicine, hormonal assessments, and wellness practitioners when needed. Whether you're a new mother battling insomnia and emotional fatigue, or a professional woman experiencing the destabilizing effects of hormonal shifts, you don’t have to figure this out alone. With the right therapeutic support, healing is possible—and you can begin to feel like yourself again.

If you’ve found that traditional talk therapy hasn’t brought you the level of transformation you’re seeking, you’re not alone. Many people reach a point in their healing journey where they crave a more embodied, integrative approach—one that addresses not only thoughts and behaviors, but also the nervous system, trauma responses, and internal patterns of self-protection.

Somatic Parts Work is a powerful therapeutic method that combines the principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy with somatic trauma healing. This integrative approach supports deeper emotional healing by working directly with the mind-body system and the inner “parts” or subpersonalities that shape our experiences.

What Is Somatic Parts Work?

Somatic Parts Work is a gentle, yet effective method for treating trauma, emotional distress, and chronic internal conflict. It is rooted in the belief—central to IFS—that the human psyche is made up of multiple parts, each with its own perspective, emotion, and role. Some of these parts carry burdens from the past, while others try to protect us from emotional pain by suppressing vulnerability, controlling our environment, or avoiding risk.

Through somatic therapy, we can tune into these parts not just cognitively, but felt-sense-wise—through bodily awareness, nervous system cues, and physical sensation. This embodied access allows for profound healing and integration.

How Does Somatic Parts Therapy Work?

In a typical session, your therapist will guide you in cultivating a deeper connection to your Core Self—the wise, compassionate, and calm inner presence that exists beneath your protective parts. From this grounded place, you'll begin to gently explore the parts of you that may be:woman

Trauma bonds are not ordinary attachments—they are survival-driven connections formed in the shadow of emotional abuse. They arise from repeated cycles of idealization and devaluation, warmth followed by withdrawal, praise laced with punishment. These unpredictable patterns of affection and cruelty create a powerful psychological hook that binds you to someone who may be hurting you. Even after the relationship ends, the imprint remains. You might find yourself thinking about them constantly, doubting your decision to leave, or craving their validation despite knowing how much pain they caused. This is not love. This is the trauma bond at work.

Trauma bonding is common in narcissistic relationships, emotionally abusive dynamics, and situations involving power imbalance. It leaves you stuck in a push-pull pattern where logic says “run,” but your nervous system says “stay.” You may intellectually understand that the relationship was toxic or unsafe, yet still feel pulled back in. That inner conflict—of knowing and still longing—is not a personal failure. It’s a trauma response.

Healing from this kind of emotional entanglement requires more than insight or willpower. It calls for a deeper level of healing—one that addresses the body’s stress response, rewires attachment pathways, and restores a sense of safety from the inside out. This is exactly where EMDR therapy proves to be a transformative and empowering tool for narcissistic abuse recovery.

Why High-Functioning Anxiety Is So Common in New York City

In a metropolis where 5 AM workouts, 14-hour workdays, and perfectly curated feeds feel “normal,” it’s easy to miss the warning signs of chronic stress. High-functioning anxiety allows you to perform while you’re quietly:

• Replaying every conversation in your head

• Feeling guilty the moment you slow down

• Taking on more responsibility to prove your worth

• Living with jaw tension, migraines, or gut issues

• Worrying you’ll drop a ball—then working harder to keep them all in the air

Because productivity never falters, colleagues and friends rarely see the cost: brittle nerves, stalled joy, and a body that’s always running on adrenaline.

What Exactly Is High-Functioning Anxiety?

High-functioning anxiety isn’t an official DSM diagnosis; it’s a lived experience that blends Generalized Anxiety Disorder, perfectionism, and people-pleasing. Externally you appear:

• Capable, collected, and always on time

• Hyper-organized and detail-oriented

• Socially poised—hosting, leading, mentoring

Internally, you may feel:

• A near-constant “buzz” of worry or dread

• Panic when your calendar isn’t maxed out

• Fear of being exposed as an imposter

• Exhaustion that no amount of sleep fixes

Left unaddressed, the pattern can lead to burnout, hormone imbalance, relationship conflicts, and stress-related illness.

Why Traditional Self-Help Tips Fall Short

Generic advice—“just meditate,” “say no,” “take a spa day”—rarely works for women whose identity and livelihood depend on high performance. Sustainable change requires:

1. Nervous-System Recalibration that lowers the body’s baseline stress signal

2. Trauma & Attachment Healing to rewrite the deeper message that worth equals output

3. Lifestyle Re-Design that protects ambition and honors rest

That’s where integrative, trauma-informed psychotherapy can be life-changing.

In the quiet aftermath of emotional manipulation, gaslighting, and psychological betrayal, survivors of narcissistic abuse often find themselves asking: Will I ever feel like myself again? At Holistic Therapy & Wellness New York, I want you to know the answer is yes. Healing is not only possible—it’s your birthright. I’ve seen it happen!

Can You Truly Recover from Narcissistic Abuse?

Yes. Absolutely. But healing from narcissistic abuse is not a one-size-fits-all journey. It’s a deeply personal, layered process that involves reclaiming your identity, restoring your sense of safety, and rewriting the story that was shaped in the shadow of someone else’s control.

In my boutique psychotherapy practice in New York City, I work closely with individuals who’ve been affected by narcissists in romantic relationships, families, workplaces, and even therapeutic or spiritual settings. Whether the abuse occurred recently or decades ago, the effects can be disorienting, lingering, and deeply confusing. But you are not broken—you are adapting, surviving, and ready for change.

At Holistic Therapy & Wellness New York, I offer a trauma-informed, integrative approach to help you break free from the invisible grip of narcissistic abuse. Whether you're navigating the aftermath of a toxic relationship, rediscovering your identity, or learning to trust yourself again, I provide a compassionate, expert space where deep healing can unfold. Using evidence-based modalities such as EMDR, somatic psychotherapy, attachment repair, and nervous system regulation, I support high-functioning individuals in untangling complex emotional patterns and reclaiming inner freedom. My boutique NYC psychotherapy practice is uniquely tailored to those who seek personalized, high-touch care rooted in both clinical insight and holistic wisdom. If you're ready to release old survival strategies and embody your worth, I invite you to begin this transformative work with me. Healing from narcissistic abuse is not just possible—it’s profoundly empowering. Let’s begin your recovery, together.

In the throes of a panic attack, it can feel utterly indistinguishable from dying. Your heart pounds like it's about to give out, your chest tightens, your breath comes in shallow gasps—or disappears altogether—and your vision may narrow as a wave of dizziness and unreality crashes over you. The terror is primal, total, and convincing: something is deeply wrong.Many people rush to the ER certain they're having a heart attack, only to be told their body is responding to fear, not failure. But in that moment, logic vanishes. Panic hijacks your nervous system and convinces you this is the end. And yet—every time—it passes. You survive. The work of healing begins by understanding that what you’re experiencing isn’t madness or weakness, but your body sounding an alarm that something needs care, attention, and repair.

Katrina was driving across the Williamsburg Bridge—just another part of her daily New York City commute—when it happened. Out of nowhere, her heart pounded, her vision blurred, and a crushing wave of dread swept over her. Trapped in traffic high above the East River, she felt like she couldn’t breathe—convinced she was going to lose control or pass out behind the wheel. Though the panic subsided, everything changed after that moment.

Now, she avoids the bridge altogether, rerouting through side streets, canceling meetings in Brooklyn, and meticulously planning every trip to prevent another episode. This is the hidden reality of panic disorder for many high-functioning New Yorkers: one terrifying event followed by a life increasingly shaped by fear, avoidance, and the haunting question—what if it happens again?

What Is Panic Disorder?

Panic disorder is a complex anxiety condition marked by sudden and repeated panic attacks—intense surges of fear that peak within minutes and trigger distressing physical symptoms such as a racing heart, dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, and a feeling of detachment from reality. Many individuals report feeling as though they’re dying or “going crazy.” Unlike general anxiety, panic disorder includes a persistent worry about future attacks, which often leads to avoidant behaviors. For New Yorkers, this can mean steering clear of subways, elevators, bridges, high-rise buildings, or crowded events—shrinking one's world in a city where independence and mobility are everything.

People who have experienced trauma often develop an acute ability to endure discomfort, whether it's emotional, mental, or physical. Having navigated through profound adversity, their capacity to withstand pain and uncertainty becomes heightened over time. While this resilience can serve them in surviving difficult situations, it can also create a paradox—what was once a survival mechanism becomes a pattern of tolerating unhealthy dynamics, stifling growth, and preventing healing. This ability to endure, honed through hardship, can sometimes mean accepting stress, imbalance, and disconnection in relationships or everyday life. Yet, recognizing this tendency is the first step in breaking the cycle and reclaiming the power to prioritize well-being and growth.

When you are experiencing distance, tension, or difficulty in your relationships, you may experience feelings of abandonment, rejection, a lack of empathy, anger, disappointment, hopelessness, shame, and other emotions. Most New York couples enter relationship counseling in some state of despair. Often, they have struggled for years, and in a last-ditch attempt to save the relationship, they begin couples therapy. At this point, communication has eroded, distance is the norm, and sex is nearly nonexistent. Reasonably high-functioning couples often begin therapy to navigate difficult circumstances, seeking guidance from a relationship therapist or coach. Couples counseling is typically sought by two people who are in a romantic relationship and are experiencing challenges they want to address together. These individuals are committed to improving their relationship, whether that’s through resolving conflict, improving communication, rebuilding trust, or working through other issues that may be impacting their bond.

As an experienced couple and relationship therapist with a private practice in New York, I have witnessed many challenges among successful, busy New York and NYC couples. Still, often, problems are rooted in the same recurring issues. In our counseling sessions, we focus on creating a safe environment for sharing thoughts, feelings, and emotions. We work on active listening skills, identify important patterns in your relationship, express individual needs, build empathy, set goals, and develop effective conflict resolution skills. Sessions are virtual. 60, 90, or 120 minutes, and we can meet online wherever in the world you happen to be.

Betrayal trauma in an intimate relationship is unlike any other form of betrayal. It shatters your heart and changes your relationship forever. If you have a history of relational trauma or betrayal, it can feel even more impactful. When a partner cheats, it doesn’t have to ruin a marriage, though it can certainly be a turning point. How a couple navigates through it depends on many factors, such as the nature of the betrayal, the level of trust, the history of the relationship, and, most importantly, the willingness of both partners to heal and rebuild. Now the real work begins after an intimate betrayal disrupts a relationship. Couple therapy will not succeed in healing the trauma if both partners are not fully committed.

Some couples can work through betrayal by having open, honest conversations, seeking counseling, and rebuilding trust over time. It can be a long and painful process, but it’s not impossible. Others, however, might find the betrayal too much to overcome, or they are unwilling to remain in the relationship. A skilled and experienced relationship counselor can help you identify the root causes of the affair and uncover deeper issues within the relationship and the partner who strayed.

Can my marriage ever be whole again? Will we ever move beyond this? Can I forgive? Can I ever trust my spouse again? Can we truly experience full healing after betrayal trauma? Can I hold hope that are relationship can be even more fulfilling?

These questions are heavy on the soul. When someone you love betrays you, it can have profound emotional, psychological, and even physical effects.

If so, you are likely to have your share of questions about how to identify, manage, escape from, and avoid future entanglements with narcissistic people. As a psychotherapist from New York City, I work with couples and individuals who present with many symptoms of narcissistic abuse or describe patterns of emotional abuse in their primary relationships. It’s not just men, women can also have narcissistic traits or NPD. Oftentimes, a member of a couple will complain that their partner is a narcissist when actually, they also have these traits. It can make the work of therapy challenging. For anyone involved with a narcissist, it's heartbreaking to realize that years, and even decades, have been spent under the rule of a tyrannical parent or partner. Parents, bosses, and partners with narcissistic personality disorder or strong traits have the potential to powerfully and negatively impact your physical and emotional health and wellbeing.

You may be traumatized, numb, and shut down from years of experiences with family members. You may also find yourself repeating this pattern in your current relationships by seeking out narcissistic partners. And so the neurotic dance of repetition compulsion begins. You're now wondering why you are questioning if you are the "crazy and confused" one in your relationship. Reality test: narcissists and psychopaths exhibit crazy-making behaviors. Narcissists project a lot—they come fully loaded with accusations and criticisms. What's crazy-making is that most of what the narcissist claims YOU are doing is exactly what THEY are doing. A seasoned therapist can support your personal growth and help you develop high-level skills for dealing with the narcissist in your life. 

EMDR Therapy, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a popular form of healing, powerful healing. As people become more comfortable talking about their mental health concerns, we see more people discussing EMDR, especially celebrities. What is EMDR? When something terrible happens to us, it is stored in our brain and nervous system in a different way than our everyday experiences. Memories and sensations show up when we are least expecting it, just like that, your day has been hijacked. EMDR therapy helps to make the memory less disturbing.

Research reveals that EMDR is a powerful therapeutic approach for resolving symptoms of PTSD and for processing trauma and negative experiences. EMDR has been extensively researched and is recognized as effective by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization for treating PTSD. Many individuals experience significant symptom reduction and improvement in their overall well-being after undergoing EMDR therapy.

You are a dynamic, self-reliant woman who seeks therapy to help you find a more rewarding work-life balance, whatever form that may take. Changing entrenched behaviors, thoughts and relationship patterns is possible with the right help. You need a therapist who is able to relate to your unique needs and desires. You are keenly aware that your self-doubt, anxiety, and perfectionism create unnecessary standards.

You struggle most days with not feeling like you are “enough.” Your inner critic distorts your view of yourself, and this impacts your ability to see yourself in a realistic. Your relationships may also be struggling especially when your “people-pleasing” tendencies interfere, and this is not how you want to be in relation to others. It’s frustrating because you know that you have what it takes to succeed in all the areas of your life, but these daunting dynamics keep you from living to your fullest potential. Whatever has shaped your current reality, living authentically is challenging when fear, anxiety, and self-doubt impact your daily decisions.

Marriage and couple therapy can be a game-changer—especially for high-functioning couples living in a high-stress, fast-paced city like New York. In a culture that celebrates independence, drive, and productivity, even the most successful couples often find themselves struggling in silence. The truth is, success in life doesn’t automatically translate to ease in love.

As a licensed couple therapist in Manhattan, I specialize in helping ambitious, intelligent couples navigate the hidden struggles that often accompany high achievement: emotional disconnect, communication breakdowns, power imbalances, and the erosion of intimacy in the face of relentless demands. These issues don’t mean your relationship is broken—they mean you're human.

High-Functioning, Successful—and Struggling in Private

While your lifestyle may appear polished and enviable, many high-achieving couples quietly experience:

• Difficulty balancing career demands and emotional closeness

• Persistent conflict masked by professionalism or polite avoidance

• Deep loneliness despite shared success

• A desire for intimacy and understanding that feels just out of reach

In my practice, I work with New York City couples to build healthier emotional foundations, restore connection, and create relationships that are as strong as their résumés.

Common Challenges Faced by Successful Couples in NYC

Of course, there are other challenges that high-functioning couples face behind closed doors. Let’s explore some of the most common relational stressors I see in therapy:

Difficulty Prioritizing Quality Time Together

New Yorkers are over-scheduled. With ambitious careers, demanding jobs, parenting responsibilities, and social obligations, quality time between partners often falls to the bottom of the list. Many couples feel emotionally starved despite being under the same roof. Therapy can help you build strategies for time management and prioritizing shared rituals—like regular date nights or weekend getaways—to maintain connection and deepen intimacy.

Individuals struggling with addiction have many holistic and evidence-based therapies to help them heal the root cause of their addictions. Some valuable treatment options to address addictive states includes: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), as just a few examples. There are other modalities that can be equally as effective with addiction. Therapists trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS), sometimes known as parts work, can attest to the importance of offering this valuable approach in the treatment of addiction.

Parts Work Therapy, also known as Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, is a therapeutic approach that helps individuals explore and understand their inner thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by viewing the mind as a collection of different "parts." These parts represent different aspects of a person's personality and can be in conflict with each other.

Struggling with addiction or substance abuse/misuse is a common reason people reach out for therapy. Addiction is a disease that affects a person's brain and behavior and typically leads to an inability to control the use of a substance or behavior which always has consequences. When you are addicted, you may continue using the drug, device or behavior despite the harm it causes to your work, relationships and emotional and physical health.

What is addiction and substance abuse? Substance abuse disorder is a complex brain disease that causes you to compulsively seek out and use alcohol, drugs and addictive behaviors despite dangerous and harmful consequences. Substance abuse disorder and addiction causes distorted thoughts, behaviors, and body function. There is a genetic component

Substance abuse and addiction causes symptoms and behaviors including:

• Feeling a need or urge to use the substance or engage in the behavior regularly

• Needing more and more of the substance or behavior to feel the effects

• Time spent ensuring that you have a steady supply of the substance or spending money you don’t have on the substance or behavior

• Failing to meet your personal and professional obligations and responsibilities

• Experiencing withdrawal symptoms

• You feel a worsening of your cognition, with impaired decision-making and memory

• You may do things you would not normally do or later regret acquiring the substance

Do You Have A Harsh Inner Critic That Sabotages Your Life? You don’t have to be a trauma survivor to have a harsh inner critic. The self-critical inner voice is persistent and continues to negatively judge and even sabotage dreams and aspirations. In fact, mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety can be rooted in this unhealthy self-dynamic. As anyone tormented by an unkind inner-critic knows, The near-constant flood of negative feelings and emotions linked to the inner critic can also be a great source of stress and self-sabotage.

The truth is, we all have different “parts” that make up our personality, and in ego psychology, we call these sub-personalities. These parts are part of an internal system, kind of like a family that lives within. Sounds extreme, and yet we are not talking about having multiple personalities in the same way someone with a diagnosis of a personality disorder or DID exhibits unintegrated parts (although that is considered the extreme presentation of the same continuum). Have you ever caught yourself saying, “well, part of me wants to do it, and another part says no.” How common is this? A part of you that seeks adventure leans in to the prospect, while a more cautious, protector part steps on the brake.

Traumatic experiences change the brain. Some changes are meant to protect from future negative experiences. Just as trauma changes the brain, it is possible to heal the brain. Trauma symptoms that live in the nervous system do not have to hold you in its grip forever. As you continue to think, talk, re-tell and act on your experience(s), you reinforce your attachment to what happened, as well as your brain’s wiring and connection, and this serves to maintain your symptoms as you loop on the upsetting memory and trauma responses. As a New York City based Psychotherapist, I work with individuals who have experienced trauma and would like to heal and improve their lives.

The brain and body is designed to heal. We now know that the brain has an amazing capacity to heal by creating new neural pathways. This process is called neuroplasticity. When people are finally able to regain control over their thoughts, behaviors, responses and lives, the brain's limbic system,

As a psychotherapist and coach in Manhattan, I treat clients struggling with a range of concerns, from stress and life challenges to recovery from addictions and trauma. Many have suffered developmental trauma(s) or single incident trauma and now have symptoms of PTSD negatively impacting many aspects of their lives, including personal relationships and work.

In order to understand EMDR, one needs to be clear about how trauma can affect the brain. When an individual experiences a traumatic event or multiple traumas they may develop what is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD as a response to the overwhelming event(s). When this occurs, the brain fails to successfully process the trauma leaving it "stuck" or "frozen" in the central nervous system. This often leads to numbness, dissociation, severe anxiety, depression, insomnia, addictions, physical complaints and an inability to experience "safety." In everyday life, in the here and now, the body fails to recognize that the person is now safe and it reacts as though the danger is current and in present time, leaving the individual in a state of emotional and physical arousal.

EMDR therapy as a treatment, is unique because it facilitates the processing of trauma information that has become "stuck" in the nervous system. The various elements of EMDR therapy serves to rewire the brain, calm the nervous system and lessen anxiety and symptoms. It "uploads" a more corrective experience, moving the client from pain and danger to "I survived," "It wasn't my fault" or "I did all that I could" as examples.

Holistic Psychotherapy is beneficial for people of all ages, and it’s never too late to begin developing healthier lifestyle habits. No matter your age, mental health issues can interfere with your wellbeing throughout your lifespan. Individuals and couples enter therapy with a unique set of challenges and goals. As a holistic psychotherapist with a private practice in NYC, I specialize in helping older adolescents, adults and couples who experience struggle in their day to day lives. My focus is to help you uncover the root cause of your struggle in psychotherapy, as holistic psychotherapists believe that this is the best path forward to support your mental health recovery. Let me explain the many ways therapy can help make your life better.

Psychotherapy offers the opportunity for an individual to better understand and change patterns of behavior, feelings, and relationships that are getting in the way of your functioning. Psychotherapy offers the opportunity for an individual to understand and change patterns of behavior, feelings, and relationships that are getting in the way of higher-functioning. Good therapy can enable you to have richer, fuller and more meaningful life experiences.

What Does Holistic Psychotherapy Do?

If traditional talk therapy has left you feeling discouraged with your healing progress, EMDR might be the solution that finally leads to symptom reduction. Many psychotherapists who are skilled with EMDR therapy are successfully working with their patients online using virtual EMDR. Many of us discovered that we could begin or continue EMDR Therapy virtually during the pandemic.

As a specialist in trauma therapy and an advanced level II EMDR practitioner in New York City, I have been helping patients heal and address challenges through online EMDR therapy. Many feel better after just a handful of sessions and will say “why didn’t my therapist tell me about this sooner?” Not everyone is trained in EMDR, but those who practice this modality know just how effective EMDR therapy is. EMDR is most commonly known to resolve PTSD and trauma. It’s also very effective for getting to the root cause of anxiety, depression, chronic sadness, addictions, compulsions, eating disorders, fears, phobias, grief, performance enhancement, and so much more.

EMDR therapy uses a process called Bilateral Stimulation to facilitate healing. Virtual EMDR therapists help patients process trauma using self-administered BLS by tapping on the knees, butterfly hug tapping or online software that stimulates rapid eye movement such as remotEMDR. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) focuses on reducing the impact that episodic distress, anxiety, fear, depression, phobias, triggers, negative emotions and traumatic memories have on your life.