Well+Being Holistic Mental Health
Emotional Health & Wellness Tips From The Therapy Couch And Other Places
Unlocking the Power of Mind-Body Connection: A Guide for Cognitive Therapists, Therapists In Training & Psychotherapy Clients
As cognitive therapists, we’ve long relied on the power of thought and dialogue to help clients navigate their mental health challenges. But what if there’s more to healing than just the mind? What if the body itself holds untapped wisdom that can accelerate recovery and promote deeper emotional regulation? For psychology students, interns, new therapists, and seasoned professionals alike, integrating somatic therapies into traditional talk therapy offers an exciting opportunity to expand your therapeutic toolkit and provide more comprehensive care to clients—especially those grappling with trauma.
Like many New Yorkers, you may be new to therapy; understanding somatic approaches can be crucial for your healing journey. Unlike traditional talk therapy which focuses primarily on thoughts and emotions, somatic therapy recognizes the deep connection between mind and body. This approach can be particularly beneficial if you've experienced trauma, anxiety, or depression, as these issues often manifest physically in ways you might not realize. By learning to tune into your body's sensations and responses, you can gain valuable insights into your emotional state and develop more effective coping strategies. Somatic therapy can help you release stored tension, improve emotional regulation, and enhance your overall sense of well-being. For those who find it challenging to verbalize their feelings or who feel "stuck" in traditional therapy, somatic techniques offer a new pathway to self-awareness and healing.
Consider Couples Therapy Now Before Minor Concerns Become Bigger Issues Or Even A Crisis.
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.
Relationship Repair After Infidelity & Intimate Betrayal
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.
Has Your Life Been Hijacked By A Narcissist?
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.
Difficult People: Saving Yourself From The Crazymakers In Your Life
We all have challenging people in our lives. The individuals who ignore our boundaries, seek constant attention, create drama, set traps, and leave a trail of destruction, ultimately causing us to feel confused, invalidated, and overwhelmed by the resulting chaos. If this sounds familiar, you are likely struggling to manage difficult people in your life. Sometimes, avoiding these individuals is not an option, which presents a real challenge. They are your exes, colleagues, friends, siblings, parents. Perhaps your life demands regular contact with them, leaving you with feelings of dread and terror and sometimes actual physical symptoms.
Difficult people drain your energy and consistently engage in controlling, destructive, manipulative, and reckless behaviors. They leave a path of destruction in their wake.
They often create traps for you, making it appear as though there is no way to win. They demand attention and create drama and more drama. Their behaviors show up as excessive negativity, anger, aggression, addictions, recklessness, splitting (extremes of good/bad), pathological envy and jealousy, grandiosity, trap-setting, gaslighting, and sabotage. They may already have an actual psychiatric diagnosis, such as Histrionic, Borderline, Narcissistic, or Antisocial Personality Disorder, and behaviors symptomatic of trauma, abuse, and substance abuse.
You experience fatigue and you’re overwhelmed from being in their negative vibration, and the practical aspects of cleaning up their messes can feel daunting. They don't care who they hurt with their aggression and their destructive nature, even their children. You may even wonder if you are the crazy one as they engage in projection, shaming, and blaming behaviors. Essentially, they play the victim, turning things around in a nanosecond. What follows are some important things to remember:
Engage Your Vagus Nerve: Breathing And Restorative Techniques For Relaxation, Insomnia, Chronic Illness, Pain And Limbic System Dysfunction
It seems like everyone is talking about vagal nerve theory these days, and stress and chronic illness may be at an all-time high. Many individuals are seeking alternatives to traditional "talk" therapy to address their mental, physical, and spiritual needs. Worries about the long-term impact of chronic stress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia are a topic of concern for many of my somatic psychotherapy and coaching clients.
A Brief Explanation Of Vagal Theory
The Vagus Nerve, which means "wandering nerve" in Latin, is a cranial nerve that extends from the brainstem (the lower part of the human brain) to the ears, travels down the front of the neck, and reaches all the way to the gut and intestines. the way into th The vagal nerve theory suggests that the vagus nerve, which is the longest cranial nerve in the body, plays a central role in regulating various bodily functions, including heart rate, digestion, immune response, and stress management. It acts as a key pathway for communication between the brain and the body's organs.
In particular, the theory emphasizes the role of the vagus nerve in the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation and recovery after stress. Stimulation of the vagus nerve has been linked to improved emotional regulation, reduced inflammation, and even therapeutic effects for conditions like depression and anxiety.
The vagus nerve is thought to help mediate the body's "rest and digest" responses, counteracting the "fight or flight" reactions driven by the sympathetic nervous system.
Creating Your Daily Refuge With The “Safe Place” Exercise
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is one of the more powerful and transformative therapies designed to help individuals heal from distressing memories and traumatic experiences. As a licensed psychotherapist in New York, I have been providing EMDR therapy for many years. While I enjoy offering other therapeutic modalities, I consistently return to EMDR because it is so effective! One of its essential elements is introduced in the initial protocol of resourcing, and it’s called “Safe Place.” In EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, the Safe Place exercise is a foundational technique often used in the early phases of treatment. It is designed to help the client access a mental or emotional "safe space" that they can visualize when experiencing distressing memories or emotions during the therapeutic process.
Counseling For Empowerment And Increasing Self-Worth
Feeling inadequate or "not enough" eventually becomes exhausting. Like many, you are tired of struggling with a poor self-image and self-doubt. Your dreams and life goals are taking a backseat to the constant striving without success. Your life would be more meaningful if you could finally feel like you are enough. Low self-esteem happens for many reasons, and how you talk to yourself also impacts self-esteem. If you want to change your negative self-talk, therapists have various tools to help you achieve that goal.
You can improve your mood and enhance your emotional well-being by learning to shift negative self-talk. Once you learn some of these valuable skills in therapy, you may begin to notice how your negative self-evaluation has led to anxiety, sadness, depression, and low self-esteem. Shifting the way you speak to yourself is not easy, it takes practice. What follows are some helpful strategies to help you on your journey to improve your self-esteem.
No, EMDR Doesn’t Work For Everyone, And Here’s Why
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.
Helping Dynamic Women Heal In 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.
When Therapy Doesn’t Work: Why It Happens and What to Do Next
For New Yorkers, therapy can be a powerful resource—but it doesn’t always work the way we hope. Sometimes, despite the best intentions on both sides, the therapy process breaks down. Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s them. Maybe it’s just not the right fit. But one thing is clear: therapy that doesn’t work leaves both the therapist and the client disappointed.
In many traditional psychotherapy training programs—including those rooted in psychodynamic or psychoanalytic theory—when therapy fails, the burden is often placed squarely on the client: resistance, lack of motivation, poor insight. But in truth, therapy is a two-way street. It’s a complex and relational process. And when it stalls, both therapist and client deserve the space to reflect—not blame.
When Therapy Fails: A More Nuanced Understanding
At Holistic Therapy & Wellness NY, we take a multidimensional view of the therapy process. Healing is not one-size-fits-all. As a licensed psychotherapist and trauma-informed EMDR specialist in Manhattan, I know that therapy outcomes are shaped by many moving parts—clinical skill, relational fit, life circumstances, and the willingness of both participants to engage in the work.
Below are some common reasons why therapy may not succeed:
1. Mismatch Between Therapist and Client
A strong therapeutic alliance is the foundation of good therapy. Sometimes, despite credentials or experience, there’s simply a lack of chemistry, shared language, or attunement. If a client doesn’t feel seen or understood, progress can stall.
2. Unrealistic Expectations
Therapy isn’t a quick fix. In New York City, where productivity is prized, clients may expect rapid transformation. But meaningful change often requires time, vulnerability, and the willingness to sit in discomfort. Therapy works best when there’s a shared commitment to the long game.
Considering an Open Relationship? What NYC Couples Need to Know Before Exploring Non-Monogamy
You’ve just learned the couple next door are swingers. You’re intrigued—curious even. Maybe you’ve had conversations with your partner about what it might be like to open your relationship. Maybe you’re quietly wondering: Could this work for us?
In my New York City couples therapy practice, I regularly work with individuals and couples exploring alternative relationship styles—including ethical non-monogamy, polyamory, and swinging. These conversations are becoming more common as couples seek to redefine what intimacy, commitment, and love look like—on their own terms.
Before diving into an open relationship, it’s essential to understand what non-monogamy entails and whether it’s right for your unique relationship dynamic.
What Is an Alternative Relationship?
Alternative relationships refer to romantic and sexual partnerships that fall outside traditional monogamy. These include:
Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM): A broad term for any relationship structure involving multiple partners with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved.
Swinging: Typically involves couples engaging in recreational or social sex with other individuals or couples, often in group settings.
Polyamory: Involves forming multiple emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationships, where love is shared and nurtured with more than one partner.
Open Relationships: A primary couple allows for sexual experiences outside the relationship, often with boundaries in place.
Relationship Anarchy: Emphasizes freedom from traditional relationship labels, hierarchy, and rules. Every relationship is self-defined.
At Holistic Therapy & Wellness NY, I help couples navigate open relationship dynamics, clarify boundaries, and strengthen communication—whether they’re just curious or already exploring non-monogamy.
How to Find the Right Psychotherapist or Psychologist in NYC: A Comprehensive Guide
You’ve been to therapy before. You gained insight, built coping skills, and found stability. But life evolves—and sometimes, so do your mental health needs. Whether you’re revisiting familiar challenges, navigating a new loss or trauma, or facing relationship stress, it’s completely normal to return to therapy.
Deciding whether to reconnect with a former therapist or start fresh with someone new can feel like a big decision. In a city as vast and fast-moving as New York, the process of finding the right psychologist or licensed psychotherapist can feel overwhelming. With so many providers, specialties, and therapeutic approaches, how do you know where to begin?
Whether you’re looking for individual therapy for anxiety or depression, trauma resolution, or couples therapy in NYC, this guide will help you make an informed, empowered choice.
Why New York City Is a Hub for Skilled Therapists & Psychologists and Therapists
New York City is home to one of the most diverse and highly credentialed mental health communities in the world. You’ll find therapists trained in evidence-based approaches, somatic modalities, mindfulness, and cutting-edge trauma therapies. The city's rich cultural fabric also means more opportunities to find clinicians who understand and honor your identity, lifestyle, and lived experience.
Where to Begin: How to Find a Qualified Therapist or Psychologist in NYC
Natural and Holistic Alternatives for Anxiety: A Manhattan Psychotherapist’s Guide
Most of us struggle with anxiety from time to time. Many turn to prescription medications—such as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) or anxiolytics like benzodiazepines—to find relief. While these medications can be highly effective for some, others may experience unwanted side effects, limited symptom relief, or prefer to avoid long-term pharmaceutical use. Fortunately, there are safe, evidence-informed natural alternatives that can complement or, in some cases, replace medication.
As a holistic psychotherapist, I work with individuals who want to address anxiety through integrative methods. Whether you’re tapering off medication, hoping to avoid starting it altogether, or simply looking to supplement therapy with natural approaches, you deserve an individualized, science-informed plan tailored to your nervous system.
Why Choose a Holistic Approach to Anxiety?
Holistic anxiety treatment focuses on the whole person—mind, body, and nervous system. Unlike symptom-targeted approaches that rely solely on medication, holistic therapy integrates lifestyle changes, nutritional support, and mind-body techniques to uncover and treat the root causes of anxiety.
This approach may include:
Psychotherapy modalities such as EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, CBT, and mindfulness-based therapies
Complementary practices like breathwork, grounding, and movement
Amino acid therapy and targeted nutritional supplementation
Personalized lifestyle modifications to reduce stress and regulate the nervous system
How Anxiety Can Affect Your Life
Anxiety isn’t just “worry”—it’s a complex condition that can impact every area of functioning. Understanding its full range of effects helps normalize your experience and illuminate a path forward.
Emotional impact
Anxiety often brings intense feelings of fear, worry, and apprehension. These emotions can feel overwhelming and lead to sadness, irritability, or panic.Physical symptoms
Common physiological signs include a racing heart, dizziness, shortness of breath, GI upset, muscle tension, fatigue, and trembling. These sensations can mimic other health issues and be frightening in their own right.
Natural and Holistic Alternatives for ADHD: A Manhattan Psychotherapist’s Guide
Living in New York City means constantly navigating pressure, overstimulation, and high expectations. For adults with ADHD, the city’s fast pace can intensify the everyday challenges of focus, emotional regulation, and organization. Many high-performing New Yorkers with adult ADHD find themselves overwhelmed, even while excelling professionally or socially.
While stimulant medications like Vyvanse, Adderall or Ritalin can be helpful for some, others experience side effects, limited symptom relief, or simply want to avoid pharmaceuticals. If you're one of the many adults searching for non-stimulant ADHD treatment in NYC, there are holistic and evidence-informed alternatives worth exploring.
Understanding Adult ADHD: A Different Kind of Brain
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition—not a behavioral failure. Adult ADHD presents differently than childhood ADHD. You may not be hyperactive, but instead chronically distracted, disorganized, impulsive, or emotionally reactive. Many high-functioning adults in New York City go undiagnosed until adulthood, when workplace demands, relationships, or parenting responsibilities highlight their symptoms.
ADHD often runs in families and has been linked to structural and chemical differences in the brain. Diagnosis should always be conducted by a qualified mental health professional to ensure accurate identification and a personalized treatment plan.
Holistic ADHD Treatment in NYC: A Non-Stimulant Approach
If you're seeking natural ADHD treatment options in Manhattan or elsewhere in NYC, therapy can provide a strong foundation. In my practice, I work with adults to improve executive functioning, regulate emotions, and build sustainable routines without relying solely on medication.
Here are some of the holistic ADHD treatments we may explore:
Natural and Holistic Alternatives for Depression: A Manhattan Psychotherapist’s Guide
Antidepressants simply do not work for everyone, and for many reasons. Which leaves many depression sufferers searching for natural treatments to lift their depression. Some individuals are interested in reducing their meds altogether, which includes a more comfortable withdraw from benzodiazepines. There are many natural medicines that are safe and effective alternatives to antidepressants, that elegantly work alongside important lifestyle modifications. While these alternative treatments can be beneficial for some patients, it's essential to remember that depression is a complex condition, and what works for one person may not work for another. Additionally, alternative treatments should not replace prescribed medications or therapy but may be used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan tailored to the individual's needs and preferences. It's important to consult with a healthcare professional to determine the most appropriate treatment approach for depression. A mental health professional who is well-versed in appropriate and effective alternative treatments can also help you monitor your progress.
The Unique Challenges Of High-Functioning Couples In Couple Counseling
Marriage and couple therapy enjoys a high success rate for couples who want to improve their relationships, and New York City has some of the most intelligent, talented and high-performing people in the world. They also bring to relationship counseling unique challenges and struggles. Successful individuals tend to be independent, highly-focused and self-sufficient. These individuals are accustomed to handling their problems on their own and require a high degree of autonomy. They are also not immune to struggling with anxiety, depression and relationship problems. Sometimes their lives look ideal from the outside, and yet they struggle greatly. You may be tempted to idealize the successful couples that you know, imagining that they have it all figured out. I can tell you that as an experienced New York City couple therapist, the high-functioning couples that I encounter have their own unique challenges that bring them to couple counseling. Mostly, these couples grapple with navigating conflicts, balancing individual with couple needs, communication issues and maintaining intimacy. Of course there are other challenges that successful high-functioning couples face, so let’s have a closer look.
How Somatic Therapy & Parts Work Can Address Addictive States
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.
Healing Addiction With Counseling
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
Therapy Or Coaching: Choosing The Best Fit For You
Let’s begin with therapy. What is therapy?
Therapy, also known as counseling and psychotherapy, is a short-term or longer-term process in which a patient or client works with a licensed mental health professional to resolve problem beliefs, patterns, feelings, behaviors and relational patterns. Therapy tends to focus on past traumas, experiences and issues that are interfering with one’s sense of self and life-satisfaction. Therapy guides patients through the process of self-discovery, uncovering the internal conflicts and dynamics that keep them from having a more satisfying, meaningful and successful life.
Yes, personal coaches and therapists tend to help clients with similar problems, their work is not the same.
What is life coaching?
In life coaching, a client works with a coach who may or may not be a healthcare professional to clarify goals and identify barriers to success in order to create an action plan to move forward. A life coach focuses on where the client is in their life and helps them to create an action plan to work towards their goals.
The challenges that keep us stuck…
When you are feeling stuck, overwhelmed or challenged by a particular situation, or life in general, you may be considering seeking professional therapy or coaching. You have so many options now especially with online virtual therapy and coaching, and of course, helpful websites like Psychology Today, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.