Most people wait for too long to start psychotherapy. Then they wonder why it feels so hard.
I say this as a psychotherapist in New Jersey (and the United Kingdom) who specializes in working with complex trauma using somatic approaches, Polyvagal theory, and EMDR. I sit every day with people who are thoughtful, capable, self aware, and deeply exhausted. People who didn't come to therapy because their life was falling apart, but because holding it together was costing them everything.

I'm a psychotherapist in New Jersey and I specialize in working with complex trauma using somatic approaches Polyvagal theory and EMDR. I work with people who have experienced trauma and often I have found that we have spent years trying to “figure ourselves out,” only to feel stuck in the same cycles of anxiety, shut down, shame, or emotional overwhelm.

Wonderful to talk to Sam Brodsky about my 2025 Mental Health Wins. Mental Loan is a fantastic initiative, so check it out!

Complex PTSD, Polyvagal theory, and EMDR
 
If you have grown up in a threatening environment, you have had to adapt to survive. These adaptations are characteristic of CPTSD (Complex PTSD). The trouble is, these adaptations can leave you stuck in certain states, whether that is fight-or-flight, freeze, or dissociative shutdown.