If you’re going through infidelity issues with your partner you are not alone. Nearly 50% of all marriages experience infidelity. That’s a huge number of couples struggling with betrayal and all the associated trauma that comes with it!  Betrayal trauma can be an incredibly confusing and painful experience and we’re here to shed some light on the possibilities for healing. Not everyone will stay together as a couple to heal, though it is certainly possible. Whether you choose to do the work together or separated we’ll outline what each partner can do to experience the deep healing work th ..read more

Chronic pain can be debilitating, defeating, and confusing, but here to break it all down for you today is chronic pain expert Lily Morgan (LMSW). Lily specializes in the treatment of Neuroplastic Pain, Psychophysiological Disorders, and Tension Myositis Syndrome through her work with Somatic Therapy and Pain Reprocessing Therapy here at Brooklyn Somatic Therapy. Don’t know what any of those things mean yet? Never fear.  In this podcast episode, Lily dives deep into her own personal journey of healing chronic pain which led her to specialize in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, an integrative ..read more

Are you looking to heal the very old wounds created in childhood? Maybe you’ve tried to heal them with prior therapists by talking about your pain, learning about these old wounds, yet without any symptom alleviation. Or maybe you’ve tried to redirect your feelings, through medication and/or telling yourself to focus on positive feelings and mantras. Regardless of which method you’ve tried to feel better, something isn’t quite working, and you are still feeling depressed, anxious or stuck with PTSD symptoms.  At Brooklyn Somatic Therapy, we specialize in healing childhood trauma. We do t ..read more

If mindfulness is getting left out of your therapy, you’re missing out.  Traditionally, mindfulness and psychotherapy have been used as two separate approaches. You go to therapy to talk through issues and gain insight about your life but mindfulness practices are done separately, if at all.  Here’s 5 ways mindfulness makes therapy more effective and speeds up your growth and healing… 1.Turning Off the Engine  Our brains are busy machines, handling many different complex operations at once. We zip through our lives like cars in motion. Sometimes we get a signal that something is ..read more

When considering psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, it’s important to consider the context of your psychedelic experience. We often hear people talk about the importance that the “set and setting” has for psychedelic experiences. The idea of “set and setting” was first used by Timothy Leary in 1964. “Set” is shorthand for your mindset: How you feel, your mood, your personality, your expectations, your hopes and fears are all important factors in determining the direction of a journey. “Setting” refers to the physical environment that you’re in during a psychedelic experience. Things such as t ..read more

Why are anti-depressants ineffective for so many people? If you’re one of the millions of people that have tried SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) for depression and anxiety (brands like Prozac, Lexapro, Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil, and others) and found them ineffective, worry not. You are part of a large club that includes fully half of the human population. Until recently, scientists had no good explanation as to why the drugs are failing half of the time (and eventually stop working a third of time), and no good options for those who continue to suffer with depression. But a major ..read more

By Ben Kagedan, PsyD, Director of Clinical Training As psychedelic medicine moves more and more into the mainstream, a new speciality has sprung up in the mental health world - psychedelic integration. In this post we’ll explore just what psychedelic integration is all about, and how a psychotherapist can play an important role in the integration process. Psychedelics and Neuroplasticity A psychedelic experience, by its very definition, is one that takes us temporarily out of ordinary consciousness. What is ordinary consciousness? We have a limited number of neurons in our brains, and those n ..read more

Partnering can be emotionally messy business, and talking about hard feelings with your partner can be even messier. Like it or not, making someone your significant other is like handing them a set of keys to the most tender parts of your heart. And since no one is perfectly attentive, patient and understanding all the time, you’re inevitably going to sting each other time and again without even trying. Learning how to communicate more skillfully about your feelings and your needs can mean the difference between a minor kerfuffle and week-long standoff. But by slowing down and being intentiona ..read more

Coupling up is an experiment in love that we as a species just can’t stop trying. But let’s be real- it is not a cakewalk. In fact, existing happily as a long-term couple takes intention and skill. Since we don’t learn in school how to communicate skillfully with a love partner, most couples at one point or another ask for advice, pick up a book, attend a workshop, or get into couples therapy. Because we bring our oldest attachment wounds and strategies with us into love relationships, it’s very easy for even loving and supportive partnerships to become emotionally burnt out. Rather than gett ..read more

By Benjamin Kagedan PsyD, Director of Clinical Training Perhaps you’ve heard about somatic therapy through a friend, colleague, or Google search, and are feeling curious about just what it is and what makes it different from traditional talk therapy. As a therapist who has trained and worked extensively on both sides of the divide, I’d love to share my sense of the important distinctions between the two. Both ways of practicing are valuable, and certainly have a good deal in common. Which style you choose will depend on the issues you’re seeking help with, your past experiences with therapy ..read more