Dr. Patricia Hunter

Psychologist

Dr Hunter is a psychologist and psychoanalyst.  She is interested in helping people move from feeling DEAD, meaning shut down, numb, and uninspired, to feeling RED, like the color, full of passion, vibrancy and light-in other words, from feeling unimaginative or gray, to feeling full of psychic energy, and more creative about the little things AND big things. She knows how to help you understand what you dream about and why, what your unconscious parts might be trying to tell you. Trained in psychology, psychoanalysis, IFS (Internal Family Systems), EMDR, and CBT, Dr Hunter knows how to help people develop better emotional habits ,that are life sustaining instead of life denying. Along with her private practice, she  teaches and supervises candidates at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and previously taught at the Suffolk Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.
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Dr Hunter believes that patients should have a voice in their therapy and  she asks her patients 'how are we doing.?' Negative feedback is as important as positive and she welcomes it all. No relationship, even the therapy relationship, is perfect and fine tuning is part of the process. Building trust and a feeling of emotional safety is her first priorty and everything flows from there.
Dr Hunter has a full time practice in New York City, in person and by telehealth depending on preference. Some people insist on in person sessions initially ,and then find that zoom calls are every bit as effective. Others don't. It all depends.

Dr Hunter feels strongly about helping couples caught in vicious cycles of criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling. The renowned researchers John and Julie Gottman call these bad habits the  FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE. Dr Hunter likes helping couples turn themselves around, so their relationships can have more fun, surprise and meaning at their core. She also welcomes couples struggling with trust and long term feelings of disappointment. These patterns take time to tease out, untangle, and rebraid into patterns that are softer and more meaningful.
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Finally, as she has grown older, she has also grown more interested in helping people transform depressed and inflexible thinking patterns about the aging process, into more youthful and life sustaining ones. She thinks our older years should be our best ones. . Learn More