Psychodynamic Therapy in NYC and Brooklyn

The Right Relationship
Changes Everything.

psychodynamic therapy nyc. Alissa Friedlander, LCSW

Two people paying close attention can see things one person alone can’t.

About the practice

The Work Takes Its Shape From You

Most people who find their way here have already tried to understand what they're carrying. What brings them to therapy isn't a lack of insight. It's the gap between understanding something and actually being able to change it.

This practice is built for that gap. We pay close enough attention, together, that the patterns shaping how you live and relate become visible. Visible enough to shift.

Patterns aren't problems to eliminate. They're information to understand. The goal isn't just relief. It's self-trust.

A Practice Built on Depth

  • Alissa Friedlander, LCSW - sitting in chair and writing in notebook

    Psychodynamic Therapy

    The work pays attention to the deeper patterns that shape how you relate to yourself and others.

  • close up image of Alissa Friedlander, LCSW hand writing in notebook

    Somatic Awareness

    Experiences are not just cognitive— they are held in the body. Alongside what you're saying, attention is given to the physical sensations, emotional responses and what they reveal beneath the surface.

  • olive taupe colored chair with notebook and pen atop of the chair

    Relational Work

    The therapy relationship itself is an integral part of the work. It offers a real-time space to explore connection, trust and patterns as they emerge.

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    Integrative Philosophy

    Influenced by psychoanalytic training and yoga philosophy, the work considers the mind, body, and relational history as interconnected.

Ready to learn more? LEARN ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER. 

Ready to learn more? LEARN ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER. 

— INDIVIDUAL THERAPY —

The work begins
with a conversation.

In-person in Brooklyn       |      Remote across New York State

MEET THE THERAPIST

Alissa Friedlander, LCSW

A woman with dark hair, wearing hoop earrings and a white shirt, sitting on a brown sofa and holding a beige mug in her hand, smiling at the camera in a cozy, light-colored room.

I am a psychodynamic and relational therapist based in Brooklyn. My focus is on the patterns beneath the symptoms. I attend to what repeats in addition to what is painful right now. The relationship between us becomes an instrument in itself, one that tends to reveal how you learned to be in relationships, often in ways you arrived at long before you had words for them.

My training also includes somatic work, shaped by years of yoga practice. The body often speaks before language does. I stay attentive to both registers at once — what you are saying, and what is moving beside it.

No two people are the same. That is what keeps this work alive, session after session.

AREAS OF FOCUS

The Work Often Begins Where Words fall Short.

Not a clear crisis — but a pattern, a feeling, or a dynamic that keeps repeating in ways that don't fully make sense yet. The work is always shaped around the individual — not reduced to a category.

Anxiety

Many clients arrive with a low, persistent sense of unease — overthinking conversations, second-guessing decisions, or feeling a quiet pressure they can't fully explain. Together, we look at what the anxiety may be pointing to underneath.

Anxiety Therapy

Attachment

Many of the ways we relate — to others and to ourselves — are shaped early, often outside of awareness. With more awareness, those patterns become less fixed and more open to change.

Attachment Therapy

Relationships

Relationships often bring patterns into sharper focus. The work explores the dynamics that continue to show up — how you attach, what you expect, what feels difficult to trust or express.

Relationship Therapy

New Moms

The transition into motherhood can be disorienting, even when it's deeply wanted. This work creates space for all of it — the visible and the unspoken — so that you don't have to navigate it alone.

Therapy for New Moms 

Frequently Asked