LCSW, PSYCHOTHERAPIST, FOUNDER
Pamela Polizzi

I specialize in working with people struggling with eating disorders, personality disorders, anxiety, depression & life transitions. I also treat individuals struggling with unresolved trauma, specifying relational trauma from their childhood.

Begin Healing Today

What it’s like to work with me

The individuals I work with often express their gratitude for my calming presence, my realness with them, and my direct, but thoughtful approach. I listen, and work on understanding what is going on for you, without judgment. I won’t let you off the hook if I’m feeling or noticing something I think could be important for us to wonder about together. For example, if I notice a repetition of your thinking, or behaviors, that have led to pain, and distress in the past, I’m not scared of being open & honest with you because it’s therapeutic impact can hold great significance in your overall growth.

I hold and create space to think, feel and be your most authentic, and vulnerable self. I provide containment and an environment that is built on being “there” with the other person. I believe it’s important that each person I work with feels seen, heard and understood. If I don’t know or understand something, I’m not scared to ask questions and learn, since it gives me more clarity on you, and your individual experience.

Speaking the truth to my patients about what I might be noticing in sessions is so important to me. This is where my gentle, but direct nature helps unravel, and peel back the layers of what is going underneath your eating disorder, or self-destructive thoughts or behaviors. My approach of listening, being curious by asking the right questions to clarify what exactly is going on for you, along with my genuine compassion for what you experience in your day-to-day life, is what I have found most useful in the work I do.

We won’t just focus on eliminating or reducing symptoms; we will also work together on understanding and lessening your internal or external turmoil, which in my experience leads to anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, eating disorder behaviors, and panic attacks (this is the “surface stuff” I keep referring to).

Most therapists find themselves seeking therapy, seeing the positive rewards of the work in their everyday life, and then decide to become therapists themselves…. This was the case for me. My own work in therapy started in my teens. I knew I wanted two things as a teenager: to be a therapist with a private practice in Manhattan and get married in Italy…. Spoiler alert: I’ve done both! My friends from high school lovingly joke that I am the only one of us that actually did what they said they were going to do–the truth is when I set a goal for myself nothing really stops me from going for it.
It was later on, in my first post graduate training program specializing in eating disorders, that I was first introduced to psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic psychotherapy (Professors in graduate school only spend about 20 minutes teaching students about 150 years worth of research– Thanks!). I was amazed at the intersection of Eating Disorders, actually most things we call “disorders”, or “symptoms” and how it's really more due to an emotional misattunement one has within themselves, that has usually developed very early on, or over time within a person.
There was a fire lit under me, I had so many questions and knew I needed more training to hopefully get answers, and to be the kind of psychotherapist I wanted to be. How the human brain operates fascinates me!
So I continued on my quest for knowledge with additional training, readings, and seeking support from other professionals who work similarly to me. Even after being a therapist for over a decade, I believe that learning is never over in this profession, so I’m constantly investing in myself. I have committed myself to be a life-long student to provide the best quality of care to the people I work with.
- Master of Social Work (MSW) Advanced Standing Clinical Practice Degree | Fordham University at Lincoln Center | 2011
- Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Degree | Marist College | 2010
- NYS LCSW #083071
- I am in the process of completing my application to become a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) through the International Associate of Eating Disorder Professional (IAEDP).
- Candidate in Psychoanalysis Training Program | The Psychoanalytic Training Institute of the Contemporary Freudian Society | 2020-Current
- Two- Year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Certificate Program | The Psychoanalytic Training Institute of the Contemporary Freudian Society | 2017-2019
- Seminar in Field Instruction (SIFI) Certification | The New York University Silver School of Social Work | 2016
- Two- Year Advanced Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Certificate Training in the Integrated Treatment of Eating Disorders | Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy, Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia (CSAB) | 2013-2015