TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials from patients about Upper West Side NYC therapist Nancy Becker
“My husband and I started seeing Nancy several years ago when we realized we were at an impasse. Nancy guided us through the many obstacles we placed in our own way and provided us with the reality testing that we critically needed. This process freed us to connect on a more adult level and enabled us to move forward in our lives both individually and as a couple. Our time with Nancy was invaluable!”
—GM, NYC
“I have worked with Nancy for many years. At my initial consultation, she gave me a read on my own psychology that went much deeper than the other therapists I had met with. Her ability to shed light on the unhealthy power dynamics in all of my relationships has helped me tackle painful and entrenched thinking. It all comes back to awareness and learning to calm down and re-route when negative emotions rise up. Needless to say, this is a process, and Nancy has been there to guide me through it. She has helped me deal with the leftovers of childhood anxiety and showed me how I recreated my family dynamic repeatedly in both my work and personal life. I can now say that I don’t have the symptoms of the mood disorder I walked in with, and I don’t use any medications. It’s been replaced with a dedication to enjoying my life and marriage, and that has happened by talking to Nancy weekly.”
—JG, Brooklyn
“I came to see Nancy because I was depressed that I had made a mess of my life. I was unhappy and felt trapped—in a bad marriage, in a dead-end non-career, in a life I hated and didn’t see the point of continuing.
Over time and with frequent sessions, I learned that the passivity and idea of myself as a victim I had copied from my mother were keeping me stuck in a similarly unsatisfying life. Nancy encouraged me to set goals and make plans to reach them, for the first time in my life. It wasn’t easy or quick, but I now have a rewarding life that I value, and I see myself as incredibly lucky.
Nancy was the fifth therapist I worked with and the only one who helped me make the deep changes necessary to make a good life. Previous therapists had done some version of what I call ‘Oh, poor baby’ therapy. Nancy is a master at finding the right mix of warmth, compassion, and tough love to reach a particular patient. I am forever grateful to her and have referred many friends to her. And I have a successful career as a therapist because of her encouragement and personal and professional generosity.”
—SD, Manhattan
“Nancy was recommended to me about five years ago as an excellent therapist, and this description has proven to be accurate. She helps me pull the band aid off things and feeling I might prefer to keep covered, to let the air get in and start the healing process. We have been working on parenting issues, where I’m slowly becoming a more patient and loving mother. I can say that through my (hard) work with Nancy, I am happier and developing necessary skills (and improving on a few that I already had) to manage life’s anxieties and the stresses that come from raising teenagers.”
—CD, Harlem
“My therapy journey began with Nancy when I first got into college. Suffering from mysterious anxiety and questions of self worth in a new environment, I was convinced to give therapy a try. Nancy is versatile and experienced, with an aura of confidence and a calming presence that helped me realize that there was a way to deal with the anxiety that did not involve distraction or deflection or dependence on external validation. Nancy was able to tell right away that an incisive, no-nonsense demeanor would be perfect for me, however she knows how to be warm when needed.
A year and a half later with heavy doses of guided introspection and supportive therapy, I no longer feel bound by this external dependence nor the anxiety caused by it. Nancy helped me get there the entirety of the way and for this I could not recommend her enough!”
—RR, Manhattan
“I came to Nancy for three easy sessions to get out of a bad marriage. Little did I know….!
I eventually found the self-esteem to leave that marriage, and then the fun began, as I learned over time that my ex-husband wasn’t the only problem in my marriage and in my life—I had a large part in the dissatisfaction and dysfunction in our marriage and in my own life! As I began to work with Nancy on building a self—because, really, I had no center, there was no ‘there’ there—I learned to challenge my ideas of myself. As a pretty face and nothing else. As a victim in life. As someone who was too good to work hard for what I “deserved” in life. As someone who was unlovable. As someone who was an emotional cripple. As someone who would repeat my mother’s physical and emotional abuse if I became a mother.
Well. Over many years, with Nancy’s compassion, brilliance, and unbelievable patience, I learned that the things that I avoided because they were uncomfortable to me would become less uncomfortable and finally comfortable if I pushed myself to do them anyway. ‘First do it and be uncomfortable,’ she’d say. And we’d talk about it throughout the process. Some of these things I had avoided were finishing my undergraduate degree I had abandoned twelve years earlier. I ended up finishing my undergraduate degree and going on to graduate school on a full academic scholarship, because Nancy had encouraged me to see the value of trying in my life and relying on my brain instead of trying to get by on my looks. Becoming a therapist myself and going into private practice. And by far the best, most rewarding, and, frankly, remarkable experience of my life, especially considering my beliefs when I began treatment: becoming a mother. Not a perfect one, but a good-enough mother, with a warm and loving relationship with my daughter.
Everything I have achieved that’s worthwhile in my adult life is due to my work with Nancy Becker. All along the way she referred me to people who could help me and has referred many patients to me. That’s her generous nature! I’m forever grateful for her help, compassion, generosity, and infinite patience.”
—LS, Manhattan
“Though it’s only been a few months working with Nancy (after many rounds of therapy in my past with other therapists), I’m moving quickly and successfully through lifelong issues. I’m a motivated client as I have grown children and grandchildren with whom I wish to forge loving relationships unburdened by old ‘fixed ideas’. Already my younger daughter said, “Mom, you’re different. Much easier to be with…” Nancy is clear, direct and encouraging throughout our sessions. I take notes because I value her words so deeply and because my memory isn’t as good as it used to be. I reference her phrases and include them in my self-talk. I’ve already referred to friends to Nancy, and they have thanked me.”
—JN, Manhattan
“Nancy inspired me to set goals and make plans to reach them. Without her encouragement, I never would’ve believed I could return to school to complete my bachelor’s degree while working full time after a twelve-year break. I’d had anxiety dreams for years about college, so it took a lot of growth in my treatment to face that fear and change my major to something more realistic and useful to me than music. And to go for my masters to begin what has been a rewarding and meaningful career of more than 22 years, instead of switching from job to job every year or so, as I had previously done. Nancy taught me networking, ambition, a solid work ethic, and creative problem solving, all of which have enabled me to succeed. I had previously failed and made lateral moves in my career, never really advancing, and now I have my own business, which I love. Working with Nancy has made all the difference in my professional life.”
—DS, Manhattan
“I have worked with Nancy Becker for many years in individual, group and couples sessions and am immensely grateful for her contribution to the quality of my relationships, career and family life. She is not one to sit passively and listen while you spin your wheels or drive yourself into the same ditches that sidetracked you repeatedly in life; instead, through patient interaction and insight, she teaches you to recognize your own self-defeating emotions and habits of thought, and deal with them more squarely as they arise—as they surely will. The result is an invaluable awareness and wisdom that can help you as a parent, partner, professional colleague and active citizen. That is a wonderful thing, and I can’t recommend her highly enough.”
—JK, Manhattan
“I began seeing Nancy as a high school sophomore. I was scared of the world and lacked all ambition to explore my passions, work hard in school, and make friends who did not approach me first. Life seemed overwhelming and I retreated into myself.
Nancy helped me realize that this did not have to be my normal. By teaching me to love myself and ignore negative self-talk, Nancy helped me to change my perspective and create a life for myself that I treasure.
Now, as a college junior, I am thriving. I no longer have the depressive and anxious thoughts and behaviors that once dominated my life, and instead see the world as a beautiful place, full of opportunities for me to explore. I have been on the dean’s list every semester, have an excess of fulfilling extracurricular commitments, and formed a loving and outgoing friend group.
This journey of self-improvement was worth all the time I invested and it would not have been possible without Nancy’s encouragement and insight.”
—LP, Manhattan
“Nancy provides a unique mix of warmth, compassion and a casual, friendly spirit with spot-on insight and tough love. I’ve seen more therapists than names I can remember, and Nancy is finally helping me embrace the life I’ve wanted; I have a greater willingness to change and a confidence my children, colleagues, family members, and friends discern—most and more importantly that I experience as it blossoms within me.”
—RG, Manhattan
Testimonials from professionals referring to Upper Westside NYC therapist Nancy Becker
“I have known Nancy Becker for many years now and have a personal and professional relationship with her that dates back to both of our early careers. I practice Obstetrics and Gynecology, so I have many women who request couples counseling or personal counseling almost every day.
I have been referring patients to Nancy for several decades and can honestly say that I have had nothing but amazing feedback from every single person that I have referred, including my own family members. Nancy is easy to relate to, kind and personable. She is the ideal psychotherapist, and my patients have uniformly adored her and connected with her. I cannot recommend anyone more highly and think she is the ideal combination of empathy, compassion and intelligence.”
—Lynn Friedman, MD
“I have been working with Nancy for many years now. Nancy is as skilled a clinician as I have ever worked with. Her decades of experience and dedication to psychotherapy are the reason Nancy provides high quality treatment. She is well versed in many modalities of treatment which make her highly effective in treating a broad range of illnesses and disorders over a diverse population, i.e. children, adolescents, adults, couples, etc. If you are looking for help or have a general interest in starting psychotherapy, Nancy should be your first call and last stop.”
—Brendan Hackett, LCSW
“I’ve referred patients to Nancy for over thirty years, from family members and friends and/or their children to friends and spouses of my patients. She is smart, warm, kind, and well-grounded in proven theory. She’s the real deal, not a ‘flavor-of-the-month’ therapist who follows the latest unproven trend in treatment. Nancy has helped people make the substantive, life-altering changes that are the difference between an unhappy or so-so life and a vibrant, satisfying one. She’s a creative problem solver and brings that and her tremendous empathy to her work with children, teens, adults, parents, couples, and people suffering from anxiety, depression, infertility, career issues, and substance use disorders. I highly recommend Nancy.”
—Diane Spear, LCSW-R