Dr. Nicolas Garrera-Tolbert

I am a bilingual (Spanish/English) psychoanalyst, philosopher, poet, and translator (Spanish/English/French). I received psychoanalytic training at Apertura para Otro Lacan (Buenos Aires) and the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (New York City). In philosophy, I have held teaching and research positions in various academic and cultural settings: Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the United States. Currently, I'm a philosophy lecturer at St. Francis College (Downtown Brooklyn) and keep a private analytic practice in Manhattan and Queens. My current research focuses on the philosophical foundations of psychoanalysis and I am preparing a manuscript on the concept of psychoanalytic subject from a Lacanian perspective.

The ways in which humans suffer can be easily named; people often say that they are “depressed,” “anxious,” “frustrated,” “angry.” However, the meaning of what we feel and the reasons why we go through psychological pain may be less readily apparent. To find out, the difficult but rewarding work of a psychoanalysis is needed. As your analyst, I will help you identify the forms and the 'logic' of your suffering and, as a result, your reality will begin to change—perhaps the only one you knew, one that seemed set in stone. For sure, many things may be inevitable and final, but not useless, excessive suffering. The latter can be fundamentally changed, if properly addressed.

Psychoanalysis, as I understand it, is a theory and a practice specifically designed and adequately equipped to address the causes of useless suffering and bring about subjective change that, ideally, root it out. If you decide to give it a try, we will engage in an honest, genuine conversation and inquiry into what, paraphrasing Ortega, may be called, “yourself and your circumstances.” Our task will be to examine and understand, not to judge. No doubt, we humans have created many therapeutic practices aiming to heal human suffering; some of them have a rich, old, and respectable history. Psychoanalysis, though, is the only therapeutic practice that aims to assess those specific forms of suffering that are yours and no-one else’s. What will be at stake in your analysis is nothing but your present and your total history as the particular person that you are. It is the most effective way of bringing about the kind of meaningful, ever-lasting change you have been looking for.