Transforming Trauma: Episode 061

On this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Emily is joined by Dr. Nadine Macaluso. Dr. Nae is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist in Glen Cove, New York. She has a Ph.D. in counseling and somatic psychotherapy, specifically honoring the mind-body connection. Her work is informed by the NARM model and she carries a strong emotional and relational intelligence as she supports individuals struggling to map their own journey and overcome self-doubt. She shares about her new book, Trauma Bond Free: A Therapist’s Guide For Healing From Traumatic Love, which grew out of her own personal life experience as she healed from the terror and trauma of her first marriage to “the Wolf on Wallstreet”. 

Throughout the episode, Dr. Nae shares a little about why she was drawn to the NARM model, and a few highlights that have really informed the work she does with patients– namely the adaptive survival styles and how her patients really appreciate understanding better what they missed in development. Upon reflecting on what she’s learned from NARM, she shares, “[It] taught me that the opposite of depression is vitality, not happiness…so I hope that you feel more alive, and give yourself permission to feel alive and if you contract and feel smaller, that’s okay too, knowing that you will feel more alive,” she says.

She also highlights the importance of working with someone to be able to be present with their emotions, which can allow the emotion to provide important information. She shares a reflection on how people often don’t learn how to be present with their emotions in childhood. “A lot of parents have a hard time with their children’s emotions, and they don’t want them to feel to feel negative emotions and they only concentrate on positive emotions…and I love that about NARM and it taught me and emphasizes that– how to be with them, hold them, ride them like a wave. And know that they [difficult emotions] end,” she reflects. 

We invite you to tune in and hear more of Dr. Nae’s story and her reflections on her work.

 

About Dr. Nadine Macaluso:

Nadine Macaluso is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice. Trained in NARM and Somatic psychotherapy, she emphasizes the mind-body connection when working with couples and individuals. Her personal and clinical expertise is in complex trauma, attachment, trauma bonds and narcissism. Dr. Nae is also the ex-wife to the infamous Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, with whom she shares two children. Nadine has been happily remarried for 20 years; she and her husband John share a blended family of five children.