Yuko Hanakawa, PhD

I met with Dr. Hanakawa for a series of neurofeedback sessions to address extended mourning and depression. I was not sure what to expect. I didn’t know if the feedback was the music, the designs of the screen or some current through the nodes on my head. The first session was the most powerful for me. I came in after work and felt tired and tense. I found my thoughts going to various moments of «trauma» throughout my life, including memories of ⁹⁄₁₁ which I only saw on TV and read about even though I was in Manhattan on that day. By the end of the session I felt a calmness and a sense of happiness. I felt I could not stop smiling. This sensation repeated itself at end of second session but I don’t think I felt it as intensely after that. The subsequent sessions were relaxing but did not bring up conscious memories of trauma nor provide the same sense of joy. Nonetheless I felt grounded, more mentally coherent, and focused after each session. I especially loved the music. I now know the feedback is not the music, however the sounds were so soothing and some even primordial, that it sparked a feeling of connection with my core being in particular and human experience in general. Something like a Jungian collective unconscious going back centuries. Thank you for your compassionate and professional care!

I worked with Dr. Yuko Hanakawa for a few years at the St. Luke’s Hospital outpatient clinic and she did a wonderful job managing our mutual patients with psychotherapy. She has a knack for connecting with a variety of patients and helping them through their issues. I’m glad to see she now has a private practice and would again feel confident referring her psychotherapy patients.

I had AMAZING THERAPY SESSIONS with Dr. Hanakawa to get rid of my PHOBIA and anxiety around it in just seven sessions!
I just wanted to thank her and share this experience with others so that others like me feel easy to at least try it out instead of suffering through it.
She is not only a skillful and knowledgeable therapist, but her personality is down to earth, genuinely sweet and kind. She also seems to take a good care of her own health, meditate, and study constantly to keep up to be a good therapist (I cannot listen to a doctor who looks unhealthy and tells me to be healthy, you know?) so that I can talk about both psychological (phobia and stress) issues as well as physical concerns (I do not like psychoanalysts who think every physical symptom comes from psychosomatic symptoms). I was surprised that it did not take much time for me to relax and trust her.
I used to have very sever hemophobia (afraid of blood), and I tried all kinds of therapy to get rid of it over many years. I used to faint by just drawing out my blood; CBT and other psychotherapy reduced my symptoms and cognitive fear, but I was still physically shaky whenever I was around blood (even cooking meat was hard).
Since I was working in the mental health industry for several years, I’ve worked with several top psychiatrists who also did psychotherapy, PsyD., counselors, and clinical social workers… I myself had a great psychoanalyst mentor (Ph.D., who went to the same school as Dr. Hanakawa) for 4 years, and I thought I had quite bit of insight.
My ex-​mentor figured out that my phobia started through some event during my childhood, so she recommended me to find a Japanese speaking psychologist who could do hypno-​therapy (She said it is more effective to use the language that I was using as a child). There are many Japanese clinical social workers in NY, but not many Ph.D.s… It would have been fine with other people, but it was a problem for me because I know the difference in their training. Then, one of my friends, who works for a Japanese newspaper company heard good things about her, and introduced me to Dr. Hanakawa. So I went to see her.
I am a very scientific thinker, so I must say I was a bit skeptical if this therapy would work or not after trying so many other things. I heard some phobias are innate (such as blood, heights and snakes, etc.), so I thought talking about traumatic views I evidenced (which was not that serious anyway, I thought) would not benefit me as much.
Oh, Boy, I’m so glad I was wrong though. She guided me into a meditative state, and took me to my childhood event. It was a totally different experience to see the event from a 5-​yr old’s eyes, and it gave me a new perspective that I did not have before. We worked on it over a month or so, and I started to feel lighter almost immediately (of course, it put me up and down a bit as I was learning new things about my past that I was not facing, but Dr. Hanakawa was there to support me).
One day, I was watching a bloody surgery video as part of CBT exposure therapy technique. I used to push myself to watch them more than 15 minutes, but I always got pale and felt sick. It became easier, and now I can watch them with absolutely no symptoms!
She said the speed of therapy is really depending on the patient’s condition, type of therapy, and previous exposure to psychotherapy. I assume it was very quick for me because I already had previous therapy experience, had some insights about myself, and meditate regularly (it helps to get hypnotized). So please don’t get frustrated if your therapy takes little longer… you will be in good hands! :)