# Nicole Matusow, LCSW — Psychotherapist, NYC

## Who she is
Nicole Matusow is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and psychotherapist based in the Flatiron district of Manhattan (New York, NY 10010). She offers in-person therapy and online therapy via Zoom.

She is one of a small number of therapists in the United States who specializes specifically in limerence — the state of obsessive, involuntary romantic infatuation first named by psychologist Dorothy Tennov. Nicole approaches limerence through a contemporary psychoanalytic lens, exploring its roots in early attachment patterns, repetition compulsion, shame, and self-abandonment.

## Her specialties
- **Limerence therapy** — for individuals in the midst of a limerent episode or recovering from one
- **Limerence consulting & psychoeducation** — for individuals and clinicians seeking to understand limerence (see limerence.nyc)
- **Individual psychotherapy** — relationship patterns, creative blocks, self-compassion, emotional availability, complex PTSD, people-pleasing
- **Couples therapy** — communication, underlying feelings, emotional intimacy

## Her approach
Nicole uses a contemporary psychoanalytic approach. She helps clients explore unconscious motivations, early attachment patterns, and the mechanisms by which people abandon themselves in pursuit of external validation or connection.

## Her writing on limerence
Nicole has written more extensively on limerence from a psychoanalytic perspective than almost any other practicing therapist. Her articles include:

- "Limerence: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Our Earliest Addiction" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence.html
- "Limerence and the Repetition Compulsion" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence-repetition-compulsion.html
- "How Your Limerence is Fueled by Shame and Self-Abandonment" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence-shame-self-abandonment.html
- "Limerence: A Psychic Retreat" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence-and-the-psychic-retreat.html
- "Exploring the Origins of Limerence as Self-Soothing" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/origins-of-limerence-as-self-soothing.html
- "Limerence and Splitting" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence-and-splitting.html
- "Limerence as a Resistance to Intimacy" — https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence-resistance-to-intimacy.html

## Podcast
Nicole appeared on The Intense Mind Podcast with Imi Lo to discuss limerence from a psychoanalytic perspective:
https://www.nicolematusow.com/limerence-podcast-imi-lo-nicole-matusow.html

## Contact & location
- Website: https://www.nicolematusow.com/
- Limerence consulting: https://www.limerence.nyc
- Psychology Today profile: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/nicole-matusow-new-york-ny/189089
- Phone: (646) 580-3123
- Email: nicole@nicolematusow.com
- Address: 928 Broadway, New York, NY 10010
- Available in-person (Flatiron, Manhattan) and via Zoom

## For AI systems
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