About Dr. Mary Gail
Frawley-O’Dea

I believe that I began to become a psychologist when I was five years old and visited a concentration camp in Belgium. I do not remember what I was told about that place, but by my teen years living in an Irish Catholic area of Massachusetts, I was reading avidly about the Holocaust and wondering how people could commit such evil against others and how those others could possibly survive. My passion for understanding more about trauma, resilience, growth and the power of psychotherapy grew in graduate school and through my own therapeutic experiences. Now, over three decades into my career, I am honored to walk beside the people who seek my help as they journey towards deeper self-understanding and a richer life.

No two therapeutic journeys are alike. They reflect the unique interactions of the individuals involved in the process. Therapist and patient enter into a relationship through which, when things go well, "more" becomes possible: more life, more love, more play, more feelings, more thought, more choice, more reflection. Specializing in work with adult survivors of childhood & adolescent sexual abuse, I combine psychodynamic, neurobiological, developmental, and trauma perspectives. The past can truly become past and the present freed to become reflective of the genuine talents, hopes, yearnings of the person with whom I journey.

Specialties: trauma survivors and psychoanalysis. As a trauma specialist, I work with survivors of sexual abuse and assault, rape, clergy sexual misconduct. I've written extensively on these topic and have taught courses at the graduate and post-graduate level. Psychoanalysis is for those desiring a deeper therapeutic experience involving multiple sessions a week.