Peter Fraenkel Ph.D.

Peter Fraenkel, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The City College of New York, former faculty at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and NYU Medical Center, and is in private practice in New York City. He completed his doctorate in clinical psychology at Duke University, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral internships and an NIMH Child Psychiatry Fellowship at Bellevue Hospital/NYU Medical Center, and advanced training in couple and family therapy with Salvador Minuchin at Family Studies, Inc. Dr. Fraenkel has published and lectured on a wide range of topics, including temporal issues in couples, integrative approaches to couple and family therapy, couple distress prevention, couple and family coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, last chance couple therapy, a family-based approach to incest, collaborative methods in community-based family program development, narrative therapy-based multiple family group interventions for families in homeless shelters, training in intersectionality sensitivity, and qualitative research. He is the co-author of The Relational Trauma of Incest: A Family-Based Approach to Treatment (Guilford), Sync Your Relationship, Save Your Marriage: Four Steps to Getting Back on Track (Palgrave-Macmillan), and Last Chance Couple Therapy: Bringing Relationships Back from the Brink (Norton).

Dr. Fraenkel created and teaches a uniquely flexible and comprehensive approach to couple therapy called Therapeutic Palette Integrative Couple Therapy, which is featured in the 6th edition of The Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy. Dr. Fraenkel lectures and conducts therapist trainings internationally. He received the American Family Therapy Academy’s 2012 award for Innovative Contribution to Family Therapy, and with Marcia Sheinberg and Fiona True, AFTA’s 2004 award for Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice. He is a former Vice President and current Board Member of AFTA, a Board Member of the Minuchin Center for the Family, and a reviewer for several family therapy journals. He received the 2022 award as one of the top reviewers for the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. Dr. Fraenkel is often featured in the media as an expert on couples and family relationships and work/life balance. He is also a professional drummer and percussionist, having studied at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory.