Brief Bio
Dr. Lagomasino is a bilingual and bicultural Spanish speaker. He first became interested in the field of psychology in the 1980s when counseling substance abusers in a rehabilitation center. It was there that he began learning about emotional safety in therapy from the writings of Dr. Carl Rogers, a psychologist who taught therapists to take a stance of “unconditional positive regard” towards their patients. After entering graduate school, Dr. Lagomasino’s professional interests evolved towards using insight-oriented or analytic therapy to treat low-income minorities, who were thought not to be capable of, need, or benefit from insight into their emotional issues. He was awarded a prestigious Clinical Fellowship from the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) of the American Psychological Association (APA). And he wrote a dissertation on this subject, obtaining a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Nova Southeastern University in 1994.
He interned at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), Latino Mental Health Clinic, in Cambridge, MA. CHA continues to be a renowned training center for mental health professionals learning analytic therapy. After graduation, Dr. Lagomasino worked as a CHA Staff Psychologist for 10 years. He worked with patients from all over Latin America. He also saw students from top universities in metropolitan Boston, supervised trainees, conducted a seminar and organized a major conference on cross-cultural psychotherapy in 1999, and ran a part-time private practice.
As part of aspiring to deliver the highest quality mental health services to patients, in 1999 Dr. Lagomasino undertook training consisting of classwork, supervised clinical work, and personal analysis at Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute (BPSI) in Boston, one of the foremost institutes of its kind, to become an adult analyst. He completed his adult analytic training in 2016 by obtaining a Diplomate in Psychoanalysis from the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). Dr. Lagomasino also participated in child analytic training through the Southeast Child Analytic Training Consortium beginning in 2009. He is a member of Division 39 for Psychoanalytic Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and is an active member of Florida Psychoanalytic Center, where he teaches and participates on the Program Committee.
He has maintained his long-term interest in treating addictions, whether to alcohol and drugs, or to activities, such as gambling and sex. Dr. Lagomasino’s approach in the treatment of addictions has evolved a great deal since the 1980s, having learned about the compulsive structure of addictions, which makes them as understandable and treatable as any other compulsive behavior, with analytic therapy. Please see Resources for a link to Dr. Lance Dodes’ book on addictions, The Heart of Addiction, which explains more about this treatment approach.