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About Me — Dr. Patricia Farrell
An introduction
I’m the youngest of five children. I grew up in a poor, integrated neighborhood in a cold-water flat in New York with neither heat nor hot water.
My grandparents were immigrant servants on both sides, and my mother had to quit elementary school and work in a factory to support her mother and three younger sisters at age 12.
When I was 12, my mother, two sisters, and I were witnesses in a murder trial. The man in the apartment next door had murdered his toddler son. The child’s mother asked my mother to come over because “the baby fell out of his crib.” Almost every bone in his body was broken by having been swung around and hitting all the fixtures in the bathroom.
I would go to college and successfully obtained all three of my degrees (BA, MA, Ph.D.) at night while working full-time during the day, sometimes with three jobs at one time.
Psychology was my third career choice. First, medicine (life threw a few curves there), second, oceanography (I get seasick), and psychology to direct my own life.
I’ve appeared on many national TV shows (Today, AC360, GMA, Court TV, VOA), some of which I am not terribly fond. But, as a result of how many shows I appeared on, I became a member of the SAG/AFTRA entertainment union.
