Why psychotherapy and counselling?

Most of us experience emotional difficulties at some time in our lives. There may be specific indicators, like panic attacks, social anxiety, issues with food, or debilitating anger and relationship difficulties at home and/or at work. Some people come because of a crisis like bereavement, divorce or redundancy. Others, even though they appear to be getting on with their lives, feel stuck or bothered either by something in particular or by a general feeling that something is not quite right. You might feel disconnected from your feelings or out of touch with your body. Perhaps unwanted job or relationship patterns keep repeating in unhelpful ways. Life changes, even positive ones like retirement, a new baby or a professional opportunity, can surprise us with feelings of confusion, depression or self-doubt.

And sometimes it's just that you are interested in understanding yourself better.

I welcome people from all sectors of the community and work with adults of any faith, nationality, sexual identity, age, ability, culture, education and class.

Some things which lead people to seek help:

Aging and retirement
Anxiety
Bereavement
Body awareness and body image
Breakdown
Depression
Difficulties at work
Eating problems
Feeling life is an act and that you are not being yourself
Guilt over things you have done or not done
Lack of confidence
Obsessive thoughts and behaviour

Panic attacks
Parenting difficulties
Physical symptoms with no apparent medical cause
Poor decision making
Post-natal trauma and depression
Preoccupation with what other people think
Relationship difficulties, separation, divorce and new relationships
Sexual concerns
Social anxiety
Stress
Training

Sometimes people worry about the difference between psychotherapy and counselling, and all the different therapy approaches which are available. Evidence suggests that it is the connection with your therapist that matters, and whether you feel heard and deeply understood by them. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy has been extensively researched and shown to be effective in large scale outcome studies*.

If you want to take the next step towards starting therapy, you will find more information on my What to Expect page.

* eg. 'The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy' by J. Shedler, University of Colorado, 2010