Psychotherapy is a collaborative inquiry into your life.
Its aim is to help you understand why you are the way you are, connect you with real feelings, help you to mourn past losses, and thus free you up for the possibility of lifelong change.
You don’t have to be ‘ill’ to see a psychotherapist. Many people see a psychotherapist at different periods of difficulty in their lives because they value the trust, support and empowerment that they gain.
Broadly, I have three approaches:
Brief Therapeutic Intervention
1-5 sessions
This is not my most common approach, but it is frequently the most effective. It’s the approach I use for traumatic episodes: so, for example, if you are suffering any of the symptoms that might include flashbacks and nightmares.
In this approach I am likely to be using EMDR as the treatment. EMDR is a proven technique for dealing with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and with all kinds of traumatic psychological injury.
The technique involves very little interpretation of your past from me, but it may well allow you to process major episodes in your past life quickly, safely and effectively. Sessions typically last from 1-2 hours. Many clients achieve major breakthroughs using EMDR.
Shorter-term
Counselling or Coaching
5-12 sessions
This is the approach I take for those with busy lives who have had a significant disruption in a relationship or a job, and who are seeking a place to process the events, to be listened to carefully, and to move on.
The ‘disruption’ may be the loss of a relationship, or it may be a setback of some kind: a promotion that never seems to come, for example.
Long-term
Psychotherapy
13+ sessions
This approach is for those seeking a more in-depth look at their lives: maybe you’ve tried some cognitive behavioural therapy for example, and it hasn’t worked, or you’ve found it all too simplistic.