About Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
What is Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy?
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a process of exploration between a patient and a therapist. It aims to uncover and understand mental processes that take place, often outside conscious awareness, that effect our lives and relationships and can cause symptoms of anxiety, depression or dissatisfaction and distress. Difficult experiences, especially in childhood, can shape how we think, feel and behave. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy aims to understand what relationships and experiences mean to each individual. Recognising repeating patterns, sometimes which occur in the relationship between the patient and therapist, leads to the opportunity to change. A consistent, reliable and confidential setting helps people bring whatever is on their minds, be it thoughts, feelings, dreams or memories, so that they can be looked into and understood.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy takes place on a weekly or more frequent basis, and can be long-term, without a pre-determined end date, or brief, where a set number of sessions are agreed at the start.
Who is helped by Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy tends to help people who want to understand themselves and their difficulties by thinking about the connections between their present and past experiences. It does not offer a quick fix or a direct focus on reducing physical symptoms. People may present with troubling relationships at home or work, feelings of emptiness, sadness or depression, anxiety, problems with eating, difficulties which have followed life changes like bereavement, divorce or job loss, or traumatic life events.
I have a particular interest in working with people who have been adopted and those involved in a religious life.
Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)
DIT is a brief psychotherapy designed to help people with depression and anxiety within a circumscribed time-limit of 16 sessions. It aims to identify key interpersonal relationship patterns and to work with an agreed focus and goals.
