Which Kind of Therapy?

There are many different ways of working therapeutically - usually there is a unique combination of methods appropriate for each one of us, which reflects our personal histories, preferences and characters.

I apply an integrative approach which draws on the rich traditions of humanistic and psychoanalytic approaches, combined with body-based therapies which acknowledge our wholeness as human beings using our minds, bodies and emotions to make sense of our lives, relationships and environments. This means that each client's therapy is different and unique and reflects who they are.

The Therapeutic Process

Some therapists have referred to single session therapy. Single sessions work well for issues which are well defined and can be solved by implementing a plan of action, with the possibility of follow-up sessions if necessary. For most people this is not sufficient: the issues brought to therapy may have been shaped by years of experiences and interactions. Sometimes there is only a vague pre-conscious sense of things being wrong or missing. Traumatic events or personal and family histories tend to cast long shadows. It can take time to allow oneself to feel and think about experiences that have been so far (understandably) avoided, but cannot be avoided any longer.

The way to feeling and thinking better passes through them, not over them. The therapeutic process starts from the place where a person is - the present. In my experience, therapeutic change is mostly gradual and happens over time - this is the reason for sessions taking place on a regular basis - once or twice a week, at the same time of the day and on the same day of the week. Reviews along the way are helpful in getting a perspective on how we are progressing. Allowing time to bring the therapy to an end and think about the post-therapy future is also important. Learning to face endings can be a real achievement in itself.

Therapy or Counselling?

Frequently, psychotherapy and counselling are used interchangeably to describe the process which unfolds between client and therapist. However, sometimes it can be helpful to distinguish between the two: counselling tends to focus on resolving specific issues and psychotherapy looks more widely at patterend ways of thinking, feeling and behaving which no longer serve a useful purpose. In my experience, counselling can over time unveil the need for deeper work and psychotherapy often includes the specific issues that clients may need to address at diferent times within teh therapy.

The Client - Therapist Fit

As important as therapeutic approaches are, they are not sufficient in themselves - research into the therapeutic relationship tells us that the client-therapist fit accounts for much of the positive change in therapy. There are a number of objective criteria like therapist training and professional accreditation to take into account, however knowing whether a therapist is right for you is likely to come down to how you feel when you start talking to them.

In therapy we touch on sensitive and even delicate subjects (sex, for example) and working with a therapist with whom you are able to talk openly without editing yourself will be essential for exploring issues and finding alternatives to existing patterns.