What is Psychotherapy?
Most people are probably more familiar with the term counselling than psychotherapy. However, the two approaches have many similarities. They both involve talking about current problems.
Psychotherapy tends to be open-ended. It can be a gradual unfolding process where you have the opportunity to understand how you have become the person you are. This may include talking about how the past has influenced you, exploring your relationships then and now and the way you respond to your life as it is.
People seek help for many different reasons and I have particular experience working with the following issues:
- low self-esteem, a sense of worthlessness and lack of confidence
- depression, sadness, or a feeling of emptiness
- anxiety, panic attacks and stress
- bereavement and loss
- relationship difficulties or breakdown
- sexual problems
- fertility and donor conception
- pregnancy
- post-natal depression
- parenting
- substance misuse
- self harm
- neurodiversity
You may come because of a particular issue or you may not be sure exactly what the problem is but find yourself repeating painful or limiting patterns in life. It may only be through talking to someone that you gain an understanding of what you want to work on. Talking this through means more of your experiences can be brought into awareness, this leads to understanding, making choices and change more possible.
The length of time you spend in therapy or counselling varies and depends on what concerns you wish to deal with and the depth and complexity of the issues you hope to resolve.