Psychotherapy
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone allowed ancient Egyptian texts previously out of reach of being understood, to be translated. In a similar way psychotherapy offers the possibility to understand more about complex internal worlds of ourselves.
Overview of Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a way of finding resolution to the concerns that people encounter in their lives. In the Chinese language the word that means ‘crises’ can also infer ‘opportunity’ or ‘change point’. A psychotherapist will consider the issues in the context of the clients broader experience as this may give more opportunity for valuable additional insight. Clients may describe issues that point to a strain between their own needs, limitations, desires, and the pressure or expectations and/or demands of the external world on them. Psychotherapy can be powerful in how it increases self awareness. It can help to make unconscious aspects more conscious. This can be deeply impactful, internally liberating, and lead to increased sense of esteem and confidence.
Through the process of weekly sessions, I work with each client to explore and understand presenting issues. While resolving issues is an important focus, I also draw attention to valuable aspects of emerging insights. I see psychotherapy as having an an important parallel objective of supporting ongoing psychological development (this is a lifelong pursuit). This can be hugely helpful for clients, in making sense of events and experiences in their lives. I have a particular interest in working with dreams for those who wish to explore the possibilities conveyed in dreaming.
Psychotherapy
What is psychotherapy:
Psychotherapy is a process that seeks to resolve difficulties that impede individuals from living comfortably in their life. People seek psychotherapy when they wish to resolve an issue or experience that has arisen for them. The focus is on the experiences brought by the individual through their presenting issues. This differentiates psychotherapy from counselling which tends to be ‘issue focused’.
What can I expect from the process?
The concerns that people bring to therapy can often have an underlying level of insightful meaning. To resolve the issue without looking further may be a missed opportunity. Presenting issues may point to a underlying strain or stressor, the source of which is as yet not very conscious or clear. At times clients might describe how they can’t quite understand the source of the difficulty or make sense of what they are experiencing, how they have tried different solutions but nothing works, they may feel stuck etc. This can indicate something more that is presenting but not yet clear in conscious awareness.
It requires containment and support to explore possible underlying meaning. This is the essence of psychotherapy.
