"What can a psychotherapist do for me?" you may well be surprised! 

When you feel like all aspects of your life are up in the air, a psychotherapist helps you not only bring everything back down to earth, but helps you to put things into perspective and in their right place, making it far easier to deal with not only what each day throws at you, but the unexpected and often unwelcome surprises in life.  Psychotherapy can also deal with issues such as bullying, abuse, stress, panic attacks, breathing difficulties, relationship problems, insecurity, self esteem, rape, self control, habits, fears and much more.

As well as day to day issues, there are also the other aspects around us that influence how we feel and, let's face it, everyone's different.

There are seven main broad systems of psychotherapy:

Psychoanalysis - the first practice to be called a psychotherapy. It encourages the verbalization of all the patient's thoughts, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst formulates the nature of the unconscious conflicts which are causing the patient's symptoms and character problems.

Cognitive behavioural - is based on cognitions, assumptions, beliefs, and behaviours, with the aim of influencing negative emotions that relate to inaccurate appraisal of events.

Psychodynamic - is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. Although it has its roots in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy tends to be briefer and less intensive than traditional psychoanalysis.

Existential - is based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. This aloneness leads to feelings of meaninglessness which can be overcome only by creating one's own values and meanings.

Humanistic - emerged in reaction to both behaviourism and psychoanalysis and is therefore known as the Third Force in the development of psychology. It is explicitly concerned with the human context of the development of the individual with an emphasis on subjective meaning, a rejection of determinism, and a concern for positive growth rather than pathology. It posits an inherent human capacity to maximise potential, 'the self-actualing tendency'. The task of Humanistic therapy is to create a relational environment where this tendency might flourish.

Brief therapy - is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches to psychotherapy. It differs from other schools of therapy in that it emphasizes (1) a focus on a specific problem and (2) direct intervention. It is solution-based rather than problem-oriented. It is less concerned with how a problem arose than with the current factors sustaining it and preventing change.

Systemic Therapy - seeks to address people not at an individual level, as is often the focus of other forms of therapy, but as people in relationship, dealing with the interactions of groups, their patterns and dynamics (includes family therapy & marriage counselling).

Registered with NCHP, we work to the association's code of ethics.