Types of Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave.
The focus of therapy is on how you are behaving, thinking, and communicating today (present or near past) rather than experiences from the past... Cognitive therapy helps you to learn effective self-help skills that are used in homework assignments that help you change the way you think, feel and behave now.
The course of treatment usually lasts for between 5 and 20 sessions, with each session lasting around 50 minutes.
During the sessions, you will work with me to break down your problems into their separate parts, such as your thoughts, physical feelings, and actions.
The first few sessions will be spent making sure CBT is the right therapy for you, and that you're comfortable with the process. I will ask questions about your life and background.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has three main goals:
-
To relieve symptoms and resolve problems.
-
To help the client to acquire skills and coping strategies.
-
To help the client to modify underlying cognitive structures in order to prevent relapse.
​
Systemic Therapy seeks to reduce distress and conflict by improving the way family / couple members interact, and may involve parents and children of all ages, grandparents, siblings, partners, friends, carers – anyone who is important to the family.
Systemic Family Therapy has proven effectiveness in
-
improving outcomes
-
preventing distress and difficulties escalating into crises
-
promoting mental health and recovery
-
adding value
-
developing individual resilience and family strengths
-
improving risk assessment and intervention
-
involving families and carers in care and service planning
-
supporting the well-being of family members, partners and carers
-
increasing staff skills in working in partnership with families
-
reducing relapse and readmission
​​
Couples Therapy is a type of psychotherapy in which I will help two people involved in a romantic relationship gain insight into their relationship, resolve conflict, and improve relationship satisfaction utilizing a variety of therapeutic interventions.
My couples therapy tends to involve the following general elements:
-
A focus on a specific problem (i.e. sexual difficulties, Internet addiction, jealousy)
-
Active participation on the part of the therapist in treating the relationship itself, rather than everyone separately.
-
Solution-focused, change-oriented interventions early on in treatment.
-
A clear establishment of treatment objectives.
Couples therapy will usually begin with some standard interview questions regarding the history of the relationship as well as some exploration into each partner’s family-of-origin, values, and cultural background. I will then assist the couple in identifying the issue that will be the focus of treatment, establishing treatment goals and planning a structure for treatment.
​
During the treatment phase, I will help the couple to gain insight into the relational dynamics maintaining the problem, while helping both partners understand each of their roles in the dysfunctional interactions. This will help them change the way they perceive the relationship and each other.
​
Although gaining insight is important, another crucial aspect of couples therapy involves actually changing behaviours and ways of interacting with each other. I will often assign partners homework to apply the skills you have learned in therapy to your day-to-day interactions.
​
​
In Person-Centred Therapy, the focus is on the person, not the problem. The goal is for you to achieve greater independence. This will allow you to better cope with any current and future problems they may face.
The person-centred approach focuses on you being able to develop a greater understanding of yourself in an environment which allows you to resolve your own problems without direct intervention of me.
The goals of person-centred therapy are (Seligman, 2006):
-
To facilitate your trust and ability to be in the present moment. This allows you to be honest in the process without feeling judged by me.
-
To promote your self-awareness and self-esteem.
-
To empower you to change.
-
To encourage congruence in your behaviour and feelings.
-
To help you to gain the ability to manage your live and become self-actualised.
​
04.
Trauma Therapy
Traumatic events usually come out of the blue. Accidents, illnesses, disasters, assault, combat, sexual, emotional, and physical abuse are all events which are potentially traumatic… Such events can leave us feeling shocked, disorientated, and distressed. We may feel like our world has been turned upside down.
Different people exposed to the same trauma may respond in different ways. You may have difficulty in collecting your thoughts and handling your feelings about what has happened.
​
In the first few hours people may be shocked and stunned and have difficulty believing what has happened to them. In the days and even weeks following an event, many people will continue to feel confused, distressed and fearful. It is important to understand that to think and feel this way immediately following trauma is a normal response to an abnormal situation.
​
It is important to emphasise that there are no right or wrong ways to react after a traumatic experience.
One of the most important aspects of trauma is recognising that life for us has changed and our old ways of looking at the world sometimes don’t seem to make much sense anymore. Sometimes we have to rethink the ways in which we live our lives and what is important to us.
​
I can enable you to take time to reflect on what we have learned from our experiences. One of the things that I will do also, is to try to help you make sense of your experiences.
Trauma-focused Therapy sessions aim to help you to discover skills and improve coping strategies to better respond to reminders and emotions associated with the traumatic event. Some of these skills include anxiety management and relaxation strategies.
If the trauma is left untreated, you may experience nightmares, insomnia, anxiety, depression, phobias, substance abuse, panic attacks, anger, irritability, or hopelessness. You might also begin to have physical symptoms such as gastrointestinal distress, rapid heartbeat, or extreme fatigue.
If you experience any of the following symptoms, please get in touch:
-
You feel unable to function in day-to-day life.
-
You are unable to form or maintain relationships.
-
You are self-medicating with drugs and/or alcohol.
-
You are experiencing severe flashbacks.
-
You feel emotionally numb.
-
You are suffering from an anxiety/stress disorder due to trauma.
-
You are angry and snappy at people you love
-
You are not able to go near where the traumatic event happened
-
You are not feeling well in general and you do not know why.
​
Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days.
Most people go through periods of feeling down, but when you're depressed you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days. Some people think depression is trivial and not a genuine health condition. They're wrong – it is a real illness with real symptoms. Depression is not a sign of weakness or something you can "snap out of" by "pulling yourself together". The good news is that with the right treatment and support, most people with depression can make a full recovery.
Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms. Anxiety can cause a change in your behaviour and the way you think and feel about things, resulting in symptoms such as:
-
restlessness
-
a sense of dread
-
feeling constantly "on edge"
-
difficulty concentrating
-
irritability
Your symptoms may cause you to withdraw from social contact (seeing your family and friends) to avoid feelings of worry and dread. You may also find going to work difficult and stressful and may take time off sick. These actions can make you worry even more about yourself and increase your lack of self-esteem.
Physical symptoms of anxiety
Anxiety can also have a number of physical symptoms, including:
-
tiredness
-
a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
-
muscle aches and tension
-
trembling or shaking
-
excessive sweating
-
shortness of breath
-
stomach ache
-
feeling sick
-
difficulty falling or staying asleep (insomnia)
Anxiety triggers
If you're anxious because of a specific phobia or because of panic disorder, you'll usually know what the cause is. For example, if you have claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces), you know that being confined in a small space will trigger your anxiety. But it may not always be clear what you're feeling anxious about. Not knowing what triggers your anxiety can intensify it and you may start to worry that there's no solution.
Anxiety isn’t a pleasant sensation, so it’s only natural to avoid it if you can. One of the ways that people do this is by steering clear of the situations that make them anxious. If you have a fear of heights, you might drive three hours out of your way to avoid crossing a tall bridge. Or if the prospect of public speaking leaves your stomach in knots, you might skip your best friend’s wedding in order to avoid giving a toast. Aside from the inconvenience factor, the problem with avoiding your fears is that you never have the chance to overcome them. In fact, avoiding your fears often makes them stronger.
​
I will offer you a space where we can explore together how the anxiety and depression are influencing your life and how you can overcome them. Another important aspect is to discover what are the main roots of your emotions, thoughts and feelings which are manifesting as anxiety and depression.
​
“Life throws challenges and every challenge comes with rainbows and lights to conquer it.”
- Amit Ray -
“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.”
- Aberjhani -
Bereavement refers to the time when a person experiences sadness after losing a loved one. There is no set timetable for grief. You may start to feel better in 6 to 8 weeks, but the whole process can last anywhere from 6 months to 4 years. You may start to feel better in small ways. It will start to get a little easier to get up in the morning, or maybe you'll have more energy.
It’s normal to experience a range of emotions, including anger, sadness, loneliness, guilt and anxiety during bereavement. But there’s no right or wrong way to feel. It affects people in different ways.
The host of emotions that result from the death of a loved one can be overwhelming. It’s important to give yourself time to grieve and to remember that there is no right or wrong way to feel. Grief is a unique experience. There’s no one-size-fits-all way of coping with bereavement and what works will depend on each individual. How long it takes to learn how to cope with grief will also vary between individuals.
​
Part of learning how to deal with bereavement is adjusting to living in a world that is quite different without your loved one. Some people will figure out how to deal with bereavement with the help of family and friends, while others may need the support of myself. I can help you understand your complex and painful emotions and reduce the distress you may have about how you are feeling.
As well as bereavement, there are other types of loss such as the end of a relationship or losing a job or home.
If you experience nay of the symptoms, please get in touch:
-
shock and numbness "being in a daze"
-
overwhelming sadness, with lots of crying
-
tiredness or exhaustion
-
anger – towards the person you've lost or the reason for your loss
-
guilt – for example, guilt about feeling angry, about something you said or did not say, or not being able to stop your loved one dying.
These feelings may not be there all the time and powerful feelings may appear unexpectedly. It's not always easy to recognise when bereavement, grief or loss are the reason you're acting or feeling differently. I can help you to explore and to understand how you feel and the reason why you feel that in that way.
​
Integrative Therapy is a progressive form of psychotherapy that combines different therapeutic tools and approaches to fit the needs of the individual client. Integrative therapists take the view that there is no single approach that can treat each client in all situations.
The Integrative Psychotherapy Model aims to respond to the person, with particular attention to affective, behavioural, cognitive, and physiological levels of functioning, and to spiritual beliefs.
In the first session I try to discover the story and to evaluate which type of therapy is appropriate for my client by using PCT principles - the issues important to the client will be identified; using active listening and my capacity for understanding the client’s central difficulties; trying to put clients first and support them to ‘be in charge with their journey’; being genuine if I think that the client was distracted from their initial goals I can gently remind them about their wishes.
If a client is presenting himself in a way that he will benefit just from ‘talking’, I will use PCT techniques for developing a positive therapeutic relationship. I will try to enable you to be in the present, honest, in charge of your change, self-aware and able to analyze your own self-esteem or conditions of worth.
Sometimes all our sessions are based on PCT but in many situations you may need some strategies and orientation to enable you to obtain what you want from therapy. If this is the case the session may concentrate on: your story, exploring of present emotions and thoughts, the past events which may be the cause of your actual situation.
​