What can Psychotherapy help with?

Clients will often come to therapy with a specific issue in mind but the therapeutic process can often traverse many themes. This is not an exclusive list but common issues in Psychotherapy & Counselling can include:

• Abuse

• Addiction

• Adoption

• Alcohol / Drug / Substance Use

• Anger

• Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders (including Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, Health Anxiety)

• Bereavement, Grief, Loss

• Body Image

• Bullying

• Cultural Issues

• Dementia

• Depression, Sadness, Low Mood

• Living with Disability

• Loss of Purpose, Loss of Meaning, Loss of Pleasure

• Eating Disorders

• Eco & Climate Anxiety

• Emotional Distress

• End of Life

• Existential Anxiety/Themes, Questions and Dilemmas of Identity, Direction in Life, Relatedness and Solitude, Creativity, Spirituality, Connection & Disconnection etc.

• Financial Debt

• Health Diagnosis - eg, ADHD, ASD, AIDS/HIV, Cancer

• Mental Health Diagnosis (not prescribing or clinical treatment) - Bipolar, Psychosis

• Infertility

• Life Skills

• Life Transitions

• Loneliness

• Low Confidence, Low Self-Esteem, Shyness, Social Anxiety/Social Phobia

• Menopause

• Obsessive and Intrusive Thoughts, Compulsivity, OCD

• Older Age

• Personal Development

• Phobias & fears

• PTSD

• Pregnancy related issues

• Redundancy

• Relationships, Difficulties in Relationships, Infidelity, Affairs, Open Relationships, Jealousy, Trust Issues

• Self Harm

• Sex related issues, Sexual Behaviours (Sexual Compulsivity/ Hypersexuality/ Sex Addiction), Problems with use of Pornography, Cybersex, Fetishistic Preoccupations and Behaviours/Paraphilias

• Sexual Abuse & Trauma

• Sexual Identity, Sexuality, Sexual Orientation

• Sexual & Gender Diversity Issues, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual, Gender Dysphoria, LGBTQ+

• Stress, Work related stress

• Self Harm, Suicidal Feelings

• Trauma

Counselling

There is often confusion about the difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling. There are similarities and overlap between the two, but put simply, Counselling tends to focus on supporting a client with specific and difficult life events. It is often shorter-term work and structured within a time frame. It can sometimes be a first and foundational therapeutic experience which may later be followed by a longer Psychotherapy process.

Psychotherapy is often a longer-term process which is organic in nature. Working at depth, it can explore many themes and works towards a sense of growth, lasting change and healing. Psychotherapy training is often longer in duration and requires therapists to attend their own ongoing personal Psychotherapy. This promotoes self awareness and ethical practice.

I tend to work with clients that are interested in long term therapy and a more in-depth process, but I can adapt to working in a more time-limited way. We can discuss this in more detail at our first meeting.

How might Psychotherapy & Counselling help?

The outcomes of Psychotherapy and Counselling are different for everyone. Whilst some clients may feel they have achieved a certain goal they came with, others may find that they arrive in unexpected but welcome places. Psychotherapy, much like our subjective experience is fluid, this makes it difficult to guarantee specific results. However, in processing the end of their therapy journey, many clients have shared that the potential benefits of Psychotherapy often include:

• stabilisation of difficult moods and emotions

• clearer thinking about problems and choices

• clarification of personal values and direction

• greater emotional awareness

• a more solid sense of who one is

• clarity about relationships

• changes in problematic behaviours

• new resources to deal with challenges in life

• greater openness to new experiences

A good experience of therapy can give someone the resources with which to meet inevitable and ongoing challenges of life with greater confidence.