Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is usually a longer term, open ended therapeutic relationship and is helpful when there are emotional and psychological issues stemming from infancy, childhood or adolescence which continue to affect you in the present.

Maybe a more recent traumatic life event, situation or relationship has caused a lot of distress and continues to have a detrimental impact on how you feel about yourself, affecting many areas of your life. If something happens and you find you are really badly affected, becoming emotionally overwhelmed, experiencing worrying or upsetting symptoms which do not go away or that life feels really difficult and you cannot manage in the way you have been able to previously, it could be that other issues and feelings about a past event are being triggered. Feelings and memories connected to very painful experiences in the past can resurface when something happens in the present, these may have been unconsciously repressed or ‘put out of mind’, things can be ‘unremembered’ as a defence, a means of protection. When repressed feelings are triggered it can feel very difficult and confusing, you may not fully understand why the present situation is affecting you so badly, you may not be able to make the connection or do not have awareness that unresolved feelings from the past are mixed up in your present feelings.

Maybe you have become aware of repeating patterns operating in your life and you want help to change these.

Psychotherapy takes place once a week depending on what it is you want and need to work on. A detailed assessment needs to take place before psychotherapy would be offered.

Meeting for a free 30 minute appointment to help you to decide whether to have an assessment, which will then give us both an opportunity to decide if shorter term work/counselling of a specific duration or an open ended therapeutic relationship/psychotherapy, which can enable deeper work to be engaged in, would be the most beneficial. Whether you begin counselling or psychotherapy, the way of working can be changed if this is thought to be necessary and you can end at your therapy at any time.

Endings however are a very important part of the therapeutic process and it is always better to plan the end of the therapy and work towards it, unless something makes this impossible.

07982 602229 or email using the contact me page or therapeuticcounselling.rickman@gmail.com