Psychotherapy is an in-depth exploration of your patterns of thinking, feeling, behaving and relating that may be underlying your diificulties and wish for change. Your difficulties could for example be related to:
We look at your learning history with a view to how this impacts on your everyday life now and what kind of ways of managing might be more useful and helpful. We will discuss what outcomes you want and what kind of approach might suit you best. Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy or a combination of several ideas and methods like those informed by Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)and Mindfulness are approaches we offer.
Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy (NLPt) is based on the idea that we make sense of ourselves and the world in our own unique way. We hold assumptions, set rules, select information and model patterns to make the world meaningful and familiar. NLPt is about how we learn to do so and how we can change in our chosen area of life. NLPt is focused on outcome, sensory-specific changes we want to make and what kind of resources we can access to help us get there. Learning styles, working with our senses, language patterns, states of mind, meta-programmes, time perspectives, physiology, memory resolution, values and beliefs, modelling may for example feature in the therapeutic work. NLPt is a powerful blend of action and reflection. Length of therapy is often an initial 12 weekly sessions of an hour and a half each.
Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) works out with you specific patterns of managing emotions and relationships often learned in childhood to help you deal with what was happening at the time. Placation, avoidance, self-sabotage, excessive control, frantically keeping busy and/or caring for others are just a few examples of such patterns. We look at their relevance and usefulness for your everyday life now and what can be more helpful atlernatives. CAT is collaborative and transparent. Around the 4th session a written summary of your difficulties, patterns and what can be done is shared with you; the joint creation of a diagram may also help you recognise patterns in everyday life. In the last session an ending letter outlines progress and what needs to be considered for the future. You are invited to write a letter of your own at this point. A follow-up appointment is usually arranged after 3 months. Length of CAT is often 16 or 24 weekly sessions.
A combination of other useful ideas like working with thinking styles, mindfulness, relaxation and grounding techniques, use of art, hypnosis, specific ideas to try out, may be suggested if we think this facilitates learning.