WHAT IS PSYCHOTHERAPY?
It’s a process that helps a person to come to a better understanding of their abilities, difficulties, motivations or worries in conjunction with the therapist. This confidential relationship is mutually trusting.
Sessions take place at the same place and time usually every week. The session usually lasts 50 – 60 minutes. In individual therapy the client and the therapist sit in chairs (the couch is rarely nowadays). James Tighe BBC Health
Why do people come to counselling and psychotherapy?
It can be difficult to know when you might need counselling or psychotherapy. You may be feeling a low level of unhappiness, which you can’t quite understand. You might be feeling unable to cope with the normal challenges of life, e.g. getting up for work, organizing your children and family life. Perhaps you may be feeling sad or depressed, following a bereavement or redundancy, or the breakup of a relationship (it doesn’t matter how long or short it was in terms of length of time). Sometimes people become very anxious when they are usually calm and ‘laid back’ person. Other people become overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness, even if they are part of an active social circle. You might suddenly experience vivid recall of memories that are painful, or have flashbacks of traumatic events in the past and present.
Some of the issues people bring to counselling and psychotherapy
- Problems at work
- Confidence and self esteem issues
- Coping with acquired disability after a serious illness
- Living with a chronic physical condition
- Sexual problems or concerns
- Problems or concerns about your relationship at home
- Emotional problems / panic attacks / feelings of being out of control
- Feelings of depression, anxiety or confusion
- Physical problems with no clear physical cause
- Addiction problems – sex, work, love etc.
- Finding there is no meaning to life
- Fear of loneliness and isolation
- Suffering from trauma or abuse, and its impact on your life and relationships
- Loss and bereavement
Adapted from MIND doc. Why Do People Come to Psychotherapy?
