Talking cure
Psychotherapy is an empathic undirected dialogue which the patient leads and the thrapist facilitates and accompanies. For a change to occure, it's important that the patient arrive by herself, at her own pace, to an insight.
The psychodynamic treatment can be either short term and focused on a theme (decided together upon concluding the assessment) or it can be more open ended in order to deal with long lasting issues from each person’s history. Sometimes, when needed, I use a more directive approach challenging disturbing thoughts (CBT) or counseling parents about their children .
Therapy is a safe, non-judgemental environment in which every patient is offered full confidentiality in order to enable touching upon her pain (or his pain). I provide psychotherapy for adolescents, adults, seniors, and parents.
Sometimes choosing to start psychotherapy is not easy. I invite you to share those doubts and thoughts in the assessment period which lasts 2-3 sessions. In those sessions you can evaluate how comfortable you feel with me and experience what a therapeutic dialogue is. Some of the problems that drive people to seek therapy are listed here, but feel free to consult on any other issue.
What issues can be treated by Psychotherapy/counseling?
Depression
Depression is one of the most common emotional problems of our era. It can start during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. It consist of mood changes, feelings of sadness, anger or emptiness, difficulties in enjoying daily activities, difficulties to concentrate, pessimistic thoughts about the present , the future and the self, difficulties to sleep and more. Physical pain can accompany depression and depression can accompany chronic diseases or loss. It can affect our most intimate personal relationships and our daily functioning. According to clinical experience, psychotherapy can be very helpful in changing malignant thought processes and improving our mood and relationships.
Anxiety:
Like depression, anxiety is very common. It ranges from diverse worries to persistent and obssesive thoughts. It can be a specific fear or phobia (flights, elevators etc.) or it can be more generalized. Anxiety can manifest itself in uncomfortable bodily sensations, or panic attacks. It can cause avoidance from situations that are mentally linked to the fears. This might diminish our mobility, relationships and possibilities in daily life. These problems can be targeted by a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic approach.
Crisis and adjustment:
When major changes happen in our life (even desired for changes) like: Child birth, marriage, divorce, immigration, new employment or unemployment it requires an inner reorganization which sometimes can evoke fears, worries, self-doubts . All these are classical issues to deal with in psychotherapy.
Post Trauma:
PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) can evolve due to an extreme event which is threatening to our life or our body's integrity: accidents, wars, rape, physical and verbal abuse, bullying, fire, floods, diseases and the like. This syndrome should be treated as soon as possible so that it won’t impair a person’s life. People suffering from this syndrome usually feel out of control, confused, angry at their “fate” and lacking basic trust they once had. All these can affect intimate relationships and daily life. Short–term psychotherapy as an urgent intervention is recommended in these cases.
Identity Issues:
When a person has questions about sexual orientation, professional orientation or other identity issues, it can be helpful to discuss them in a non-judgemental and safe environment such as the one which we create in psychotherapy. It enables people to understand the meaning of those questions, and their possible answers in a self-exploratory process.
Parent-child relationships and relationship difficulties:
Being a parent is not an easy task! (I’m saying that also as a mother…) It is affected by our changing surroundings as well as by our personal history. Sometimes parents have issues they would like to understand and change in their parenting style. Sometimes a child has a problem that also bothers the parents. These can be dealt with in psychotherapy which combines parent guidance with a better inner understanding of parents and their children's relationship.
Recurrent relationship difficulties can have an unconscious pattern created in our past history. Being able to reflect and get insight into these patterns usually helps improve and maintain intimacy.
I see myself as an expert in the above issues and will be honored to accompany you and share with my rich experience.
If you are experiencing emotional challenges, contact me today