How does psychotherapy work?

We practise psychoanalytic therapy. This means that, in your sessions with one of us, you speak, as far as possible, about what is on your mind. In this way, together, you and the therapist can try to understand what might be going on for you. The therapist might not say a great deal, but she will help you to explore your own thoughts. She will sometimes try to make connections and suggest meanings that you might not have discovered for yourself. In this way, as the sessions go on from week to week, therapy may help you to see how you come across to other people in your relationships with them. You may see yourself in a new light, and, if so, you can start to initiate the process of change.

Because psychotherapy is about making changes, and increasing your ability to live life to the full, it usually takes time. A year to two years would be average for a course of therapy, but some people want less - many people want more.