Therapy.

I offer psychodynamic therapy in Maidstone, Kent and online via video call.

Anxiety and depression can manifest in many different ways: difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, lack of enjoyment in favoured activities, lessening attention span, loss or lack of identity, difficulty in clear thought or intrusive thoughts to name just a few. At times it's not clear why we feel the way we do: perhaps you are feeling overwhelmed or empty, or are engaging in patterns of behaviour which are negatively affecting your life. 

Conversely you may be all too aware of events or relationships which have, or are, effecting your mental wellbeing and wish to explore these in a supportive and nurturing environment. The therapy I offer focuses on the exploration of ourselves, who we are, what we have experienced, what we have survived. The relationship we have with ourselves and our experiences is crucial to our happiness and sense of fulfilment, when we are not well connected to ourselves we can feel like nothing quite satisfies us. Through therapy we aim to find a version of ourselves which we are happy with and shake off the expectations and values which have been imposed on us.

We experience the world through the lens of our own experience. We can easily make the mistake of believing things just are the way hey are, accepting our lives and our feelings at face value. Perhaps you're feeling overwhelmed or are engaging in patterns of behaviour which are negatively affecting your life. Perhaps you're feeling angry, anxious, empty, depressed or feel that you have never reached your potential in life or work. Perhaps you don't really know who you are or even how you feel. Inner strength comes from feeling whole, understanding and accepting the good and the bad: our past trauma does not need to define us, but it is also an important part of understanding who we are. 

Anxiety, depression and emotional disruption can arise when we do not fully understand or process our experiences and relationships, we often protect ourselves by hiding our true feelings towards individuals, events and even ourselves. Ignoring our emotions does not mean they go away, unwanted emotions are like lightning: they will ground themselves somewhere, often expressing themselves in undesirable ways. The better we understand our emotions, and what they are truly a reaction to, the better we can become at regulating and challenging them. Through therapy we aim to gain an honest understanding of our lives and our genuine feelings towards our past and present, when we become aware of our hidden feelings we can process them and release ourselves from their impact.

Our relationship with ourselves directly impacts the way we relate to others. Our understanding of who we are and the lives we have led effects how we engage with the world the the people around us. As humans we always like to predict what will happen next, to do this we use our past experiences to build a picture of the future, if we have a view of ourselves and our past which is skewed negatively then this is how we will see our future. Having a skewed view of ourselves and the world can lead us to feel anxious, sad, unlovable, abandoned, lonely, empty and angry, and sometimes those feelings can be taken out on ourselves or the ones we love. When we fully understand our past we are able to rework the view we have of ourselves and our relationships, building strength and lessening our insecurities and unhelpful behaviours.

Psychodynamic therapy is one of the oldest forms talking therapies and is supported by decades of theoretical and clinical research. Recent research has observed the restructuring and strengthening or neural pathways of those engaged in psychodynamic therapy, meaning we not only know it is working because people feel better and live better lives after therapy but we can also see the changes at a biological level.