Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Counselling
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy has a long-standing history of helping people overcome psychological difficulties and supporting personal growth, enabling a more fulfilling life. It developed from psychoanalysis but is less intensive and focuses on current life issues, relationships, and emotional patterns. Unlike many other therapies, its aim is to create deep, lasting change in personality, emotional awareness, and self-understanding.
The focus of psychodynamic therapy is to explore and resolve inner conflicts that underlie psychological difficulties. This includes examining patterns in your relationships with yourself and others, and making sense of feelings or behaviours that may feel confusing, overwhelming, or out of your control.
For example, you might find yourself repeatedly engaging in destructive relationships, struggling to change behaviours you desperately want to shift, or reacting in ways that puzzle you. Understanding these patterns can empower you, open up new choices, and help you live a life aligned with your values.
Psychodynamic therapy also explores past experiences and traumas and how they influence your present life. Sometimes revisiting these experiences is necessary to fully process them, release their
hold, and move forward.
During therapy you will learn how to be more comfortable with your own emotions and accepting of your own faults as well as become aware of your uniqueness and value. This in turn will allow you to work on your inner conflicts and ultimately live a more rewarding life and improve your ability to deal with life’s difficulties.
Throughout therapy, you will learn to be more comfortable with your emotions, accept your imperfections, and recognize your unique value. This self-awareness allows you to work on inner conflicts and build the skills to handle life’s challenges more effectively.
Psychodynamic therapy is less directive than other approaches. Rather than being told what to do, you are supported in understanding your own defences, resistances, and motivations. When a problem is fully understood and felt, meaningful change can naturally follow.
At the same time, we will explore together how these new insights might be applied to your daily life. I will support you in taking the first, often challenging steps, helping you try out new ways of coping or behaving at a pace that feels safe, manageable, and empowering.
What Happens in a Therapy Session?
You will usually decide what you want to talk about and while it might take some time to get used to, you will learn to trust that what you will bring to the session is usually central to your
problems. You will usually talk about what is currently causing you difficulties in your life, particularly any difficult feelings or problems in relationships. Sometimes you might also want to
talk through things that have happened in the past and might still be affecting you now or still be on your mind.
I will help you to identify any unconscious feelings and defenses and help you to make connections between the past and the present as well as between your symptoms and unconscious feelings and
relationship patterns. I will sometimes comment on what I notice is happening between us in therapy. This can help to observer your difficulties and ways of making sense of the world in an
experiential way that we can slow down and understand together. Developing these insights and being more aware of connections will enable you to make decisions based on what you want or need now,
not what your past experiences drive you to do.
At the same time, we will explore together how these new insights might be applied to your daily life. I will support you in taking the first, often challenging steps, helping you try out new
ways of coping or behaving at a pace that feels safe, manageable, and empowering.
Watch the video below to learn more about psychodynamic theory and therapy.
Online Therapy is not suitable for you if you are in crisis.
If you are contemplating suicide or believe you are at risk from harming yourself or others, please contact your GP, the emergency services by phoning 999 or go to your nearest Accident & Emergency department.