APPROACH TO THERAPY
The beginning of therapy is often spent identifying and understanding how defenses are developed in response to painful experiences. Those defenses, although useful in a more vulnerable time, can develop into barriers to successful relationships and self-knowledge. As these barriers are identified, an opening through which deeper self exploration and understanding can develop. Relief from uncomfortable feelings can then be found. I work psychodynamically and utilize psychoanalytic theory in my practice. This means that I listen with deep attention and help you recognize the underlying forces that have shaped and possibly limited your life. In collaboration with my clients a safe, non- judgmental and reliable environment is established in which an honest and thorough encounter with these underlying forces, or unconscious thoughts, can occur. This type of psychotherapy involves very deep communication between the client and therapist, a process made possible through established trust and mutual respect.
Many times people are reluctant to seek therapy because they feel that therapy can be a long and expensive process that doesn’t address the more immediate issues that are causing emotional pain. I am respectful of the more urgent issues that may have prompted this process. Often it is an event such as a catastrophic loss that needs more immediate attention that motivates a search for help in understanding and bearing painful feelings. Other times it may be a feeling of not wanting to go through another painful day of wishing that you could stop doing or thinking things that make you feel bad about yourself or angry toward others. Either way, taking the first step toward getting the help you need is itself a hopeful and courageous act.
|
|