Different models of psychotherapy
There are many different forms and models of psychotherapy all of which have their advocates but what underpins any model is the relationship that you have with your psychotherapist. In essence, psychotherapy is a conversation between you and your psychotherapist which explores, examines and deals with emotional hurts and wounds.
To feel respected and understood you need to be able to reveal yourself, but if you are to feel stronger by having done so, you need to be with a person whom you trust and with whom you can feel safe.
I always encourage people who are searching for a psychotherapist to meet with other psychotherapists as well as myself, before making a decision on who to work with and I am also very happy to recommend other psychotherapists that I know personally.
The essence of psychotherapy is simple and straightforward; it is a conversation with a therapist that explores how you behave and what you experience and how much you are conscious of your behaviour and your experiences. From this simple relationship comes profound insight and emotional growth.
Two stages of psychotherapy
Most people come to psychotherapy as a result of an initial crisis of some sort. They might be suffering from depression, anxiety, panic attacks or sleeping problems which might be a result of bereavement, divorce, family problems or they might just have a general sense of unhappiness which might not make any sense to them.
Psychotherapy becomes an act of reaching out to and being met by a professional who can provide clinical understanding, knowledge, empathy and care in order to allow the client to go through a process of understanding, resolution and healing.
This process is often sufficient for the majority of people and that is why many people will stop coming to psychotherapy once their initial crisis has been resolved.
For some people, this first stage is not quite enough and they would like to explore the underlying reasons as to why this particular emotional crisis evolved for them and to examine who and what they are in more detail.
We are born with a personality and that personality is shaped, influenced and affected by our parents, our siblings and other important people with whom we interact in our early years. These formative experiences are built upon by the relationships we have in the later stages of our childhood and adolescence including school friends, teachers and mentors and are further complicated by our emotional experiences in sexual development, love and significant relationships.
If we choose to attempt to disentangle some of these influences we are able to understand which parts of our personality have been shaped by others and which are more inherently our own. This can bring a much deeper understanding, acceptance and love of ourselves which in turn has a powerful affect on the lives we live with our partners, family, our working relationships and our friendships.