There are a number of different approaches in ‘talking therapies’ (or counselling), which are usually categorised as either:

Psychodynamic Counselling: The psychodynamic therapist understands that early childhood events have a profound effect on how we cope with situations throughout our lives. Often this is unconscious and happens without us being aware of it.   In order to help you cope with your current struggles, a psychodynamic therapist will support you to explore issues from your past (particularly your childhood) in order to understand the underlying causes of your issues and help you to stop repeated unconscious patterns from the past.

Humanistic Counselling: The humanistic therapist believes that your ability to be happy lies within, but that it has become blocked or distorted by experiences or beliefs, such as inner conflicts, life crisis, fears, anxieties and repetition of old patterns. By helping you to become more aware of what’s getting in the way, a humanistic therapist will be trying to provide you with the space and conditions so that you can ‘unlock’ your innate potential for growth, self and spiritual development.

Cognitive/Behavioural Counselling: Cognitive therapists believe that our thoughts create our feelings and so pay particular attention to identifying negative thoughts and challenging these. Behaviourists believe that our behaviour can become ritualised and that we often develop negative behaviours without addressing the (often unhelpful) thought processes that go with them. A cognitive-behavioural therapist will often be trying to explore thoughts and behaviours and ask you to ‘experiment’ so you can learn new ways of thinking and acting, which in turn will improve the negative feelings you have been struggling with.

For more information on the different types of therapies, you may find it useful to look on the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) website ‘It’s Good to Talk‘.

As an integrative therapist, I believe that by ‘integrating’ a range of different approaches, I am more likely to be able to help you face the unique challenges that you are struggling with in your life.  For more information about my therapeutic approach, please ‘click here’.