My Services
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Psychotherapy is a process whereby a Psychotherapist and a client meet in privacy to explore the emotional or psychological problems that you are experiencing. This could take the form of distressing feelings, thoughts or memories related to the circumstances in your current life or in your past. Therapy is about being able to take an honest look at yourself with your Therapist in order to gain new insights, and through this process, become more empowered to solve your emotional problems. Psychotherapy is about alleviating Psychological distress through exploring your experiences, this is partly through talking, and partly through gaining more insight and understanding of your internal processes in the moment - this may include feelings, somatic or bodily experiences, memories etc.
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I am a Clinical Psychologist which is very different from Counselling. As a Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist I have training in a number of different types of psychological therapy. Clinical Psychologists tend to integrate different forms of therapy together according to the needs of the individual, and as such, no two therapies will be the same. Clinical Psychologists are ‘Scientist-Practitioners’ which means we draw on scientific evidence as to what has been proven to be effective for individuals. I am trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), (http://emdrassociation.org.uk/), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), ISTDP (Intensive Short Term Dynamic Therapy) (https://iedta.net/), and also use and/or have been trained in other therapies including CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy), REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy), Cognitive Analytical Therapy (CAT), Hakomi, Polyvagal Theory, Mindfulness and Compassionate Mind Therapy and Focusing.
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EMDR
(eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing)
EMDR is a powerful therapy that is designed to help people recover from traumatic events in their lives. EMDR is recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). I am an accredited EMDR Practitioner with EMDR Association UK and Ireland. https://emdrassociation.org.uk/
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EMDR stops difficult memories causing so much distress by helping the brain to reprocess them properly. EMDR is best known for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and it can also help with a range of psychological problems in people of all ages.
When a person is involved in a traumatic event, they may feel overwhelmed and their brain may be unable to fully process what is going on. The memory of the event seems to become “stuck” so that it remains very intense and vivid. The person can re-experience what they saw, heard and smelt and the full force of the distress they felt whenever the memory comes to mind.
EMDR aims to help the brain “unstick” and reprocess the memory properly so that it is no longer so intense. It also helps to desensitise the person to the emotional impact of the memory, so that they can think about the event without experiencing such strong feelings.
It does this by asking the person to recall the traumatic event while they also move their eyes from side-to-side, hear a sound in each ear alternately, or feel a tap on each hand alternately. These side-to-side sensations seem to effectively stimulate the “stuck” processing system in the brain so that it can reprocess the information more like an ordinary memory, reducing its intensity.
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The effect may be similar to what occurs naturally during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, when your eyes move rapidly from side to side as the brain processes the events of the day. Some research suggests that EMDR is effective because concentrating on another task whilst processing a distressing memory gives the brain more work to do*. When the brain is not giving its full attention to processing the memory, it starts to become less vivid. This allows the person to distance themselves from it and begin to remember the event in a more helpful and manageable way.
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When a person’s psychological problems have their roots in a distressing life event, EMDR can be very effective very quickly. Studies have shown that EMDR can significantly decrease PTSD symptoms in just two or three sessions, and that the effect is long lasting (e.g. Ironson, Freund, Strauss, & Williams, 2002; Scheck, Schaeffer, & Gillette, 1998). People who have experienced several traumatic events, neglect or poor treatment as children usually need more sessions than this.
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EMDR can be used to help treat a variety of psychological problems as well as PTSD, such as depression or anxiety, especially where a difficult life event has been involved. EMDR can be useful for people who have witnessed or experienced an event like a car accident, a violent crime, sexual or emotional abuse, bullying, a social humiliation or the sudden loss of a loved one, and are struggling to recover.
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Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) was developed by Dr Sue Johnson, a British Clinical Psychologist based in Canada, in the 1980s. It is based on Attachment Theory. This is the concept that people are made healthier by emotional contact and need to feel safe in their connections to others. Attachment theory helped guide the development of this approach. Emotionally focused therapy is based on the concept that distress in intimate relationships is often related to deeply rooted fears of abandonment, as an individual’s emotional response to these fears may be harmful to relationship partners and put strain on a relationship. When intimate partners are not able to meet each other’s emotional needs, they may become stuck in negative patterns of interaction driven by ineffective attempts to get each other to understand their emotions and related needs.
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It may be difficult for people outside the relationship, therapists, and sometimes even for those in a relationship to understand why the emotional arguments and confrontations causing difficulty in the relationship start, and continue, to occur. The theory behind emotionally focused therapy considers the key principle in conflict among couples to be insecurity in the attachment one has with one’s partner. This insecurity may mean partners find themselves concerned by questions such as “Do you really love me?” “Am I important to you?” “Are you committed to our relationship?” “Can I trust you?” and so on. Emotionally focused couples therapy can help people address attachment-related insecurities and learn how to interact with their romantic partners in more loving, responsive, and emotionally connected ways, which can result in a more secure attachment.
Emotionally focused couples therapy draws on Carl Rogers’ person-centered therapy, a non-directive approach to treatment in which people in treatment often gain a better self-understanding through speaking to a therapist who listens carefully and empathically. EFT expands on techniques from person-centered therapy and uses a scientifically validated theory of adult bonding to help couples understand not only their own emotions but also how back-and-forth patterns of emotional reactions operate in, and affect, relationships.
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EFT involves nine treatment steps. In the initial sessions of treatment (the first four steps), the therapist will assess interaction styles of the couple and help deescalate conflict. In the middle phases of treatment (steps five, six, and seven), the therapist and the couple work together to find ways to form new, stronger bonds in the relationship. Changes are consolidated in steps seven through nine as treatment concludes. A couple might start therapy by learning ways to deescalate conflict about a commonly debated topic, such as finances, for example. Then, the couple begins to learn ways to express deeper feelings often covered up by common relationship conflicts, such as a lack of trust. When couples are able to identify and discuss these deeper feelings with compassion, they are often able to form deeper bonds. The final stages of therapy help couples become better able to independently identify the attachment issues underlying conflict and to express related emotions in future interactions. The therapy is considered complete when couples can reliably engage in changed interaction patterns learned in therapy outside of the therapy environment.
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Emotionally focused therapy has been studied extensively, and a strong empirical base of evidence supports the intervention, which is based on research that has identified differences in how couples relate to each other and how these differences are critical to relationship distress and success. Research examining outcomes for couples who have participated in emotionally focused therapy shows the therapy decreases distress within relationships and partners interact in more successful ways. Follow-up studies conducted with those who participated in emotionally focused therapy showed the positive effects of the treatment continued for years after the therapy concluded.
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References:
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Dankoski, M. E. (2003). Pulling on the heart strings: An emotionally focused approach to family life cycle transitions. Journal of Martial and Family Therapy, 27, 177-187.
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Johnson, S. M. (2008). Emotionally focused couple therapy. In A. S. Gurman (Ed.), Clinical handbook of couple therapy (pp. 107-137). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
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Johnson, S. M. (2008). My, how couples therapy has changed! Attachment, love and science. Retrieved from https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/couples-therapy-attachment
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Johnson, S. M., Maddeaux, C., & Blouin, J. (1998). Emotionally focused family therapy for bulimia. Psychotherapy, 35, 238-247.
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EFT Research. (2015, April). Retrieved from http://www.iceeft.com/images/PDFs/EFTResearch.pdf
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Yalom, V. (2011). Sue Johnson on emotionally focused therapy. Retrieved from https://www.psychotherapy.net/interview/sue-johnson-interview
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Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a form of psychological therapy developed by Richard (Dick) Schwartz in the USA in the 1980s. It came out of family therapy which he originally trained in.
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Internal Family Systems is a powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy. The IFS model sees the mind as naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Our inner parts contain valuable qualities and our core Self knows how to heal, allowing us to become integrated and whole. In IFS all parts are welcome.
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IFS is a transformative tool that conceives every human being as a system of protective and wounded inner parts lead by a core Self. We believe the mind is naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Just like members of a family, inner parts are forced from their valuable states into extreme roles within us. Self is in everyone. It can’t be damaged. It knows how to heal.
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IFS is an evidence-based psychotherapy, helping people heal by accessing and healing their protective and wounded inner parts. IFS creates inner and outer connectedness by helping people first access their Self and, from that core, come to understand and heal their parts.
IFS is much more than a non-pathologizing evidence-based psychotherapy. It is also a way of understanding personal and intimate relationships and stepping into life with the 8 Cs: confidence, calm, compassion, courage, creativity, clarity, curiosity, and connectedness
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