What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a talking therapy. You meet with your therapist at the same time, on the same day each week. You talk and the therapist listens; offering insight, clarity and an understanding of the issues that you are bringing. Therapy is often likened to a journey, and indeed it is a journey, one of self-exploration that you embark on together with your therapist. Opening up to a stranger is not always easy but the therapist provides a confidential, non-judgemental and empathic environment where trust can be built and exploration can begin. This journey of self-exploration, will lead to greater understanding and self awareness. Looking at past experiences and emotional patterns can be useful as early experiences can determine how you behave and feel as adults. Early relationships often define the relationships we have in later life, both with others as well as with ourselves. Through therapy, we become more conscious of our patterns of behaviour and emotional functioning. This sense of self awareness leads to a greater sense of well-being, freedom and personal authority. Through the relationship that is built between you and your therapist, you will develop a better understanding of yourself and gain insight into how you interact with others. During therapy, defences will be confronted and underlying anxieties uncovered that can reveal true and intensely experienced feelings. Making connections between these defences, anxieties and true feelings can develop new "self-awareness", and a capacity to understand difference in others and the world in which you live, so that you can begin to bear what might have felt unbearable.