About Therapy

WHAT IS THERAPY AND HOW DOES IT HELP?

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a series of therapeutic discussions between patient and therapist. Everyone goes through challenging situations in life and can use extra support.

People turn to therapy for various reasons. Some may be going through major life transitions such as unemployment or a birth of a child, while others are not handling daily stress well. Some deal with longstanding difficulties such as relationship problems or anxiety and are at a point where they are ready to learn more about themselves and broaden their emotional toolbox so they can have a more fulfilling life rather than just surviving it.

Seeking therapy does not take away from successfully navigating challenges in the past. It just means that people exhausted their own resources and need to rethink or expand their coping skills. Therapists help doing that. Some of the benefits of therapy include:

  • Finding resolution to the concerns that led you to seek therapy
  • Learning new ways to cope with stress and anxiety
  • Managing anger, grief, depression, and other emotional pressures
  • Discovering new ways to solve problems
  • Developing skills for improving your relationships across the board: at work, with a partner, as a parent or with friends
  • Improving communications and listening skills
  • Gaining a better understanding of yourself, your goals, and values
  • Changing old behavior patterns and developing new ones
  • Improving your self-esteem and gaining strength to cope with life

HOW DOES IT WORK?

After you contact me, we will set up a brief phone or video consultation so I can hear about what you are looking for, and answer questions. We would then schedule several sessions so I could get a better understanding of the issues that are concerning you and see whether I am the best person to provide the services you need. If you do not feel comfortable working with me, or if your problem does not lie within the areas of my expertise, I will refer you to other qualified professionals. Once we agree to work together, we will usually meet once a week for 50 minutes.

In sessions, we would talk about your current concerns and explore them together . In general, you can expect to discuss the current events happening in your life, your personal history relevant to your issue, and report progress (or any new insights gained) from the previous therapy session. Depending on your specific needs, therapy can be short or long-term. The goal of short-term therapy is to tackle an isolated difficulty, often an urgent one, such as a relationship break up or a crisis at work. The goal is to reduce distressing feelings and help you cope and function better. Long-term therapy offers a more in-depth understanding of a problem, often based on how feelings in the present are related to past experiences. A comprehensive understanding of your underlying issues can bring about deeper, lasting changes and give you tools to cope better in the future .

MY THERAPEUTIC APPROACH

As a therapist, I have a comprehensive approach. I consider the distinct problems that bring you into treatment, your circumstances, cultural background, lifestyle, and stage in life . Despite my experience, I approach each new therapy with a fresh eye and a curious attitude, wanting to understand you as a unique person, not as “another person dealing with anxiety / depression / etc”. I work collaboratively with my patients and always try to be understanding and sensitive.

My theoretical approach is a psychodynamic one, which means that I look for the underlying issues causing the symptoms that are bringing you into therapy in addition to alleviating your distress. It has been my experience that a deeper understanding of one’s problems facilitates longstanding changes as well as provide more flexibility in one’s behavior. Once you understand what is causing you to behave in a certain way, you have more freedom to behave in different ways rather than be confined by one particular way.

It is important to understand that you will get more results from therapy if you actively participate in the process. The ultimate purpose of therapy is to help you bring what you learn in sessions back into your life. Having an open communication between us is key. At times therapy may feel challenging, particularly when we discuss uncomfortable aspects of your life. If you feel shy or embarrassed bringing up a certain topic, just let me know. I will help you with that.

Psychotherapy has been shown to be beneficial in most cases, however, due to the exploratory nature of therapy, it is not possible to predict the outcome of your therapy or guarantee its success; evaluation of your progress will be part of our ongoing discussion .

Read more about the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy:

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-65-2-98.pdf

Read more about the factors of a successful treatment:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592639/

Read more about psychotherapy and neuroscience:

https://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/blog/details/1119/neuroscience-and-psychotherapy

Read more about different therapeutic approaches:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/types-of-therapy