Psychotherapy explained
"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There's a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in"
~ Leonard Cohen 'Anthem'
In early life - often in childhood or adolescence - many of us encounter experiences which are difficult to manage, distressing or even traumatic. We protect ourselves by burying aspects of our feelings, needs and identity into our unconscious.
For most of our lives we may function quite adequately, but there may come a time when we reconnect to painful feelings from the past or to an inner conflict between the defended person we have become and the more essential vital person we are meant to be. For some of us this disturbance expresses itself in a crisis whilst for others there may be a more gradual loss of meaning, vitality and direction.
Psychotherapy is essentially creative. Most often the impulse to come to therapy is that something in our lives feels cracked or broken. This crack hurts and we reach out because we want the hurting to stop. Healing is a central part of psychotherapy. Within the tradition of depth psychology this healing is not about patching over the crack, it's about responding to a more expansive experience of ourselves which is pushing into our lives and seeking to be born. For the crack which brings us into therapy is also a doorway to a more authentic, complete and vital life - that's how the light gets in.
Psychotherapy is rooted in a supportive and guiding relationship with a professional practitioner who has undergone extensive training and personal exploration to understand the dynamics of human experience and psychological development.
Psychotherapy provides a safe and creative space for feelings to be expressed, accepted and transformed so that we can come to experience ourselves as joyful and whole, capable of making good choices for our lives, and of getting our needs met.
