The benefits of psychotherapy
Monday, September 1st, 2008
What do you do for a living?
There are a few different aspects to my job but they all revolve around people's personal and professional development using my knowledge and experience of psychology. I work in private practice in Crowborough as a counsellor and psychotherapists, seeing a range of people. We work together on resolving issues, which can range from major issues that have always affected the client, to others who just generally feel unhappy or would like to spend some time on personal development. Some of my time is spent supervising other counsellors and psychotherapists in the area. Other professionals come to me to talk over their work, to get support, advice, and to develop their career in counselling.
Aside from my private practice, I co-founded The Link Centre with my partner Mark Head four years ago. A training centre based in Newick, near Haywards Heath, we run a range of courses such as one-day workshops on CBT, Anger Management, Group Dynamics and Counselling Skills. We also run Counselling and Psychotherapy training over a three/four year period, which can lead to UKCP recognition. I also handle management consultancy and training within organisations, where I apply my psychological knowledge to address the underlying issues within the organisation.
What is a psychotherapist and how is it different to other forms of counselling?
There is a lot of confusion about the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy - not only with the wider public but also within the industry itself. This is partly because there is no standard definition or differentiation. The way I see it is as a continuum. Counselling is more for those people who are generally ok and who do not really have any issues but are struggling with one particular problem. For example, they may be bereaved and be having problems getting over the loss involved.
Psychotherapy, on the other hand, could be seen to be more for those people who have had problems in their childhood that has affected their functioning generally in life - for example, someone who is very paranoid. Psychotherapy training is longer then counselling training, therefore the level of knowledge of a psychotherapist who has completed their training should be greater.
What lead you to train as a psychotherapist?
I married very young and when my marriage broke down I was left feeling very guilty. I had some counselling sessions, at the suggestion of my doctor. I found this a life changing experience and decided to enrol on a counselling skills course. It opened up a whole new world to me. I loved the learning and the personal development aspect and so continued with the training. Here I am now, having been in the business for 15 years, running my own training centre!!
What training is involved to be a psychotherapist and does it vary from college to college?
Courses do vary, as each training establishment is different. It is really important to find somewhere that offers good quality training and not to be attracted by cheaper courses that can be a false economy. It's important to find a theory, which makes sense to you. We teach Transactional Analysis, which has a humanistic philosophy. We believe human beings are basically good and people are doing their best to get their needs met in the world; each person has value and worth and we are all equal as human beings. Transactional Analysis in itself has been about for about 60 years and is used in many areas including counselling, psychotherapy, education, parenting, management, and families.
The training we offer is part time and we combine a counselling and a psychotherapy course, this means effectively you can achieve both a counselling diploma and become a qualified psychotherapist. To become UKCP recognised the course needs to be a minimum of four years in length. Students need to be in ongoing personal therapy throughout this period. This therapy is as important as learning the theory and the skills in being a therapist.
How can a psychotherapist help and what kind of situation and problems can be resolved ?
Psychotherapy can help with a whole range of issues such as stress, depression, anxiety, low self esteem, relationship problems, trauma, personality issues, panic attacks, bereavement, and any issue where past experiences impact our present day functioning. Recent research into human brain function found that people's brains can actually change within the intimacy of the therapeutic relationship. I work differently with each client and tailor my treatment accordingly, but an example would be someone who comes to me because they are depressed. We have a large problem with depression in our society, often treated with drugs. In my opinion anti-depressants have their place but are often not the solution to the problem long-term.
Someone who is depressed often isolates himself or herself. They may be lacking in stimulation and be in a downward spiral. One of the things that I look at, as a Transactional Analyst, would be what we call someone's Life Script. These are the decisions (usually unconscious) made as children that are survival strategies that we still use as adults. It may be that for some children to keep their head down and not make demands may be the best way to get through their childhood.
An outcome of this as an adult might be someone who keeps themselves to themselves and does not have the human contact with others that we all need. This is turn may lead to depression. I would focus on what it is, for the individual, that has led to depression (or for them to depress themselves). This needs to be addressed so that the person is not depressed now and does not become depressed in the future. If we just focused on the depression the person may come out of the depression for now but then revert back after the therapy has finished. Of course this a very simplified version of what happens.
How do you deal with listening to other people's problems without taking them home?
You learn ways to cut off, self-care is very important - as it is in all the helping professions. It is vital to have plenty of time off, relaxation, fun and good contact with others, as well as the support of supervision and often your own therapy as well.
It is more difficult with issues that you have personal experience of. This is one of the reasons I believe therapist should have undertaken their own therapy. It is important to have resolved most of our own issues to be able to work effectively with people.
What piece of advice would you offer to someone unhappy with their current situation?
Do something - take some action!! (but don't repeat tried and failed patterns.) Human beings are amazingly adaptable. Sometimes it doesn't feel as if we can change but I have witnesses amazing changes within people. Of course, I would recommend counselling and psychotherapy with a good therapist that you trust. Often it needs to be long-term to really address whatever the underlying issue is but it is more than worth it. Think of it as an investment in you. Once you have made the changes in yourself that you want, you have that for the rest of your life - no one can take that away from you.
What vision to do have for your business?
The Link Centre is my real passion, we constantly review our courses, teaching content and process. I love watching people develop and feel proud of the training centre. I would like to see this to continue growing - the last few years have been amazing and we have had more students then expected, which has been great. I would like to see this trend continuing and for us to carry on developing competent ethical practitioners who enjoy the stimulation of learning new skills and knowledge in a relaxed and fun environment.
