Why Psychotherapy?

Many people are working harder than ever while feeling that they are achieving less, enjoying it less, and finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a sense of balance or meaning. The causes are complex. Economic uncertainty, technological change, workplace restructuring, increasing performance expectations and the sheer pace of modern life all play a part.

As pressures have increased, psychological support has become available in many different forms.

Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), workplace counselling services, NHS services, therapy apps and short-term interventions can be valuable. However, they are designed to address immediate concerns, provide support during periods of crisis, or to help people regain stability and continue functioning in daily life. These are important goals.

Private psychotherapy aims to achieve something different. 

Rather than focusing solely on symptom reduction, psychotherapy aims to understand the causes and patterns that sit beneath distress. This often requires more time than a brief intervention can realistically provide.

There are several reasons for this.

The quality of the relationship matters
Research consistently suggests that one of the strongest predictors of successful therapy is the therapeutic alliance: the extent to which a client feels understood, trusts their therapist and agrees on the nature of the difficulties being explored. Inevitably, this takes time.

Most people do not arrive in therapy knowing exactly what is wrong. They may know they feel anxious, exhausted, overwhelmed, irritable, stuck or dissatisfied and often these experiences are only the beginning of the conversation. What initially appears to be workplace stress may turn out to involve grief, loss, perfectionism, relationship difficulties, identity, values or long-standing patterns of coping.

After six sessions, many people are only beginning to understand what they have actually come to therapy for.

Significant problems rarely develop overnight
Most difficulties that bring people to therapy have developed over months or years.
Burnout, anxiety, relationship problems, low self-esteem, dissatisfaction with work, feelings of emptiness or a loss of direction are rarely isolated events. They tend to emerge gradually through a complex interaction of personal history, relationships, habits, beliefs and circumstances.

Understanding those patterns, and finding more effective ways of responding to them, usually takes longer than a handful of sessions.

Sustainable change requires more than symptom management
Short-term work can be helpful for stabilising a difficult situation. Longer term psychotherapy allows something different, not least because the internet is heaving with the techniques and solutions that short term work focuses on.

Longer term work creates the opportunity to explore not only what is happening, but why it continues to happen and what might need to change.

After more than twenty years working in both fields, I'm relaxed that the most effective way of working towards solid and sustainable change is to move beyond emergencies and crises and take the time to be curious about what is happening, consider the underlying causes, decide upon an appropriate course of action and review progress over time.

Medication absolutely has an important place for many people. A reliable starting place for a majority of clients is to discuss their mental health and get a thorough MOT from their GP. If your ferritin or B12 levels are too low, talking about your childhood is a dubious distraction. 

And medication is not a cure for bereavement, burnout, bullying, loneliness, meaninglessness, relationship difficulties or the many other experiences that contribute to emotional distress.


How long does therapy take? There is no universal answer.

Many people find that six sessions provide useful foundations. In my experience, most clients benefit from at least 12 sessions, and many choose to work for several months or longer.

The goal is the opposite of dependence. 

The purpose of therapy is to help you develop greater understanding, greater freedom of choice and a stronger sense of control over your own life.
If you are considering therapy, let's discuss what feels appropriate for your circumstances and what you hope to achieve from the work.