Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy

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Is it ever too late to start psychotherapy?

Is it too late to consider going into therapy once we reach a certain age? As I walked through the gardens on an early spring morning, this was the question going through my mind. I intended to get down to writing this blog, an unfamiliar task, when I got back to my office.

We seem to have heard all year about mental and physical decline as we age so it was refreshing to read Levitin (see below) that the brain retains plasticity or the capacity to learn and change through out life. And if we are not taken down by dementia, brain injury or stroke, we can in fact retain a lively and flexible mind throughout life. We have to do the obvious things like follow a balanced diet, exercise, not give up purposeful activity (work) and maintain a good and diverse social network.

Throughout life, our close friends and family are important to our wellbeing. These relationships take enormous strain in a world where change is the only hope for survival. And they need looking after even if this means we might end a relationship, if we have children developing and sustaining a healthy connection can help our children to adjust to the world with a healthy out look.

Transitional periods, retirement, divorce, bereavement, empty-nest syndrome, can benefit from psychotherapy for one or both partners providing the space for increased awareness of ourselves, an opportunity for gaining insight and change.

Considering the later years are often filled with opportunities for reflection on a life lived there is always plenty material to explore in the therapy room. David Levitin, an American Neuroscientist, sees this period of life as an opportunity to see life afresh. His premise is the brain retains its capacity to change through out life, at its greatest in childhood and old age.

 

To enquire about group sessions with Thea Beech, please contact her here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.

 

Dorothea Beech is a Group Analyst with many years experience working in the UK and overseas.  She worked as A Group Analyst in South Africa as a Lecturer at Cape Town UCT and at Kwa Zulu Natal University in Durban, lecturing on a Masters Program in Group Work.  Her MA in Applied research was on Eating disorders. Her interests are in cultural diversity and trans-generational influences on the individual.  Thea is available at our Brighton and Hove Practice.

 

Further reading by Thea Beech

The Unconscious Mind

Groups for Mental Health

Group Psychotherapy in a post ‘Pandemic World’

Termination and endings in Psychotherapy

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Unexpressed emotions will never die

Short sharp, to the point and written by Freud. His full quote is ‘Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways’. What does he mean and is he right? 

With this statement Freud is defining on the pillars of psycho-analysis and psychotherapy – to uncover repressed and unconscious memories and provide a relationship in which those ‘traumas’ can be expressed through language and contact. 

What evidence is there that unexpressed emotions don’t die, after all, is passage of time not a great healer as the popular expression goes? We know that unexpressed emotions don’t die because otherwise people with traumas would simply recover and live contented and fulfilling lives.  Instead we know that this is not the case and trauma gets ‘stuck’. 

And with regards to the glib statement that ‘time heals’, this is only true when feelings can be expressed – losses grieved – and reality come to terms with, otherwise the past will continue to repeat itself in unconscious ways in the present. After all, the unconscious has no concept of time. 

How do unexpressed emotions come forth?

Unexpressed emotions – in other words emotions that cannot be acknowledged for fear of their impact on the psyche – express through a variety of means and present in an infinite number of actual behaviours or presentations. For me it brings to mind a quote from a Woody Allen movie where a character (played by Allen) says ‘I never get angry …. I grow a tumour instead’. 

Some of what we see as clinicians with clients who are defending against expressing difficult feelings can be: 

Acting out – Engaging in behaviours that are destructive to self and or others the reasons for which the client is often unaware of; 

Mania – Frantically ‘doing’ to avoid being in touch with one’s inner world; 

Depression – A pervasive deadness and inability to be in touch with desire as a result of emotions  being unexpressed. Being dead is preferable to feeling; 

Repetition compulsion – The compulsion to repeat an event or behaviour over and over again without an ability to clearly think about and consider why that may be; 

Reaction formation – A defence against the anxiety produced by feelings towards something causing the person to over-compensate in the opposite direction – an example would be someone terrified of death who engages in dangerous sports or activities; 

Mental illness – This is a catch all phrase, a product of the medicalisation of psychiatry whereby clusters of ‘symptoms’ are given different diagnoses. Essentially, mental health diagnosis or not, the work remains the same. And psychosis can be seen as the mind protecting itself from unbearable feelings and emotions by ‘going mad’. 

Somatic (body) symptoms – Back to the Woody Allen quote – in lieu of feeling, many of us develop physical ‘pains’ far less dramatic than tumours, but chronic nonetheless. Examples could be  gastro-intestinal problems (IBS), migraines or other more obscure symptoms. 

Dissociation – We all dissociate, which broadly means to ‘zone out’, however dissociation can manifest in powerful and extreme ways whereby the person ‘splits’ their mind akin to ‘the left hand  not knowing what the right hand is doing’, however rather than it being about one hand not knowing what the other is doing, it is in reality one hand not knowing what is BEING DONE to the other. 

And this list is by no means exhaustive or conclusive. 

Expression vs repression – living vs dying 

Expression of emotion is essential, however, cruelly paradoxically, those who have needed to repress have done so because there has not been a sufficiently available adult (in chronological as well as psychological terms) to be in relationship with. This is the role of the therapeutic relationship. 

Without titrated expression of emotion – I am no fan of new-age catharsis – and done in the context of relationship, living is simply not possible; only existence is possible where the client is at the mercy of powerful unconscious forces and exposed to their repressed emotions coming forth later in uglier ways. 

Grieving is part of living 

Grieving is extremely painful – whether that is grieving a loss in the present, or grieving the loss of what never was. However, without grieving we cannot feel alive – we cannot be born. 

Being born in the biological sense means leaving the safety of the womb, but also the ‘nothingness’ of the womb. In the womb we cannot experience reality other that filtered through our mothers. And so it is psychologically too – being born through psychotherapy means to face losses and bear reality, however painful that may be, and through that to come alive. If loss can be borne then desire for life can emerge and emerge it will. 

Psychotherapy is about expressing what has previously been inexpressible and it is in the context of the therapeutic relationship and encounter using language that this takes place: language gives trauma shape and form.

 

To enquire about psychotherapy sessions with Mark Vahrmeyer, please contact him here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.

 

Mark Vahrmeyer, UKCP Registered, BHP Co-founder is an integrative psychotherapist with a wide range of clinical experience from both the public and private sectors. He currently sees both individuals and couples, primarily for ongoing psychotherapy.  Mark is available at the Lewes and Brighton & Hove Practices.

 

Further ready by Mark Vahrmeyer –

What is the purpose of intimate relationships?

Why ‘Cancel Culture’ is about the inability to tolerate difference

The Phenomenon of ‘Manifesting – The Law of Attraction’ and the inability to tolerate reality

Why does the difference between counselling and psychotherapy matter?

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Why all therapists and mental health professionals need therapy now more than ever

I don’t know about you, but I have been riding the Covid-19 emotional roller coaster since March 2020 with very little roadmap, whilst trying to guide those who I work with like “the blind leading the blind”.

I also see my own psychotherapist and supervisers in the exact same boat. They are supposed to know more than me, but actually I get the sense that we are all struggling together.

Nonetheless, as a mental health professional, business owner and with all my family living in different countries, I have been dealing with my own set of challenges as a result of Covid-19, as well as trying to be the best support I can for my clients. I have also felt grateful for the support of a therapist throughout this period and couldn’t imagine a better time to be in therapy other than now.

All helping professionals are going through their own predicaments throughout this crisis whilst trying to help others as well. This can be both rewarding and also incredibly taxing. I noticed feeling more tired than ever at the end of last year – an exhaustion which felt both familiar and entirely new. Self-care has become more important than ever.

We all had to adapt to new working practices and navigate the unknown over past months. This has been both unsettling and reassuring in that most of us have survived and gotten through in our own way. There have been losses for sure and they have taught us that we can survive them too.

Professionals in support roles have been working through the pandemic feeling mostly under-resourced themselves. Under such unusual set of circumstances this can only be expected. It has been humbling.

Having weekly psychotherapy sessions has helped and continues to help me enormously. Therapists need their own therapy now more than ever. If we are to continue to be of help to our clients, first we need to have the support ourselves.

 

Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy is a collective of experienced psychotherapists, psychologists and counsellors working with a range of client groups, including fellow therapists and health professionals. If you would like more information, or an informal discussion please get in touch with us by telephone or email.

 

Sam Jahara is a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and clinical Superviser. She works with individuals and couples in Hove and Lewes.

 

Further reading by Sam Jahara

What shapes us?

How Psychotherapy can Help Shape a Better World

Getting the most of your online therapy sessions

How Psychotherapy will be vital in helping people through the Covid-19 crisis

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

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What’s wrong with good advice?

Often, the people who engage in therapy with me will ask for advice, tips on managing anxiety, what to do about a relationship situation, how to manage a tricky situation at work. Sometimes someone might ask for general ‘life advice’. Of course, mostly what they want is some sort of reassurance and although its not true that therapists never give advice I tend not to offer reassurance. Why not?

Well to start with, the problem is rarely not knowing what the right thing to do is. If someone wants ‘tips’ on sleep or anxiety strategies, I might advise them to look on the internet, there’s plenty of it out there and its free and of course generally sound. Eat your greens, go to bed at a regular time, do some exercise, especially yoga and don’t take too many or too much, mind altering substances.

This reminds me of a joke, –

‘Doctor, If I stop drinking alcohol altogether, eat my greens and give up sex, will I live longer?

Dr – Well I can’t tell you with any certainty whether you’ll live any longer, but one thing I do know, it will certainly seem much longer!’

Of course, what people struggle with is not, not knowing, what the healthy thing to do is, it’s doing it and the reason for this is that they/we are conflicted.

Many clients may come saying they want to stop, whatever it is, that is causing them problems. So I ask why don’t they then? and they say I don’t know. Well the answer is simple, another part of them doesn’t want to stop, whatever it is there doing, is serving some purpose, even if the consequences of continuing to do it are grave. Of course, in many cases this can indeed be tragic, people find themselves compulsively doing things that they know hurt themselves or others, damage, destroy or put important, sometimes essential relationships at risk.

Therefore, advice on stopping the behaviour rarely works as the addiction or compulsion is a solution to another, sometimes, -unconscious problem., as Depache Mode noted, they’re, “looking for love in all the wrong places”.

– “in the woods of anguish, it’s easy to lose your way”. (George Nash 7.9.2020)

The difficulty in a way is in beginning therapy, as the client and therapist needs to come to a together about what the problem is and what the contract of work is.

I have had many clients come with problems and basically say, well, I’ve told you the problem, now over to you to give me the right advice to fix it. Needless to say, these client’s often leave before the work starts. For instance, someone I saw with a destructive addiction was clearly harbouring a long festering repressed grief about an abandonment by his father, however this wound was so repressed that any interpretation of mine that it might be important to look at this just didn’t work and we were immediately at a stalemate.

Of course, my job is to be as tactful as possible, to not push the client beyond where they are ready to go and to be as patient as possible, BUT, destructive behaviour is always the result of past hurts and unless we do find a way together to think about these, a stalemate or premature ending will be the result.

 

To enquire about psychotherapy sessions with Paul Savage, please contact him here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.

 

Paul Salvage is Psychodynamic Psychotherapist trained to work with adolescents from 16-25 and adults across a wide range of specialisms including depression, anxiety, family issues, self awareness and relationship difficulties. He currently works with individuals in our private practice in Hove.

 

Further reading by Paul Salvage –

Psychiatry, Psychology and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy 

Analytic Therapy for Addictions

Loss

Post Natal Depression in Mothers & Fathers

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

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What is Schema Therapy?

Schema Therapy (ST) is a flexible and comprehensive approach to therapy that focuses on understanding you as a person. It provides a helpful framework for us to make sense of some of the difficulties you might be experiencing. These might be difficulties with how you feel, your thought patterns, relationships, unhelpful behaviours, or a general dissatisfaction with your life.

ST was developed in the 1980s by psychologist Jeffrey Young and can be understood as an integrative model that draws on a number of therapeutic approaches, including cognitive behavioural (CBT), psychodynamic, gestalt, and person-centred.

CBT has a strong evidence base and because of this tends to be the treatment of choice for many common difficulties such as anxiety and depression; when delivering ST, I would be able to work with you to incorporate many of the effective components of CBT to support with the changes you make. In addition, ST goes deeper and puts more of an emphasis on understanding the links between childhood experiences and the development of patterns in thinking, feeling and behaving.

ST asserts that it is our schemas that link our past to our present. In ST, a schema can be understood as a deeply held belief which is often out of our conscious awareness. Schemas affect how we think, feel, and behave, and are sometimes described as our blueprints or software. They help us to make sense of the world, and are the patterns that run throughout our life. A goal of schema therapy is to help you to become more aware of your schemas and then to provide you with tools to change on an intellectual, emotional and behavioural level.

Another important part of ST is the focus on emotional needs. ST believes that schemas develop from experiences when our emotional needs were not met. One of the overarching goals of ST is to help you to develop an awareness of these needs and, over the course of therapy, develop a variety of ways of meeting them.

What happens in schema therapy?
In the early sessions of ST, we would work together to build an understanding of your current problems and how they developed. A crucial element of this is making links between your early life experiences and your current problems. The process of therapy is active, and, right from the start we would use different therapeutic techniques. These can be divided into: (i) emotion focussed strategies that aim to connect you with the emotional level of your experience, and include imagery and chair work; (ii) cognitive techniques that aim to promote flexible and compassionate thinking; and (iii) behavioural techniques that help you to challenge fears and break behavioural patterns.

What I like about schema therapy?
I really like the comprehensiveness and flexibility of ST. It provides a framework for understanding how we function on a deeper level and helps us to spot the common thinking and behavioural traps that we can all fall into. As a therapist I can be creative and draw on a number of proven techniques that aim to address problems on a variety of levels. ST also encourages therapists to play an active role in the therapy and to bring an authentic and open approach to the therapeutic relationship. This can help create a genuine connection, which is often the foundation for lasting change.

 

To enquire about psychotherapy sessions with Dr John Burns, please contact him here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.

 

Dr John Burns  is an experienced Consultant Clinical Psychologist registered with the British Psychological Society, Health and Care Professions Council, and the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.  He is available at our Brighton & Hove Practice.

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

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Online Anger Management Therapy

Anger issues can have a negative impact on your physical and mental health, as well as impacting other areas of your life such as your relationships. Online anger management therapy can be helpful in enabling you to control your anger before it controls your life.

What is Online Anger Management?

An online anger management counsellor can work with you to help you identify the signs of anger and to help you examine the triggers that cause your anger to flare up. Through learning how to control your emotions, you’ll be able to deal with your anger in a more constructive way.

Online anger management therapy isn’t about avoiding anger or removing it from your life entirely – anger is natural and, when expressed in a healthy way, it can actually be helpful in diminishing your negative feelings. Anger management is simply a tool to help you express your feelings in a more appropriate and assertive way.

Men often experience anger more than women, which may be because of how men are taught to express their emotions. Anger can often be seen as acceptable for men to express, rather than women, and it can often be used as a way of masking other feelings like sadness, grief or humiliation. But, of course, anger control issues can affect anyone and there is no shame in experiencing difficulty in controlling your anger.

An experienced professional therapist can help you find suitable ways to express your feelings, so you have a better hold over your emotions. Those struggling with anger issues may find it difficult to seek help or admit they have a problem. But online therapy can be a convenient way of finding ways to diffuse your anger and can highlight the areas of your life that are causing these emotions.

How Can Online Anger Management Therapy Help Me?

In many cases, anger is an appropriate emotion for the situation. In others, it may not be suitable or the level of anger you’re feeling may not be appropriate for what has happened. Online anger management therapy can help you learn what is a suitable emotion for the situation and find ways to express that anger in a healthy way.

For a lot of people, the thought of speaking to someone face-to-face about these issues can be embarrassing or awkward. Online therapy can be a great compromise that offers the benefits of speaking with a licensed therapist but at a time and location that suits you so you’re more relaxed and comfortable.

If you want to talk to our team, contact us today or take a look at our practitioners.

All the content on this page has been reviewed and vetted by Mark Vahrmeyer UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Co-Founder of Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy. For any questions or more information about the subjects discussed on this page please contact us.


Online Bereavement Therapy

Grieving is an emotional, psychological and physical response to losing someone we’re close to. It can be an unsettling experience and many people feel as though something is wrong or missing from their life. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief outline the core emotions as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But there are countless other emotions you may feel as a result of losing someone, which can make it confusing to comprehend.

What is Online Bereavement Therapy?

Online bereavement therapy can be beneficial in helping you cope with your loss and come to accept what has happened. You’ll speak with a trained counsellor who has experience in helping people grieve and the issues that surround bereavement.

Since grief is often accompanied by feelings that are similar to depression, it can be all too easy to rely on anti-depressants to heal you. But this can often mask the impact of grief and delay the grieving process, causing more harm than good.

Online therapy will enable you to work through what has happened and come to terms with it. A counsellor can also help you understand that grieving is not a neat process and even after you’ve accepted your loss, you may still have difficult periods occur in the future. Your therapy may last several months or even longer – it all depends on the individual and how they process such events.

How Can Bereavement Therapy Help Me?

Some people find comfort in talking about how they feel, while others may find it difficult to talk about their emotions and withdraw from those around them. Grieving is incredibly tough, but you don’t need to feel as though you’re on your own. Offloading your worries and feelings onto someone else can be beneficial and help you work through the stages of grief.

Online bereavement therapy can help you during this mourning process – you’ll have the support of a trained professional and everything you discuss with them will remain completely confidential. It can help to discuss your loss and identify the emotions you’re feeling, whether it’s sadness, anger, guilt or helplessness.

Your counsellor can also help you in learning to live without the person you’ve lost, something that can be daunting. With the support of a counsellor, you’ll soon realise just how common and natural your responses to grief are which can make these emotions easier to deal with.

If you want to talk to our team, contact us today or take a look at our practitioners.

All the content on this page has been reviewed and vetted by Mark Vahrmeyer UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Co-Founder of Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy. For any questions or more information about the subjects discussed on this page please contact us.


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Making Changes

As well as working privately, I work within an NHS IAPT Service providing psychological therapy for depression and anxiety disorders and when a client comes into therapy, one of the first things we discuss is goals for treatment.

What is it the client is hoping to change by the end of treatment? Is there anything that the client is not able do now, because of their difficulties, that they would like to be doing in the next couple of months?

Goals help to focus the therapy. It’s quite common that the client will say they would like to increase their confidence or to improve their self esteem, to be less anxious or to be happy. These are very broad goals, would be difficult to measure and don’t tell us what the client would actually be doing differently if they were to be confident, have better self esteem, be less anxious or be happier. So we work together to work out what this might look like.

One way to help determine goals for change is to think of our values. When considering values we need to think about what is really important to us, what gives our life meaning and purpose. Values are what we care about and are different for everybody. They can change over time depending on where we are in our life. Meaningful activity is value driven. Values are fluid and don’t have an end point, they are how we want to live our lives, they help us to be the person we want to be.

We hold values in different areas of our life: intimate relationships / marriage / being a couple; family relations; friendships & social relationships; parenting; career / employment; physical wellbeing / healthy living; connecting with the community; spirituality; education / training / personal growth; mental wellbeing.

It can be useful to consider what values you hold in each of these areas and rate how important each domain is to you and where you are in achieving that domain. For example what kind of values do you hold in physical wellbeing? How do you want to look after yourself physically? Is it to take regular exercise, eat healthily, get enough sleep and rest? Are you achieving this as much as you would like to be? What sort of friend do you want to be and how would you like to act towards your friends? For example, loyal, trustworthy, to spend time with friends, to share, to listen, to have fun together. What kind of values might you want to model as a parent? For example, to be curios, have courage, be adventurous, have determination, gratitude kindness and have fun (to name but a few). Values can be described as compass directions in which we live our life.

If you feel that you are not where you would like to be within a particular domain, how can you bring this value further into your life? This is where goal setting comes in. Values are a direction we want to progress in. Goals can be set to help us achieve that direction. For example, if we place value upon exercise and physical health we might have the goal of going for a swim twice a week or we might have a goal of completing a qualification, which sits within the value of education and personal growth. Goals can be achieved and have an end point. You maybe familiar with the acronym SMART goals. This means goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time limited. So if we wanted to make the goal of ‘going for a swim twice a week’ into a really SMART goal we could add a set time period, i.e. ‘going for a swim twice a week for half an hour’. By setting SMART goals we break down the areas of change into manageable chunks.

Change is difficult and if we are feeling low or stressed and anxious we can often feel overwhelmed. It is likely that areas of our life that are important to us have become affected and we don’t know where to start to change this.

Setting ourselves small goals for change in line with our values is a useful starting place. It’s important to remember that there is no such thing as a failed goal. If we don’t achieve our goal it still give us useful information. Perhaps we set ourselves an unrealistic goal, in which case we might consider how we can break this down further into smaller, more manageable chunks. We can explore the process along the way whilst trying to achieve our goals and moving towards our values. In this way change takes place and has a positive impact on our mental wellbeing.

 

To enquire about psychotherapy sessions with Rebecca Mead, please contact her here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.

 

Rebecca Mead is an accredited, registered and experienced Psychotherapist offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) to individuals adults.  Rebecca is available at our Brighton and Hove Practice.

 

Further reading by Rebecca Mead –

Social Connections

Back to ‘Bace’ics

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) explained

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

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Why ‘Cancel Culture’ is about the inability to tolerate difference

What is Cancel Culture?

This seemingly new trend is one of promoting the ‘cancellation’ of people, brands or television shows as a result of what some (the cancellers) perceive to be some form of offensive comment, remark, view or behaviour. It has surged on social media with various derogatory hashtags, notably #RIP.

A recent high profile ‘celebrity’ who has been on the receiving end of social media trends to have her cancelled is J.K. Rowling for her, views on transgender issues that some find offensive.

Is it that new?

The term may be new and the platforms used may serve to whip up a storm of support against those who some wish to have cancelled, however the concept is by no means new at all. Cancel culture is essentially a form of social banishment whereby in traditional tribal communities one of the most severe punishments would be the banishment from the tribe: to be cast out.

To be cast out of ones tribe would mean more than social death; if not literal death through being vulnerable to attack from predators and other tribes, banishment most certainly meant the death of the sense of belonging, which in psychological terms, could potentially instigate a psychic collapse (going mad).

However, whilst this may seem primitive, historical and anthropological evidence shows that it would be a punishment of last resort and would be handed down by the elders of the tribe – in other words, there would be some form of judicial process in place that sanctioned the banishment.

This is where cancel culture differs profoundly from tribal banishment or ‘being cast out’. It is not a decree from wise elders or some sort of judiciary; it is generally used as an attack against the views, opinions or behaviours of others that some disagree with.

Why does it matter?

Put simply, it matters because there seems to be an ever decreasing array of opinions and voices allowed and cancel culture is an immature way of trying to ‘kill off’ anybody holding views or opinions that may not be comfortable for others to hear.

Feeling offended and causing offence

There is a difference between a person feeling upset or even offended by another’s views and with another trying to purposely hurt a person or group of people. The former is what we may experience when we encounter others and are confronted by a different perspective. The latter is when we encounter sadism.

Sadism is unacceptable and should not be tolerated, however the mark of being an adult is the capacity to tolerate a different perspective and a different mind. Even if we may feel offended.

On mergers and separation

Although separate from its mother, an infant, when born, cannot differentiate between their mother and themselves. In essence they believe that their mother is an extension of them. Of course, in reality, the mother in question is very much as separate entity, at least physically, and thus will eventually fail to meet the needs of her infant. This is extremely frustrating for the infant in question and the mind of the infant concocts an ingenious defence against the pain of separation – a good and a bad mother is created: the infant imagines it is the good mother who meets all their needs and the bad mother who frustrates them. It is a primitive psychological defence called splitting.

Infants split off the bad until through ‘good enough’ parenting they eventually integrate the two mothers and tolerate reality: mother is not part of them and frustrates them as she has a different mind and a different set of needs. However, mostly, she seems to meet their needs so on life goes and importantly, on psychological maturation goes. The child is on the path from mergers to a world where they can be in separate relationships with others and tolerate a different mind.

Why cancel culture is simply splitting by another name

To be unable to contain ones feelings when confronted by a different perspective and thus a different mind shows a lack of psychological maturity. The world is split into ‘good and ‘bad’ like in a child’s fairy tale. Bad must be killed off so good can live happily ever after. This is not how the real world works; it is how cancel culture works.

How does cancel culture relate to psychotherapy?

In essence, psychotherapy is about outgrowing cancel culture. It is about learning to be in a relationship where difference can be tolerated and acknowledged, without this needing to be threatening. For some this means they must learn for the first time to bring their needs ‘into the mix’ – something that can feel really confronting and may bring on fears of rejection and abandonment. For others it may mean the opposite which is to be able to cope with the separateness of their psychotherapist and tolerate this without throwing away ‘all the good’ – without ‘cancelling’ them, if you like.

Being an adult means tolerating the frustrations of the real world and the frustrations of the others who make up the real world. However, if this can be tolerated then real relationships are possible and people can locate substance and meaning thus moving them out of a fear/threat pattern into adult relating patterns.

If you would like to work on your own intolerances and relationships, get in touch with us to discuss whether psychotherapy may be appropriate for you.

 

Mark Vahrmeyer, UKCP Registered, BHP Co-founder is an integrative psychotherapist with a wide range of clinical experience from both the public and private sectors. He currently sees both individuals and couples, primarily for ongoing psychotherapy.  Mark is available at the Lewes and Brighton & Hove Practices.

 

Further reading by Mark Vahrmeyer

Why does the difference between counselling and psychotherapy matter?

Love in the time of Covid

Why am I feeling more anxious with Covid-19?

Coronavirus Lock-Down – Physical Health Vs Mental Health

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

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Online Depression Psychotherapy

Depression is like a whole-body illness that a?ects not just your mood and thoughts but also your physical self, such as your appetite and sleep patterns, and how you view yourself, your capabilities and your emotions.

The symptoms of this condition vary from person to person, as well as in severity, but they can range from a feeling of helplessness and sadness to anxiety, insomnia, a loss of appetite, irritability and even suicidal thoughts.

How Can Psychotherapy Help?

There are several types of treatment available for depression, but the most effective is talking therapy in the shape of counselling or psychotherapy. Depression can be thought of as a ‘stickiness’ related to unexpressed emotion. A clinician trained in working with depression will listen to you without judgement, in a confidential and safe space to offer you the support you need to work through the problems that are troubling you. They can offer suggestions of strategies to deal with your depression and techniques to help you during the darker times.

Online depression counselling and psychotherapy makes it easier to speak with a trained professional, with sessions held remotely to make them more convenient and accessible. Depression can often make tasks feel insurmountable, so being able to speak to someone from your own home can also make therapy more approachable for many people.

Self-acceptance is fundamental in overcoming the destructive thoughts and beliefs one holds about themselves when they are depressed. Psychotherapy can help you recover trust in yourself and develop a better relationship with yourself through being in a relationship with your therapist.

Seeing a counsellor or psychotherapist work through depression enables you to learn a new approach in expressing your thoughts and feelings in the presence of another. Our clinical team are skilled in helping people deal with negative thoughts and feelings, as well as in providing objective advice and guidance to help you overcome the challenges related to this condition.

If you’re feeling depressed or want to talk to someone about how you’re feeling, get in touch with our team today and talk to someone.

All the content on this page has been reviewed and vetted by Mark Vahrmeyer UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Co-Founder of Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy. For any questions or more information about the subjects discussed on this page please contact us.


Online Anxiety Counselling

There are various symptoms of anxiety, including an overwhelming feeling of fear, panic or worry, as well as physical signs such as sweaty palms, dizziness and palpitations. For those struggling with an anxiety disorder, these feelings can occur on a frequent basis and are isolating and distressing.

Anxiety is a problem that can be exacerbated if stressors are allowed to build. It’s important to get help and support if you’re finding yourself struggling with anxious thoughts on a regular basis. By speaking to someone about what you’re dealing with, you can understand what’s causing the negative reactions to your thoughts to be better equipped to tackle them.

How Can Online Psychotherapy Help?

Anxiety can be debilitating for many people but having specialist support in the form of psychotherapy can be effective in helping relieve the worry associated with this condition and encourage recovery. Our trained therapists can help you develop effective coping strategies and resolve the issues that are causing anxiety in your life, as well as help you identify the triggers for your anxiety.

There can be various reasons why your anxiety has developed, from stressful work or school environments to difficult relationships, your health or social interactions. By talking through your issues and the causes for your anxiety, you can increase your self-awareness to manage your feelings and thoughts more effectively. Removing yourself from the situations that cause anxiety isn’t always possible but having an arsenal of techniques makes dealing with it easier, which can be a great comfort. And in a supportive and therapeutic relationship, you will no longer face your anxiety alone.

Online anxiety psychotherapy is just one form of treatment but talking to a trained professional can help you in many ways, from understanding your condition and what may be causing it, to learning techniques to deal with the symptoms. Online psychotherapy enables you to benefit from the advantages of face-to-face sessions but from the comfort of your home for a more convenient and accessible solution. It also ensures you have access to our highly skilled team from anywhere in the country.

If you want to discuss online anxiety counselling with us, contact us today or take a look at our practitioners.

All the content on this page has been reviewed and vetted by Mark Vahrmeyer UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Co-Founder of Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy. For any questions or more information about the subjects discussed on this page please contact us.


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Social Connections

“Social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and actually improve our immune systems. By neglecting our need to connect, we put our health at risk.”
JS House, KR Landis, D Umberson (2019)

Social connection can be difficult to do right now as we find ourselves amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.  We have been told we must socially distance, limit our social connection with others to no more than 6 people at any one time and stay in our established support bubbles.  We are now told that we are at risk of a ‘second wave’ and socially connecting can seem even more frightening and confusing.

As we continue to live amidst global uncertainty, we may have found our social connections inadvertently diminishing.

So how do we stay socially connected to maintain our mental wellbeing?

Rather than discussing the various means which we are now using to stay connected, such as Zoom, Facebook, What’s App, etc, I would like to explore how we might identify the people in our lives that can help support us through these difficult times.  It is very easy to get caught up in our daily lives, trying to get a balance between work, children, school, hobbies, self-care and more.  All too easy our social connections fall by the way side and this can have a detrimental impact to our wellbeing.

I would like to draw upon the Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) approach to help explore this.  IPT is based on the premise that there is a relationship between the way people interact with others and their psychological symptoms.  The focus of IPT is to improve the quality of a person’s interpersonal relationships and social functioning to help reduce distress.  Part of the process in doing this is to identify a person’s interpersonal inventory.  This is an exploration of the relationships in a person’s life and identifying ways in which these relationships can contribute to a person’s recovery from emotional distress.

What can be useful in the first instance is to consider all your relationships in your life, in particular those that make you feel better.  It’s important to remember no relationship is perfect and no one person can meet all your needs so try to be as inclusive as possible.  It is also helpful to consider what support is available to you?  When we consider support it is not just emotional support that is important, it can also be social, motivational, practical, educational and even financial.  Finally, how available are these relationships to you? This doesn’t have to physically be in person.  Not everyone is available all of the time and it can be helpful to identify when different people are likely to be available, e.g. in the evenings or at weekends.

Identifying all the people in your life enables you to have an overview of your relationship world – the overall itself might tell you something important, e.g. that you have few people in your life but they are all very close to you and provide a lot of support.

You can draw a diagram of all the people in your life using concentric circles this allows you to show how close you feel to each person (don’t forget to write yourself in the middle).  The most immediate circle to yourself would include those that you are closest to – this would typically be the people that you spend most time with and that are emotionally involved with.  Just because these are your closest relationships doesn’t mean they are perfect but they are likely to be your most significant.

Try to ensure that you include everyone, i.e. those that you see in your daily lives, family, children, friends, work colleagues, neighbours, those that you don’t see very often but still regard as friends, those that you may share interests or hobbies with, children’s school friend’s parents, your extended family, even pets.

This exercise enables you to identify who is in your life and how close you feel to them, to consider the support those in your life provide and to consider how available they are or when they would be available.

By having a visual reminder of who we have in our lives we can begin to work at reaching out to our social network – Who haven’t we been in contact with for a while? Who can we pick up the phone to or go for a walk with? Who can we arrange a Zoom meet up with or create a What’s App chat with?  We might need to set ourselves weekly goals to pick up that phone or send a message to stay connected, or to reach out for support in these difficult times.  Just having a chat with someone can have a positive impact on how we are feeling or being in someone else’s company.

It’s important to remember we are not alone and by reaching out to others for support we will also be helping others to feel more connected and supported.  Staying connected is fundamental in maintaining our mental wellbeing now more than ever.

(Reference: Chapter 9, Your Interpersonal Inventory – Rosalyn Law, Defeating Depression.)

 

Rebecca Mead is an accredited, registered and experienced Psychotherapist offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) to individuals adults.  Rebecca is available at our Brighton and Hove Practice.

 

Further reading by Rebecca Mead –

Back to ‘Bace’ics

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) explained

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

Click Here to Enquire

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The Phenomenon of ‘Manifesting – The Law of Attraction’ and the inability to tolerate reality

What is ‘Manifesting’ and The Law of Attraction?

Recently a client, somewhat younger than me, described a phenomenon they called “Manifesting”. They felt excited and disappointed in themselves in equal measure that they seemed to be failing in using this ‘secret’ method of working with ‘the universe’ to bring them whatever their heart desired.

Curious, I investigated.

Manifesting is a verb used to describe the active process of using positive thoughts, and a degree of self-hypnosis, to draw ‘good things’ to oneself. Based on the many Youtube videos on this topic, these good things seem to be consumer products or monetary wealth, rather than contentment and tolerance, but then the latter two are really not as enticing as ones own private island.

Manifesting is not new and nor is the concept original. It seems to have been re-hashed in a 2006 ‘documentary’ and book entitled ‘The Secret’ which explains the mystical process of using the ‘Law of Attraction’ to get what you want in life. What a great concept – if only it were true.

Fate and Destiny
I have previously written about the concepts of fate and destiny and how I do not believe that any idea of fate has a place in psychotherapy – or indeed in the outcome of psychotherapy, which is in essentially becoming an adult who can tolerate reality.

To recap, the concept of fate posits that there is some sort of external force, entity or deity that decides what happens to us. This can be very unhelpful in the therapeutic process as clients can often use the idea of fate to reinforce that what is happening (or not) to them is simply how things are supposed to be.

Destiny, though not a word I personally favour, can be translated to being thought of as taking some degree of ownership of one’s life whilst remaining firmly rooted in reality. Therefore it is possible for most free people to experience a change in their lives, or perception of their lives, whist acknowledging their reality.

Destiny and death
Some years back I spent four years working on the front lines of death – as a psychotherapist in the field of palliative care. Whilst the usual issues around meaning, relationships and mental health problems presented themselves, they were all within the context of death and dying: I worked with patients who had terminal illnesses, were actively dying or with their bereaved relatives. It certainly redefines the concept of ‘psychotherapy’ when sitting beside the bedside of a patient who has hours to live and is engaging with you through a cocktail of opiates!

Despite the confronting nature of death and dying – the patients’ ‘fate’ was sealed – nonetheless, many of the people I worked with were able to find purpose and meaning in their predicament and to mourn losses not previously addressed. They were engaged in changing their destiny.

Magical thinking
We can all, at times, make use of magical thinking. It can be a way of assuaging anxiety and giving us the illusion of being in control. The practice is as old as human beings and embedded in a language such as in the saying ‘touch wood’ or in the belief that walking under ladders brings bad luck. Human beings are symbolic creatures who make the unreal real. This is perhaps how we cope with our knowledge of finitude – death. However, we also confuse the symbolic with the real.

Whilst touching wood and avoiding ladders is relatively harmless, subscribing wholeheartedly to fantasies that there is some ‘secret’ method or means of ‘manifesting’ objects into ones life is dangerous and deluded. In psychological terms, it is a way of avoiding growing up and being born. A way of believing that the world can be just how we want it if only we imagine it hard enough – a sort of womb, in essence.

The power of magic
The reality of being in weekly or more frequent psychotherapy is that it is not very magical at all.  In fact, it is the opposite. Psychotherapy generally takes place in a fairly ordinary consulting room (or online), you see the same face week after week and often find yourself going over the same ground. Clearly, promises of Ferraris and private islands are far more enticing. However, the consistency and regularity, along with having someone there who holds us in mind and helps us think can be life-changing. If we are thought about, just perhaps we can learn to think our own
thoughts about ourselves rather than follow a script on who we are. If we are not alone then we can learn to bear reality, however hard that may seem.

Psychotherapy does not promise magic. It is, in fact, the opposite in that often our job as psychotherapists is to help clients and patients lift the veils of illusion and see life and their history for what it was – only then can the mourning begin. And it is only through mourning that eventually, desire can emerge – a sense of self and a sense of what that self wants.

Desire
When desire emerges it is rarely if ever about Ferraris or private islands. It is not about consumer products period. It is about a deeper recognition of what will bring contentment and peace in the context of the realities in which that person lives. And that can be achieved even on a death-bed.

Of course, as a final blow, unlike manifesting, psychotherapy also has science on its side. And a long studied evidence base. It may not get the Youtube hits but then real life was never to be found in movies.

 

Mark Vahrmeyer, UKCP Registered, BHP Co-founder is an integrative psychotherapist with a wide range of clinical experience from both the public and private sectors. He currently sees both individuals and couples, primarily for ongoing psychotherapy.  Mark is available at the Lewes and Brighton & Hove Practices.

 

Further reading by Mark Vahrmeyer

Why does the difference between counselling and psychotherapy matter?

Love in the time of Covid

Why am I feeling more anxious with Covid-19?

Coronavirus Lock-Down – Physical Health Vs Mental Health

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

Click Here to Enquire

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Why does the difference between counselling and psychotherapy matter?

What a difference a year makes. For all of us the world is an inconceivably different place to a year ago. Not only are we all living with greater uncertainty, we have all had to enormously adapt to living, socialising, relating working, and not least, having therapy in a different way.

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a blog on entitled ‘The Difference Between Counselling and Psychotherapy’, which has received some traction. More recently, the age old question pertaining to the difference between these to related disciplines has come bursting forth through a collaborative project SCoPEd project which seeks to set out training requirements and practice standards for counselling and psychotherapy. This project is receiving a lot of attention
(accompanied by fierce criticism) by many in the ‘talking therapies’ field. I have no wish to get drawn into the intricacies and politics of the actual project but do firmly believe that from a client’s perspective, standardisation of training requirements and robust practice standards that differ between counsellors and psychotherapists can only be a good thing. More so, I believe that they are essential.

Many of my clients come to be after trying some form of ‘talk therapy’ which may or may not have been helpful. Many come because they are unclear about why they don’t feel better and have ‘stumbled’ across me and my practice via a search engine. Few really understand that there is a difference between counselling and psychotherapy and few understand what they may need and why that may be a psychotherapist.

The fact few understand this has nothing to do with the fact that there is a fundamental difference and put simply, the more I have trained and the more years of experience I have, the more cognisant I have become not only of the differences, but also of how to assess what someone needs and whether they are in fact suitable for therapy.

I have written extensively about the differences between psychotherapy and counselling in my blog a year ago and if you are interested, you can read them here. My blogs are aimed predominantly at lay people who may be considering entering into therapy, rather than at the counselling and psychotherapy community.

Why do clients need to understand the difference between counsellors and psychotherapists?           

At present the distinction (in the minds of many) is blurry. Many counsellors believe the two terms to be interchangeable and are thus aggrieved by any proposed framework that should distinguish between the two disciplines: most counsellors think they are psychotherapist; few psychotherapists consider themselves counsellors.
The distinction matters from a duty of care perspective. Deeper work with clients dealing with complex trauma, personality disturbance and psychiatric disorders requires an in-depth understanding of how to identify these issues and an assessment of our ability to work with such clients and the client’s ability to ‘make use’ of the therapy, their robustness.

Turning clients away

My practice is generally full as my work is long-term, however, when considering taking on a new client I undertake a clinical assessment of their suitability for therapy. I aim to answer the question: ‘can I help this person?’ It may seem counter-intuitive, however, I am far more likely to turn down clients pre- or post-assessment now than when I first started out as a counsellor.

Why? Because I now know what I do not know and where my limitations lie.

A GP will not undertake surgery as they have been trained in general practice. They can, however, recognise that a patient needs to see a specialist who can offer an expert opinion and in-depth complex treatment. A GP is invaluable precisely because they are aware of what they do and don’t know and work within their limitations.

This is the ethical responsibility that I believe all counsellors and psychotherapists would carry at the forefront of their minds, however, without training in formulating (our word for diagnosing) how can a clinician know what they don’t know? Herein lies the problem.

Do no harm

The Hippocratic Oath, subscribed to by medical professionals the world over applies to us too.  In trying to help (rescue, fix, therapise, relate to) a client, unless we are acutely aware of what we are dealing with, we can do more harm than good.

Is there a place for counselling?

Unequivocally yes. Counselling is enormously beneficial and most psychotherapists started their careers as counsellors in some capacity. Counselling is often all a client needs and it can bring about enormous change for many. However, it is not appropriate for more complex or serious relational or personality disturbances.

In turning clients way it is not solely or even frequently because their requirements lie beyond my abilities; I often suggest to prospective clients that counselling may be more appropriate for them, especially if they have no prior experience of ‘talking therapy’ and are wanting to work through a time-limited issue.

And beyond psychotherapy?

The clients I do turn away as their requirements lie either beyond my knowledge base or holding capacity, I do so from a position of ‘doing no harm’ and making an often tough ethical decision. It may be that that person requires psychiatric support but it may also be that their level of disturbance is best treated by a multi-disciplinary team. And then there is, of course, psychoanalysis.

Inaccessible for many – sadly as Freud saw Analysis as being something that should be accessible for the general population – provides something that psychotherapy cannot: the ability and framework within which to work at depth with powerful regression.

To summarise, the difference simply must be acknowledged and accepted between the professions for the safety and well-being of clients and patients. To do otherwise is plain hubris.

To enquire about psychotherapy sessions with Mark Vahrmeyer, please contact him here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.

 

Mark Vahrmeyer, UKCP Registered, BHP Co-founder is an integrative psychotherapist with a wide range of clinical experience from both the public and private sectors. He currently sees both individuals and couples, primarily for ongoing psychotherapy.  Mark is available at the Lewes and Brighton & Hove Practices.

 

Further reading by Mark Vahrmeyer

Love in the time of Covid

Why am I feeling more anxious with Covid-19?

Coronavirus Lock-Down – Physical Health Vs Mental Health

Why psychotherapy sessions should end on time

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

Click Here to Enquire

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We are recruiting

Thanks to ever increasing demand for our services, we are now recruiting new associates to join our vibrant and busy practice.

Established in 2008, Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy is a practice offering high-quality face-to-face psychology and psychotherapy across the Brighton & Hove area, as well as online therapy to clients nationally.

We are interested in hearing from experienced Psychotherapists (UKCP or BPC registered) and Clinical Psychologists, who are looking to be part of a cohesive practice and who are hungry to grow their private practice as part of our brand.

We offer a broad range of psychological specialities to individuals, couples, families and groups, across all age groups from infant to adult. We are offering you the opportunity to take your private practice to the next level through our service and brand. With a full page profile on our website, referrals made through our administrative team, high-quality consulting rooms with online bookings as well as all the benefits of being a part of a clinical team with regular practice and reflective meetings, and cross-referrals.

If you are a clinician who has been practising for at least 5 years post-qualification and can work with a variety of client groups, we would like to hear from you.

For further information or an informal chat, please contact us on admin@bh-psych.com.

For more information about Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy, visit our website:
www.brightonandhovepsychotherapy.com

Face to Face and Online Therapy Help Available Now

Click Here to Enquire

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