Psychotherapy Bolton
You may be confused by the idea of therapy; clients often don’t know what kind of therapy they need. You don’t have to know, that’s OK.
There are lots of different approaches to use and they can be combined to make therapy individual to you.
Past, present and future
Issues of the past, present or future could feel like this;
Past
Perhaps you believe that your issue is rooted in the past, maybe you’re unaware of the fact the issue is rooted in the past.
Sometimes the issue began in the past and has carried into the present and you are worried that it will affect your future.
Present
Something could have changed recently, or be changing and you want to make adjustments in your beliefs, viewpoints or behaviours,
It could be that you just want to live more fully in the present and not be stuck in the past or the future.
Future
You could be concerned about the future and how you see the demands of the future against how you think you might cope.
Maybe things happening now make the future seem full of threat rather than possibility.
Emotion, thought and behaviour
Issues of emotion, thought or behaviour could feel like this;
Emotion
Sometimes issues are emotion based and most of the time you feel stuck in intense feeling that your thinking doesn’t seem able to affect.
Thought
You could find yourself stuck in constant repeating thought patterns; maybe that over- thinking prevents you from acting, or perhaps your thoughts just always spiral into negativity.
Behaviour
Sometimes unwanted repeating behaviours can get in the way of your life.
Or you feel you can’t control your behaviour, or feel your behaviour controls you.
Maybe you just can’t understand your behaviour, want to change your behaviour or your behaviour is affecting the way you are interacting with other people and your relationships.
Integrative therapy
- Is about your therapist being trained in lots of approaches so that there is plenty to choose from in the toolbox.
- It means you get your therapy designed for you rather than being fitted into an individual approach.
- It also allows therapy to move, adapting with you from one approach to another during the therapy process.
- The combination of approaches is often more effective than one approach on its own.
Some Psychotherapy approaches
- Psychodynamic
Sigmund Freud suggested that we are influenced by conflicting subconscious or unconscious thoughts and feelings that we are not aware of, but which affect our day to day behaviour.
You may have experienced feeling pulled in different directions, often without realising how or why.
- Person-Centred
Carl Rogers introduced to therapy the idea that people continue to strive to, and can improve, even if they have endured difficult times in their life.
My task is to create a climate of acceptance that enables Psychotherapy Bolton clients to grow and realise their full potential.
Think of it as similar to how a plant may be forced to twist and turn but will always ultimately grow towards the light.
- Behavioural
Behavioural psychologists moved from believing that people are born as ‘blank slates’ to the ‘nature/nurture’ theory and the idea that we learn positive or negative associations of situations and events based on our lives, environments, experiences and interactions with other people.
This would explain why some children have the same fears as their parents whilst their friends may have learned to have different fears.
- Existential
With this therapy approach, clients can explore their place in the world and make sense of their own situations.
It may be the case that anxiety is a natural part of being human and that can help us to find a meaning to our lives.
- Gestalt
In our busy lives, we are often distracted or unaware with what is actually happening both with ourselves and with other people.
Rather than thinking or analysing our way to happiness, Gestalt therapy can redirect our attention to the present moment and what our bodily reactions and emotional feelings can tell us.
Have you ever considered that your body is a source of wisdom if you listen to it in this moment?
- Transactional Analysis
TA (as it is abbreviated) is often used by an integrative therapist when a client is seeking to understand and improve communication and relationships.
TA helps us for example, to realise how we sometimes act like an adult with some people and not others, and can teach us how to respond effectively when someone else may talk to us as though we were still a child.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Therapy (REBT)
Highly useful to treat anxiety, panic disorders, depression, fears and addictions, CBT focuses on current problems rather than the past.
You can begin to realise the specific impact that your individual thoughts have on you and how this influences your actions.
The focus is on changing what you can, and considering different ways to view those matters that are outside of your control.
For example, if you go on holiday and you get off a plane to a blue sea and sky, you have changed your environment. This may well change your thoughts, feelings, biology and mood.
You can therefore change how you feel by changing the way you think.
- Solution-Focused Therapy
Instead of remembering the past, imagine really focusing on getting a clear vision of your future and identifying the skills, resources and abilities you need to achieve that with support from your therapist.
With thought-provoking questions and breaking down your goals into manageable steps, you can realise your goals with a guide who can remind you of, and help you explore qualities that you’ve had for many years.
You already know what you want (even if you can’t put your finger on it) and probably how to get it, you just may not know that you know.
How all this helps you
The Psychotherapy Bolton approach developed by me at Psychotherapy Bolton allows us to tailor a unique blend of therapy to help you more quickly and effectively.
Additional benefits:
A solution to your problem would meet the aim, by combining methods though, you benefit from a much bigger therapy toolkit.
It also means you don’t fit in to a type of therapy, the therapy fits to you.
This not only helps speed and results but also allows you to improve how you think and live from now on.
UKCP ACCREDITATION
I am fully UKCP accredited which is the highest standard of psychotherapy training, I am also Vice-Principal of the NCHP which is a UKCP accrediting College.
As a Psychotherapy tutor and accreditor, you can be assured you are in safe hands with access to the latest proven techniques and developments.
Call or email me at Psychotherapy Bolton to discuss or arrange an appointment or complete the contact form below.
I look forward to working with you.