Living With Long-Term & Severe Difficulties
Psychotherapy tends to be more helpful to those struggling with
specific disorders and trying hard to make sense of life or what
others might see as the unusual way they experience things.
Isolation is profoundly destructive to health in humans and a person struggling
in this way can feel horribly alone.
What many see as an illness that cannot change, psychotherapy sees
as difference that extends to experiencing life in an unusual way.
Even the apparently very ill can recover and enjoy truly fulfilled and
positive lives.
In this field, I have most experience working with individuals, families and
couples where one individual has an identified psychiatric
disorder, such as psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar, hypomania and
so on. However, I have also worked with the same groups where
the individual is in pre or early diagnosis period.
Depending on the hopes and aims of my client/s, I tend to work
toward an increased ability to live life as experienced, and to help
loved ones to cope better with the reality of the difficulty rather
than try to clamp down, supress, or 'cure'.
In the case of personality disorders, where one has been diagnosed,
again, I have worked most often with individuals and couples and sometimes
families. However, most of my experience in this area has been
working with individuals. My approach here of course, also depends
on the aims of my client/s and my general hope is that my client/s
will be able to overcome some of the underlying difficulties and
begin to experience their life differently.
Psychiatric Conditions
- I can work with those with a Psychiatric Axis I and II diagnosis; and have
particular experience with some of the psychosis disorders, including schizophrenia
and schizoaffective disorders and also bipolar disorders plus some experience with dissociative
disorder.
- pre and early diagnosis period
- post diagnosis treatment and support
- family and couples work with family member diagnosis
- Particular experience with bipolar, psychotic and schizophrenic disorders
Personality Disorders
- Particular experience with Borderline (sometimes described by psychiatrists as Emotionally Unstable Personality disorder under the ICD-10 diagnostic framework), Antisocial (Disocial), Schizoid and Schizotypal
- Self harm
- Family and Couples work with the above
- I accept referral of individuals in DBT group working in need of individual sessions to support group work and where it is not being supplied by your DBT provider. In this event, I will need agreement from your DBT provider.
Suicide
- I have worked many times with suicidal ideation, 'parasuicide', active suicidal plans and actions and those who have recently made an attempt. I have also worked with the families of suicidal individuals and with families where suicide has been repeated in several generations.
Aspergers, Autistic Spectrum and ADHD
- I have some experience working with Aspergers, Autistic Spectrum and ADHD, most often as couples or families.
PTSD
- Chronic and complex post traumatic stress
- Family and couples work for the above
- See Trauma, PTSD & EMDR for more information on how I work with post trauma difficulties.