People come to counselling for problems in areas such as

*work,

*relationships

*feeling sad or confused about life or themselves.  Counselling is usually for a fairly short period of time and deals primarily with the problem situation.

People usually come for psychotherapy for reasons such as

*prolonged sadness

*anxiety, sexual difficulties,

*physical symptoms without physical basis,

*persistent feelings of isolation or loneliness or  failure,

*when they notice they keep making the same mistakes in their life over and over – for example in their love life.  

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves talking with a therapist to try and find relief from this emotional pain.  In this type of therapy thought is given to not only the obvious and conscious thoughts but to trying to find out what lies underneath.

Together, client and therapist form a working relationship within which understanding and changes are able to unfold. Often the difficulties are found to have originated in early childhood when people do not have the maturity to understand situations or to make effective choices. 

The methods used to cope that were developed in childhood, often to deal with enormous difficulties, may no longer be effective for living in the world as an adult.  Together with the therapist the adult becomes aware of present ways of coping that are no longer helpful and new ways start to emerge. 

To work in depth (psychotherapy) requires the establishment of trust in a safe setting.  Time is needed for trust to fully develop, as is repetition and the opportunity to test the safety the therapist helps establish.  When feelings are opened up to being fully known, old vulnerabilities are often felt very strongly and so people must not be left too long between sessions in order that old defenses (coping mechanisms) are not instantly re-erected.  Therefore, sessions are held at least weekly and sometimes more often than that.

After a short period of assessment client and therapist will decide together whether a brief or more long-term approach is needed.