About counselling or psychotherapy — Christopher Pollock

Who is it for?

Here are some of the questions that bring people like you to counselling or psychotherapy†:

  • Are you struggling to make sense of things?
  • Do you suffer from anxiety or stress?
  • Are you feeling low or depressed?
  • Does your behaviour distress or confuse you?

    Perhaps being overwhelmed by a feeling like anger; or difficulties with gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex or food.

  • Do you find it difficult to manage your relationships with other people?
  • Are you trying to cope with a loss of someone or something? (Bereavement)
  • Do you find you continue to be affected by incidents from the past? (trauma)
  • Are you uncertain about who is the real you? (your identity)

Often when faced with these questions it helps to talk to somebody from outside your circle of family and friends.

Mental health and illness

When your body feels bad, a doctor can (usually) tell you what's wrong and how it can be fixed. “Health” or “illness” are more difficult to pin down when it's your mind — instead we focus on ways to change and achieve greater peace and fulfilment in your life.

Couples

For couples, therapy offers a chance to explore the relationship between you, and for both to gain a new perspective. See "Therapy for couples" for a bit more about this.

What happens in therapy?

Therapy provides an opportunity to talk about things that you don't often manage to talk about in everyday life. The regular sessions can let you look at thoughts and feelings in a different light, listen to what's going on for you, or practise doing things in a different way.

As a therapist, I don't usually give advice. Instead, we work together to find out what you want to change.

Everybody is different, so each experience will be unique; and we all have things in common. For many people, a major experience of therapy is relief at being listened to without judgement. In sessions with me there is a safe space to explore issues that can seem overwhelming when you hold them to yourself.

It can be hard work, sometimes scary, and there are also no guarantees. Yet it can lead to big changes. The first step is to make contact with me.

† You are not alone if you are unsure of the difference between counselling and psychotherapy. For my view, look at "Counselling and psychotherapy: Common questions".

Text and images © 2006 - 2010 Christopher Pollock