Scott Biagi
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist
The variety of talking therapies available today can be confusing. You might find it helpful to the read the UKCP’s descriptions of different kinds of therapy. However, research shows that it is just as important to find a therapist you get on well with as it is find one who works in a particular way. If you would like to find out about this, you can watch this debate between two experts in the field of psychotherapy research, who agree not only that different kinds of psychotherapy can be effective, but that the personal traits of the individual practitioner go a long way in explaining positive outcomes. What it means, I think, is that so long as your therapist is qualified to practice, their approach (psychoanalytic, gestalt, existential, etc.) is less important than the quality of your relationship, which is the foundation and reference point of the work you will be doing together. Bearing that in mind, a description of a therapeutic approach should give you some idea of what to expect from therapy.
Psychotherapists working in psychoanalytic practice work believe that our unconscious and early life experiences affect our development, current experience and relationship with ourselves and others.
In making the unconscious conscious, practitioners believe we will be more informed about ourselves and why we experience things as we do. This gives us the potential to make new choices about how we live, with greater awareness and less distress.
The relationship between you and the therapist is a central part of what Sigmund Freud called ‘the talking cure’. Working with the unconscious in psychoanalytic therapy may involve working with dreams and using free association alongside interpretations of symbolic experiences and material, as well as straightforwardly talking things through.
Classically, psychoanalytic psychotherapists may work with you on an individual basis and you may be offered a couch or a chair in their consulting rooms. They will also offer different models of attendance from once a week to twice or more times each week. Many therapists now also offer sessions online or by phone.
Therapists that have a ‘relational’ approach would prioritise the way you relate to others and see this as central to understanding yourself. They believe that understanding the way previous relationships inform current ones is important. The idea is that the therapeutic relationship creates a space to work through these relational dynamics so they can be understood and improved. Dynamics that occur in the here and now of the therapeutic relationship shed greater light on the way you relate to other people and can help you understand yourself more.
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Sessions last for fifty minutes. We meet at a fixed time once or more than once a week. We sit in comfortable chairs facing one another. The therapy is open-ended. In other words, we will not agree on an end date at the start of our work together. We will speak about you, not about me, but may sometimes speak about our relationship or about feelings that get stirred up in you in therapy. I will not make notes during sessions, or ask you to respond to questionnaires that measure your progress, or set tasks for you to complete before we next meet, but will simply invite you say whatever is on your mind, even if its relevance is unclear to begin with.
If you there are any questions you would like to ask about my way of working or any practicalities of the therapist, please get in touch to arrange a brief phone conversation free of charge.