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Self

  • Human beings rarely exist in total harmony and peace with themselves. We confuse happiness with money, pleasure and comfort, and chase them by self-suppression and denial, consumption, conformity and rebellion, ambition and specialness, people pleasing, wealth, social status, competitiveness and oneupmanship, obsessions with outward appearances, luxury and sex, none of which bring the deep, lasting contentment we crave. But it is possible to begin the work of resolving as much conflict within and around you as possible, in order to make your relationship to your self one that grows increasingly contented with less instead of more.

    • Resolve developmental trauma and the childhood origins of chronic fear and insecurity, low self-esteem, poor self-image, and lack of confidence.

    • Resolve PTSD, cPTSD, and other trauma-based fear states that produce chronic fear, anxiety and insecurity

    • Stop comparing Self to others, people pleasing, and other self-defeating habits, and start developing the courage to be you

    • Resolve chronic fear and insecurity, lack of personal identity, unstable sense of Self

    • Clarify and strengthen your life purpose, assertiveness and direction

    • Resolve your struggles with appearance, body image, eating disorders, sense of identity and Self

    • Develop greater courage, self-empowerment and freedom from fear of, and subservience to authority figures

    • Resolve the torments of loneliness, social isolation, feeling 'disconnected', 'not fitting in'

    • Learn how to survive being scapegoated* and how to stay sane in an insane family, group, workplace, society etc

    • Find inner peace as an outsider, non-conformist, unique, shy, highly sensitive or solitary individual

    • Resolve the root causes of dissociation, derealisation/ depersonalisation habits

    • Bring an end to chronic self-doubt, self-criticism, deliberate self-harm, self-loathing

    • Resolve habits driven by jealousy, resentment, anger, rage, and destructive envy

    • Transform passive-aggression and covert-aggression habits into honest communication

    • Turn procrastination and avoidance habits into meaningful action

    • Address body image problems, body dysmorphia and other perceptual disorders

    • Identify and resolve the underlying causes of self-starvation, eating disorders, addictions and phobias

    • Bring an end to dependency and co-dependency by building self-support and self-reliance skills

    • Resolve depression, unhappiness in life, lack of personal joy and meaning

    • Explore and identify the important meanings in your fantasies, dreams and nightmares

    • Come to terms with the secretive side of who you are and your 'shadow side' (narcissism, dishonesty, lying, cowardice etc)

    • Approach psychiatric diagnostic labels from a completely different perspective - please enquire about specific diagnoses during an Introductory Meeting

    • Heal from child and adult sexual harassment, abuse and assault

    • Common addictions and their causes:

      • device addiction

      • comfort eating

      • pornography and sexual promiscuity

      • gambling

      • alcohol and substances**

    • Common phobias:

      • Social

      • Public speaking/ interviews

      • Insects

      • Flying

      • Open/ confined spaces

    **I recommend stabilising substance misuse via AA or NA groups first in order to meaningfully engage with psychotherapy to address the underlying causes of your addictions and phobias

  • Problems that I see increasingly in my practice include the following, and the interpersonal consequences people experience as a result of these problems.

    • Low self-esteem in relation to weight, appearance, eating habits, choices etc.

    • Narcissism: entitlement, inauthenticity, obsessions with appearance, destructive envy, a preoccupation with the desire to be noticed; free-floating frustration and anger

    • Pleasure and comfort addictions and their neurological and inter-personal consequences

    • Device addictions and ‘doom scrolling’

    • What people are now calling ‘imposter syndrome’: the experience of inauthenticity that comes from being more identified with an image of oneself than one’s own embodied reality and conscience

    • The victim identity - now encouraged by legislators - with an absence of insight into one’s behaviours.

    • Meaninglessness, lack of purpose, and societal despair

    • Chronic insecurity and anxiety states

    • Lies, deception, betrayal, with a growing lack of morality, honour, loyalty, and sincerity in relationships

    • Chronic regression and emotional overwhelm

    • Lack of recognition of the value of generosity of spirit

    • Fear and anxiety about the state of the world, and a sense of powerlessness to effect change

  • We all have a past that we try to remember, and one we try to forget. We all have ideas about the near and distant future. Our relationship to the present - where we do our living - tends to be compromised by the ways we relate to past and future. It is possible to resolve conflicts that still exist in your relation to past and present so that you can live more fully and peacefully in the here-and-now.

    • A troubled or abusive past or present

    • Childhood- and family-related difficulties

    • Living with regrets, guilt, shame, tragedy or loss

    • Difficulties in being aware of one’s emotions and expressing them

    • Anticipatory anxiety, worry and rumination habits

    • Stress and panic attacks

    • Low mood, mood instability, and depression

    • Fears and phobias

    • Difficulty controlling anger and aggression

    • Social anxiety and social phobias

    • Retirement, loss and bereavement anxiety

    • Generalised anxiety and trauma-related anxiety

    • Existential anxiety: death, isolation, freedom, meaninglessness

    • Fear of Engulfment: being easily overstimulated or overwhelmed by others

    • Overwhelm and difficulty coping with emotions

    • Guilt, shame, dread, embarrassment, vulnerability and other difficult feelings

    • Addictions, emotional consumptions habits

  • To some degree, global societies have all been traumatised by the way our social hierarchies are constructed and evolve. Children are increasingly exposed to very toxic influences that society has normalised as ‘entertainment’, social conformity, citizenship, and ‘education’, for example. What it is to be a ‘good worker’, ‘good student’, ‘good friend’, ‘good family member’, and ‘good citizen’ is not necessarily conducive to being a healthy, well, self-respecting, authentic person. And to varying degrees we are, as children, brow beaten into conformity to roles that literally make us unwell.

    Adult survivors of infantile, childhood and adult trauma have their entire bodies and minds shaped by stress and adversity, which leaves individuals feeling that they are ‘just surviving’; living on edge all the time, instead of living and thriving.

    I offer a tailored approach to fear and trauma in the form of a flexible, modular protocol that can be designed according to your history, needs and presentation. This is made up of structured practices, many of which I have designed myself over decades of working with traumatised persons (and including known methods like EMDR, BioFeedback, EFT, Yoga, Meditation), much of which you can begin to do daily to start to recover nervous system balance, a more peaceful mind, and feelings of safety and security in your body and in your relationship to the world. It is possible to evolve from a state of constantly feeling insecure, hyper-vigilant, and on-edge, to feeling awake but calm, grounded, self-protecting, and at ease much more of the time.

    • Traumatic and adverse childhood events (loss, all forms of abuse, rape, physical and sexual violence)

    • Post Traumatic Stress (associated with PTSD and c-PTSD, DD, DID for example

    • Developmental trauma e.g. ADHD, dissociation, Alexithymia, Dysthymia, ‘personality disorder’, chronic insecurity or hypervigilance etc

  • Unlike much that is taught today on spiritual development, which is often presented as an outward dabbling with our appearance to make it look as if we have greater depth, spiritual development in this practice is rooted in discernable phenomena and truth rather than frivolous belief or shallow ritual. Using discreet protocols developed by this practice for resolving inner conflicts with our own spirit, it becomes possible to make substantive lifestyle shifts that are true and authentic, deep and personal, and genuinely spiritual rather than simply egotistical.

    • Existential Awareness Development

    • Life Assessment and Review

    • Re-discovering deeper life purpose and meaning

    • Creativity and Creative Impasse Resolution

    • Personal Authenticity Development

    • Present-Centred Awareness Development (a wide variety of practices available)

    • Grounding: Relaxation, Stress and Anxiety management

    • Resolution of Spiritual Conflicts with the Ego e.g. narcissism

    • Spirituality and Soul: Developing a personally meaningful existential practice

    • Learning to live by conscience in a society of diminishing conscience

    • Individual yoga tuition and other body work

    • Meditation tuition (Mindfulness, Zen, etc)

    • Emotional and body awareness development

    • Non-Violent Communication Skills

    • Developing Critical Awareness: political, cultural, medical and social dimensions

    • Cultural narcissism and resolving personal narcissism for greater personal, moral, and spiritual integrity

  • I work with almost every kind of presentation where you are suitably motivated, sincere, honest and willing to do the work offered. I do my best with all of my patients, but have a personal affinity for:

    • Survivors of acute and developmental trauma, of abusive personal and workplace relationships, and of adverse childhood events

    • Creative, sensitive, or spiritually motivated individuals

    • Individuals who find ‘normal’ society to be a very troubling place

    • People of conscience and integrity who find it difficult to establish a sense of belonging. They tend to be the outsiders, scapegoats, whistleblowers, truth-tellers, and individuals who are stigmatised and shunned by the crowd for simply having the courage do what they know is right.

  • Written work is only available to patients currently attending weekly psychotherapy sessions. I no longer provide retrospective references or letters in support of benefits or other financial claims after a patient has been discharged.