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Quiz - Is Psychodynamic Therapy For You?
Do this quick quiz to find out:
Are you a reflective person who often wonders about how your past has affected you now?
Do you want to decide what you talk about in sessions?
Are you too busy to do homework and prefer to reflect when you can in between session instead?
Are you willing to explore the conflict that cause you stress, pain or difficulty in your life?
Would you like to feel comfortable with your therapist, in a supportive space, so that you can discuss deeper thoughts?
Would you like to know how your therapist makes sense of the patterns, behaviors, and experiences?
Are you interested in understanding the underlying reasons as to why you do what you do?
Are you willing to work on yourself over time in order to make sustainable long term changes?
If you answered yes to two or more questions you would likely be rewarded greatly from psychodynamic therapy. Through understanding yourself, your behaviours and your past, comes the ability to overcome difficulties and grow.
By Magdalena Lopez
Psychologist
Three Key Ingredients to Effective Psychotherapy
I would like to talk to you about 3 key ingredients that contribute to effective therapy. These are by no means, the only ingredients that make therapy effective but they are the basic elements in with which to start.
I would like to talk to you about three key ingredients that contribute to effective therapy. These are by no means, the only ingredients that make therapy effective but they are the basic elements in with which to start.
Insight, otherwise known as self-awareness. An ability to understand the relationship between your own past history and the impact it has on current events on your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It's an internal process, a capacity to recognise something deeper about yourself. This allows you to identify the source of a lot of problems and gives you a chance to develop tools for change. It does require some deeper questioning and exploring of mind. Psychotherapy is built for just that. Even if you may not have much insight, we work together to guide you through the process and towards developing this capability.
Good rapport with the therapist be prepared to be open and engaged with your therapist. Allow for a professional relationship to develop where trust, honesty and mutual respect become a key feature that allows you to discuss all your concerns. You can imagine how difficult it can be if you didn't feel comfortable telling someone your story. Therapists are trained to facilitate this as they understand the array of feelings people can feel such as shame, anger, guilt.
Commitment to therapy changes don't happen overnight or even in one session. So allow yourself to be patient, create a time where you can dedicate every week for 1hr to just be alone with your thoughts/feelings and your therapist. You deserve it. There aren't any quick fixes in therapy. The mind is a unique space, appreciate it and give it a chance to heal with your therapist.
by Psychologist Magdalena Lopez
About Me: I'm a caring & compassionate Psychologist in Melbourne, helping adults, couples and families in counselling who have anxiety, depression or relationship concerns, live a happier, healthier life.