Psychotherapy and Supervision

              "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

                                                                            Thoreaux

To embark on any kind of therapy, be it counselling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, or group analysis, can be scary and daunting. It is of course a matter of choice on part of the patient seeking therapy which therapy form is the most suitable at a given time.

The prospect of joining a group can be anxiety provoking as it is both a private and public forum, whereas individual psychotherapy remains in the sanctity of internal life and contemplation. Groups do of course address the most private recesses of the psyche but, most importantly, they serve the socializing maturation of the individual. In short, the group forum is the learning ground par excellence in which issues of relatedness, i.e. dissociation, isolation, and the rebuffal of love, can be addressed and converted into something productive.

In the forum of individual psychotherapy the relational issues are more focused on finding a different relationship with the self, and that includes our destructive propensities and the overcoming of it. We are unable to find beauty in the world and freedom from the tyranny of bad emotions if we are unwilling to address and convert human aggression and an enormity of fear, underlying the inertia of current life.    

Supervision

Supervision is an essential part of any psychotherapeutic endeavour. It helps the practitioner to gain new perspectives on the work undertaken. At its best supervision provides a benign presence looking over one's shoulder whilst working. A benign and thinking presence which tries to make sense of what's going on in the, at times, chaotic, bewildering, and uncertain crucible of therapy. Also supervision is about the freedom to moan, and go through a list of grievances over the faultlines of the therapeutic endeavour. With the intention to come out the other end and enjoy again the testing but rewarding work of facilitating the patient's healing project and restoration of the soul.  

Links:

Liz Mason: psychotherapist, supervisor: 01225 763 531, lizmason@talktalk.net, www.soulworks.uk.co.uk

Dr Sue Walker: GP, psychoanalytic psychotherapist: susanwalker_@hotmail.com

Dr Phil Mollon: psychoanalyst, energy psychologist: near Cambridge, 01462 679825, mollon@clara.net 

Phil Lapworth: psychotherapist, supervisor: 01225 722 348, phil@murhill.com

Nick Levitt: shamanic healer: 01225 480 355, n.levitt@me.com 

Peter Cockhill: cranial osteopath: at 'Stillpoint', 01225 460 106

Glynn Webster: acupuncturist: at 'Stillpoint', 01225 460 106