Why do people come for Therapy ?

Therapy offers help in a non-judgemental way.

We can help you to work through issues around:

So what would you do if someone came in with panic attacks?

What else is covered in counselling and psychotherapy?

We are sometimes led to do, to feel or to think in a certain way by activities of the mind they cannot easily make sense of and that they find disturbing. Though we can know quite a lot of what goes on in our mind, we have all had the experience of being surprised at times by our reactions to events, or taken aback by sudden thoughts or memories that seem to come unbidden into our awareness. Some people also find themselves seemingly compelled towards certain actions, or unable to rid themselves of certain thoughts, beliefs or feelings, despite their best efforts. These unwanted thoughts, feelings and desires are related to the unconscious, which may be thought of as a kind of accumulation of problematic thoughts, intrusive memories, and unacceptable desires that have been repressed, or quarantined. Since these thoughts, feelings, and desires have usually been repressed at an early stage in a person’s life, their later intrusion can have a very primitive and disturbing quality. Sometimes certain circumstances or certain events in a person’s life contrive to spark off, or re-stimulate these repressed thoughts.

Difficulties or distress in a person’s life can then become so serious that it affects their relationships, their work and their sense of well-being. Psychotherapy attempts to address these thoughts and feelings by exploring their source. Where the difficulties that a person encounters lie in the present, psychotherapy provides the context in which the person can find new ways to overcome their problems. Where the source of person’s difficulties lies in the past, this may be as a result of some event or situation in their own history that they are aware of but have not resolved. In such a situation, psychotherapy can help the person to revisit their history in order to come to terms with whatever has transpired.

Currently, there are many people presenting with issues around unemployment and financial debt, which is causing great stress and anxiety in many clients. This can also lead to panic attacks, depression and suicide, especially at certain times of year; leading up to Christmas is one example.
There is more financial pressure on people and more so for parents who are having to say ‘no’ to their children, and how to explain or get around the notion that Santa cannot bring that new Xbox or that new mobile phone because children do not understand that Santa has not lost his job and why can’t they get it?????
These issues can put great stress on a couple’s relationship and there are currently many relationships falling apart due to the huge financial pressures being put on them. With the amount of people currently out of work, it can be very difficult for a person who has worked all his/her life and is now standing in a dole queue for hours. Then going home and finding they are unable to support their families and also maybe having to borrow money from friends and family to pay the basic bills. They are struggling to survive from one week to the next.
This can affect a person’s confidence, self-esteem, and it does not make it any easier for the individual seeing that many other people are in the same boat. Men and women are finding this change in lifestyle very difficult. Therefore, we work with couples in Counselling to overcome these difficulties and look at ways of improving their relationship and supporting each other through these stressful times.
Sometimes it is just a matter of talking and naming all the issues that are currently causing problems and working on how to overcome them and working with a Therapist can prioritise the issues and remove the ‘he said’ ‘she said’ out of it

Can children go to therapy?

Yes they can, it is a specialised field. People working with children would use art therapy, play therapy etc. we have a Child Therapist specially trained for working with children and adolescents at The Haven Group.

Why would teenagers be coming to therapy?

Again, there can be various issues that a teenager can present. Bullying and stress from doing exams and problems in the home life which can then lead to alcohol, drug and gambling addictions which for the teenager is a way of releasing or coping with the stress or bullying.

There is also an extremely high rate of suicide in Ireland; it is currently eight times higher than the European average. There is a lot of peer pressure on adolescents and this can lead to low self-esteem and low self-confidence.

Other ways that young people cope with these issues is by trying to control their food, which can lead to various eating disorders example anorexia, bulimia and obesity. Self-harm is another way for a person to cope with their life for a short while. For them it is a way of expressing some very deep distress because they may not be able to tell anyone just how bad they are feeling. Sometimes, they do not even know why they are doing it. The person does get some relief from this behaviour and repeat it over and over to feel better for a short while. A person might continue this behaviour as a form of punishment to himself or herself and because it is often, done in secret, and to parts of the body that are not visible, often family and friends will not know about this behaviour for a long time. This can be the same around eating disorders.

How has Therapy helped you to achieve your dreams?