Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a therapy used to treat emotional and mental health conditions based on psychological means.
There are many different psychotherapy modalities recognized by the mental health community.
Psychotherapy considers the person as a whole; it is based on a variety of theories and can make use of techniques to treat specific problems.
I provide individual psychotherapy mainly based on the psychoanalytical and psychodynamic framework.
If indicated, I can use the Mentalization Based Therapy model (MBT).
Group psychotherapy can be offered based on specific needs and presenting issues.
Psychoanalysis
I offer psychoanalysis to those who feel stuck in recurrent problems that are impeding them to fully live their life and want to be able to reach their potentials in order to experience a more satisfactory life in different areas: in their relationships, at work, in everyday activities. Psychoanalysis requires a significant commitment, both on the part of the patient and on the analyst, for a considerable amount of time as it is a deep and intense form of treatment.
Evidence-based practice
A lot of studies have tried to understand the effectiveness of different psychotherapies in changing people’s life and well-being.
What Works for Whom? A Critical Review of Psychotherapy Research” (2 Ed.) by Anthony Roth & Peter Fonagy (2005) is an attempt to understand the relation between a client, his/her experience and the therapy that can be useful for that person in a particular period of life. However, research results cannot simply be applied to clinical practice, as they need to rely on the ability of the clinician in delivering a “therapeutic intervention tailored to the needs of the individual client”.
The National Occupational Standards for Psychological Therapies defines the key competences of the body of knowledge for psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy.
The British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) summarises some of the researches and evidence base for psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Among others, two meta-analysis studies give evidence for the efficacy of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, specifically in complex mental disorders, when compared to less intensive therapies:
- Effectiveness of Long-term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. A Meta-analysis (Leichsenring F., Rabung S., 2008)
- Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy in complex mental disorders: update of a meta-analysis (Leichsenring F., Rabung S., 2011)
Jonathan Shedler (2010) gives empirical evidence in supports of “The efficacy of psychodynamic therapy“ in the American Psychologist journal.
A Case for Psychoanalysis: Exploring the Scientific Evidence by John Thor Cornelius (2014) describes the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy, comparing it to antidepressant medications and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) by using existing scientific data.
In 2014 the American Journal of Psychiatry (171:34-43) has published the first study on psychoanalytical psychotherapy with demonstrated efficacy for an Axis I disorder: Childhood Separation Anxiety and the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Adult Anxiety, by B. Milrod, J. C. Markowitz, A. J. Gerber, J. C. Cyranowski, M, Altemus, T. Shapiro, M. Hofer, C. Glatt.