Psychotherapy for students and young adults
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is a journey that involves many routes. For some young adults, the transition involves separation by leaving the family home to go to work, college, university, or travelling. This is often a fragmented process as the young person manages independence by repeatedly moving between spaces and places while the family home provides a secure base during periods of return. University students will often return to the family home during semester breaks or after completing their studies. Other young adults may have to stay at home out of necessity, financial or otherwise, which also brings its challenges.
The journey into adulthood is a time when identities begin to evolve around work, study, and sexual relationships. It is a journey of new beginnings as the young adult begins to find a sense-of-themselves in the world. It can be a time of adventure, opportunity, hope, and excitement for some young adults, while for others, it can bring sadness, distress, overwhelming pressure, paralysing fear of uncertainty, and breakdown. Some young adults may already be managing existing mental health difficulties; it may present new challenges and emotional struggles for others.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy can help with a range of difficulties and conditions.
With students and young adults this includes (but not limited to):
- Low mood and depression
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Worry, fears and phobias, obsessive-compulsive behaviours
- Sleeping difficulties
- Suicidal thoughts, suicidal attempts
- Self-harm and destructive behaviour
- Addiction and substance misuse
- Low confidence, low self-esteem
- Difficulties at college or university, managing transition from boarding/school to further/higher education, academic pressure, and exams
- Problems with intimacy in relationships
- Social difficulties
- Eating disorders, disordered eating
- Adverse childhood experiences, e.g., the impact of trauma, abuse, neglect
- Impact of sexual violence/assault, rape, sexual harassment, violence, grooming)
- Impact of involvement in crime, violence and aggression, destructive behaviour
- Issues relating to sexuality
- Gender confusion/gender-related distress
- Excessive reliance on/use of technology, gadgets, gaming, internet, social media
- Coping with life events (e.g., parental separation, death in the family/friend, chronic illness)
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves an active process between you and the therapist trained to help you make sense of what is on your mind, your struggles and help you change them. The working relationship that develops between you and the therapist over time is a crucial part of the therapeutic work as it helps us understand how patterns of relationships towards yourself and others throughout life can be repeated. The regularity of the sessions and the therapist's clinical expertise allows for these emerging patterns of behaviour to be thought about and understood together, enabling the opportunity for long-lasting change.
I offer time-limited and open-ended psychoanalytic psychotherapy to students and young adults.
Parents may also struggle with bearing the pain of letting go of their children and helping them on their way. For some, this means facing the empty nest and dealing with change. I also work with parents and carers, offering support in various ways. For further details, please click here or refer to Psychotherapy for Parents.
"Endings and beginnings are intimately linked. Every ending requires us to come to terms with what we have lost and to begin anew." - Isca Salzberger-Wittenberg