DISTRESS WITH PHYSICAL HEALTH

 

As a psychotherapist and counsellor in Edinburgh, I regularly treat issues relating to distress with physical health. Many people experience chronic illness or a life‑changing physical illness at some point, and both the condition and its treatment can influence how we think, feel and live day to day. Illness can disrupt work, limit daily activities, strain finances, and at times require time in hospital away from familiar routines and support. It can severely impact emotional wellbeing, causing stress, anxiety about the future, and a sense of losing control over your body or life. Relationships may feel more distant as you navigate loneliness or worries about sharing your feelings, and illness can even prompt deeper questions about fairness, meaning, or personal beliefs.. ​

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Are you experiencing any of the following:

 

• Questioning the world around you and your understanding of what is fair and right.

• A sense of pointlessness and existential hopelessness 

• Despair and grief about what your life is unable to be

• Loneliness due to inability to participate in everyday events with loved ones

• Isolation: nobody can understand your position

• Feeling out of control of your body and your life

• Financial stress and concern about the future

• Constant worry about possible illness or how much the symptoms affect you.

• Hyper-vigilance and perceiving usual physical sensations as a sign of severe illness.

• Panic and believing that physical sensations are threatening or harmful.

• Constantly checking your body for issues.

 

 

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MY EXPERTISE AND HOW PSYCHOTHERAPY CAN ASSIST WITH GRIEF AND BEREAVEMENT

 

THERAPIES & METHODS​

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Person Centred  |  Working collaboratively in the present, trusting in and acting from your unique needs, preferences and perspectives.

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Emotional Processing  |   Being with you, where you are

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Psychosomatic Awareness  |  Regulation tools to unify the body with the mind and process difficult emotions: develop self-awareness, create physiologic change

 

Existential  |  Exploration to establish meaning, purpose and value systems in life and relationships​

 

Psychoeducation | Develop understanding in your psychological state, clarifying ways to cope and thrive

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Psychodynamic |  Examine the past to understand how it effects present beliefs and behaviour​

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Creative Arts |  Integrate artistic mediums to further articulate and process emotional states 

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Attachment Theory |  Understand how early relationships shape current relational patterns

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Solution Focused  |  Draw on established character strength, resource and ability as a way to set goals to move forward and work towards

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Cognitive Behavioural  |  Challenge dysfunctional thought processes to reconstruct cognitive patterns, regulate emotion and improve coping strategies

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To discover more about psychotherapy, how we can work together and for any questions you have, please contact me ​​​​​​