“Enhance The Quality of Your Life”
Looking for Psychotherapy in Toronto
Are you looking to start psychotherapy in Toronto? Commencing therapy is a very important step to a better quality of life. As an attentive competent psychotherapist and a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario I encourage you to explore this website for information that may be helpful in assisting you to understand the process of psychotherapy.
In our society psychological and emotional issues are not regarded in the same way as medical issues. Troubling physical symptoms cause us to seek medical help immediately but psychological issues are often left unattended for years.
Human beings have the extraordinary capacity to transform themselves and science is now revealing this. This means that any change in our psychological processes is reflected by changes in the functions or structures of the brain. Please read further “How Psychotherapy Changes the Brain.”
What Is Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy, much like life, is a process of learning, unlearning and relearning. It is your knowledge of yourself that will lead to change. If you are operating from a habitual patterned mindset you will often not be able to identify options for yourself. Psychotherapy may be your solution when your brain is not serving you and your mind is not your friend.
Change in psychotherapy occurs by recognizing how your past experiences and early conditioning impact your current life. It is important to understand how your memory (conscious and/or unconscious) shapes your perceptions, your understanding of yourself, and the world around you. Your past experiences, and your interpretation of them, creates your expectations for the future. Memory is much more than just the recall of information from your past. It has the power to influence your future.
If you have experienced trauma, the trauma can get locked within you and become the soundtrack of your inner emotional life. Our work together will inform you that you are more than the voices within your mind haunting you and filling you with fear, negativity, anxiety, criticism, judgment, and inferiority.
How Psychotherapy Can Help You
Emotions can get activated very rapidly. Sometimes you know what activated them and at other times you simply have a strong emotional reaction without fully understanding why. Our work will acquaint you with, and help you manage your emotional states such as anger, anxiety, depression, withdrawal, and panic. You will familiarize yourself with your internal dialogue or self-talk and learn to make adaptive changes so that your mind serves you more adequately. Read more about Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy is referred to as the “talking cure” because through verbal exploration you will come to better understand your behaviours, thoughts and attitudes. The unexamined past is never dead. Your past is folded into the present in many ways that can affect your thoughts, reactions, symptoms, resilience and coping. Early programming influences feelings, perceptions (of self and others) and beliefs that we assume to be true.
I predominately work with psychodynamic theory and cognitive theory as research demonstrates the efficacy of both. I also incorporate information gained from the behavioural sciences, neuroscience, developmental psychology, social science, psychiatry, biology, evolutionary psychology, and medicine to name a few. Please read more on “The Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.”
Psychotherapy and Changing the Brain
The therapeutic process involves looking at one’s problems with a new perspective and learning to dissolve destructive patterns that may have become automatic and entrenched in one’s way of life. Destructive emotional attachments, learned helplessness, and pessimism are some patterns that need to be given up if one decides to attain a better quality of life. My goal is to help you explore your mind through talking openly and freely about yourself.
The more you understand your personality style, personality traits and comprehend what is adaptive and maladaptive in your thinking and behaviours, the better control you will have over yourself and life events. Poor coping skills affect decision-making and how we manage challenging situations. It is through the exploration of your mind that you will learn better and easier ways of navigating through life.
Neurobiology of Psychotherapy
Therapy can be seen as a process of understanding one’s “SELF.” I offer personalized treatment plans that are specific to your needs. Understanding your early conditioning and maladaptive programming will allow you to redirect your future. The role of awareness cannot be understated in your own healing and movement towards change. The more you know and understand yourself – the greater mastery you will have over your life.
It is important to understand what factors interfere with your happiness, individuality, and autonomy, ultimately affecting your mental and physical well-being. You can learn to identify, manage and ultimately overcome difficulties, diminish or eliminate symptoms, and expand your options in life leading to greater happiness. Therapy including stress management can teach you the tools to better control stressful situations.
Toronto Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Current scientific research illustrates that changing how you think, feel, imagine, and act, impacts your brain structures and will affect your overall well-being. “Recent research in brain imaging, molecular biology, and neurogenetics has shown that psychotherapy changes brain function and structure.” To continue to read this article Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Research Evidence
Take a moment to consider how your mental health influences all aspects of your life. Your mental health affects the way you live, love and work. Your life can be very different when free of psychological problems and symptoms such as insecurity, anxiety, worry, stress, fear, and depression.
Poor coping skills affect decision-making and how we manage challenging situations. It is through the exploration of your mind that you will learn better and easier ways of navigating through life. Most behaviour is influenced by unconscious factors. The more you know about yourself the more agency you will have.
