Psychotherapy
in Carlton at The Spring Clinic
What is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is talk therapy, like psychology or counselling, but it is often distinguished by the focus on the therapeutic relationship as a source of helping and healing. There are many forms of psychotherapy, but they commonly focus on present-moment experience and the development of insight to provide lasting change, rather than learning tools and skills to manage mental health issues.
Relational Psychotherapy
In psychotherapy, you and your therapist will reflect together on what is concerning you in your day to day life, but also on your present moment experience as you speak. This may include focusing on the body, emotions or what is happening in the relationship between you and your therapist. This present-moment focus provides deep insights into what is causing you distress in your mind or life, as you slow down with your therapist to understand the everyday feelings and reactions which we may only be partially aware of. The therapeutic relationship itself provides healing, as previously confusing or overwhelming feelings can be held and digested within a safe relationship.
A Developmental Approach
Understanding your experience in the therapeutic relationship is also essential because mental health issues also have interpersonal impacts and elements of relational causes. Minds develop in specific relational environments which contribute to the activation of genes, the wiring of the brain and the entrainment of the nervous system. Early experiences between a child and their caregiver, as well as other challenging interpersonal events, impact the course of development and often lead to mental health issues later in life. A foundational element of psychotherapy is reflecting together on how important, historical experiences in relationship might be impacting how you experience and respond to current relationships and the world around you. A goal of psychotherapy is to provide new relational experiences and insights as an alternative to maladaptive ways of coping which may be causing or maintaining psychological distress.
About Our Psychotherapists
Our psychotherapists are trained in a range of therapeutic modalities and follow the ethos that each individual is special and unique. We need a wealth of knowledge and approaches to meet each individual's needs. At The Spring Clinic in Melbourne, we have therapists available for an appointment to begin speaking about the challenges that most concern you and begin providing support.
Accredited and Registered Therapists
Our therapists study at a minimum of a Bachelor's and Post-graduate level, focusing on practical theoretical and clinical knowledge, preparing them to work with clients. They are registered with the Australian Counselling Association of Australia (ACA) or the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA), which necessitates checks on professional integrity, criminal records and rights to work for children. This membership necessitates a commitment to ongoing learning and regular clinical supervision throughout their career.
Authentic and Honest Therapeutic Relationships
Our integrative therapists take your guidance to direct the therapeutic session, making sure that you are able to share and be supported in what feels relevant and important in your life. Taking a client-centred approach means empathising with and validating the experience of clients and offering specific therapeutic techniques for ways of thinking. Confronting unseen, unacknowledged and difficult parts of ourselves in integrative therapy is fundamental to the growth necessary to make valuable changes.
Our Therapists Gain In-Depth Understanding
Our clinicians take the time to understand a given client in depth through intake sessions, prior to drawing any conclusions about who you are or what might be therapeutically helpful for your health. This understanding is imperative for positive outcomes of integrative therapy.
Therapeutic Approaches We Draw On
Psychodynamic Therapy
Based on the understanding that our minds develop through the most important relationships in our lives, Psychodynamic therapy supports you in understanding how the past influences the present, to liberate you from chronic and unhelpful patterns of thinking, behaving and relating.
Attachment Theory
Attachment theory suggests that the bond between an infant and their primary caregivers becomes the blueprint for future relationships. When individuals experience repeated, maladaptive patterns in their intimate relationships, attachment repair may be therapeutically supportive.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
ACT draws on mindfulness and the belief that ‘we are more than our thoughts’. This empowering model can help you let go of ruminative thoughts and make action-orientated decisions. ACT is an evidence-based approach to treating OCD, anxiety and depression.
Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy
CBT is a practical approach to support individuals in changing unwanted, unhelpful behaviours through becoming aware of and changing their thoughts. This model offers structured approaches to treatment and through exercises and worksheets provides tools with tools they can begin using today.
Mentalisation-Based Therapy
Through a reflective process between client and therapist, mentalisation supports clients in understanding their minds in a supportive and curious environment. Collaboratively, client and therapist make meaning of their own and other’s feelings and behaviors. Valuable for all individuals and particularly those with personality disorders.
Systemic Approaches
Whether utilising a psychobiological or family systems approach, our therapists seek to understand the context in which you developed and live. Therapeutically understanding the cultural, social and political environment, can support clients in gaining liberation from oppressive forces and live more authentically.
Parts Work
A range of models capture the idea that our minds are composed of different ‘parts’ or ‘functions’. Therapist may draw on Gestalt therapy or Internal Family Systems, to assist clients in becoming aware and understanding the origins of the co-inhabiting and sometimes competing parts of their mind.
Existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical approach, which reflects on the universal givens of life. Death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness are invited as topics for contemplation; leading to individuals gaining a greater sense of personal meaning and purpose in life. Helpful for those experiencing transition, grief and loss.
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Psychotherapy Support Areas
Our team offers integrative therapy services to support the alleviation of mental health conditions and personal concerns.
Anxiety
Anxiety can be understood as “fear without an object”. Sufferers of this condition experience significant psychological and physical distress. For generalised anxiety or panic disorders, clients may find they experience nerves in different settings and contexts with no apparent source. In other cases, such as attachment or social anxiety disorder, one may find there is a link between anxiety and interpersonal triggers. The Spring Clinic's integrative therapists will understand your experiences and recommend appropriate techniques. Our therapies and treatments include CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mentalisation Based Therapy and Attachment repair.
Depression
Many people may experience periods of depression following losses, changes, challenges and transitions, whilst for some people, depression may be a cyclic or consistent experience. Depression is characterised by feelings of flatness, a lack of motivation or interest, lethargy and self-criticism. It has debilitating effects on the feeling of value and meaning one derives towards life, other people and themselves.
An integrative therapy approach addresses depression through understanding the development context which may make one vulnerable to challenges with self-esteem, grief and unexpressed emotions. The work then focuses on identifying the difficulties and maintaining factors that cause or trigger feelings of sadness, hopelessness or a lack of self-worth.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has historically been associated with anxiety. Whilst it is now recognised as its own diagnosis, it can be understood as an extension of the ruminative thinking in anxiety whereby individuals also experience the impulse to complete certain kinds of actions or behaviours to alleviate fears.
OCD encompasses conditions including trichotillomania (pulling of one's hair), scrupulosity (religious fanaticism), body dysmorphic disorder (checking of one's body image) or excoriation disorder (skin picking). An individual's obsessions or intrusive thoughts can commonly fit into one of five categories.
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Fear of harm to loved ones
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Religion or morality
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Order and symmetry
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Concerns with doubt and incompleteness
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Germs and contamination
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder often leads to significant distress for individuals, and challenges in relationships, workplaces and daily living. If you have a diagnosis of OCD or believe it might be relevant, our psychotherapists can support you in understanding, managing and easing obsessional thoughts and actions.
Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Trauma refers to experiences that overwhelm one's sense of personal safety, either physically and/or emotionally. Trauma may occur in early development or adulthood through abuse or harm, or more chronic and subtle injuries to one's sense of self.
Trauma may also refer to one-off incidents such as accidents, illnesses or sudden losses. These experiences may leave people feeling confused, distressed and fearful. Symptoms include loss of appetite, motivation, interest, self-esteem or meaning. PTSD is a diagnostic term that refers to these signs following a traumatic experience.
Symptoms and challenges resulting from trauma can be resolved through a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship which can offer the tools to manage and reduce these side effects. Members of the team at The Spring Clinic have specialised training in working with both acute and complex trauma.
Complex PTSD
Complex PTSD often develops when individuals are exposed to recurrent, prolonged, and chronic trauma, such as childhood abuse, living in a long-term war zone, or being exposed to domestic violence. Symptoms of complex PTSD include those of traditional PTSD, such as flashbacks and avoidant behaviour, along with several other symptoms listed below:
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Difficulty regulating emotions.
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Having a very negative and limiting self-image.
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Challenges in forming healthy relationships with others, often due to a lack of trust in them.
These experiences naturally are very distressing for the individual and can be debilitating. Psychotherapy, either with a psychologist or psychotherapist, is one of the first lines of treatment for this mental health condition. Psychotherapy for complex PTSD can involve the following processes:
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Helping the individual recognise the abuse, life stressor, or trauma that lead to the development of their complex PTSD.
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Psychoeducation around the body’s survival mechanisms that, whilst in the face of danger are often very adaptive, can potentially become maladaptive when we are out of harm's way.
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Exploring paths of healing and new ways of relating with self and others.
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Developing a deep, robust sense of self-compassion and understanding of oneself.
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Learning how to regulate the nervous system.
In psychotherapy, clients can experience of a collaborative therapeutic relationship, in which both parties are active participants in healing and reflecting together on their relationship. This collaborative approach is especially helpful for those with complex PTSD whom often need help reflecting on their experience and reactions in current relationships, which may be based upon past trauma.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder can be broadly defined as a mental health condition that involves a cycling between very high and low moods that causes significant distress and impaired function. There are three types of Bipolar disorder: Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and Cyclothymic disorder.
Bipolar I
Bipolar I is diagnosed when an individual experiences a pattern of manic episodes, which are characterised as high levels of elation, irritability, and energetic behaviour, that last for at least seven days. The individual also experiences episodes of depression, where they have very low energy and mood, which last around two weeks.
Bipolar II
Bipolar II is characterised by a pattern of less severe manic episodes, known as hypomanic episodes, as well as depressive episodes, which are quite severe.
Cyclothymic disorder
Cyclothymic disorder is defined as a recurrent pattern of shifts in mood between mania and depression, that do not meet the criteria for a manic or depressive episode.
This cycling between extreme high and low moods which is the basis of Bipolar disorders can be exhausting, debilitating, result in hospitalisation, and negatively impact multiple domains of the individual's life, such as social, occupational, and familial.
Psychotherapy can provide a safe and nurturing place for individuals to explore their experience of Bipolar disorders; develop an understanding around why they might get the symptoms they do; how they can work on healing core wounds that may be the igniting forces for these symptoms; and develop stronger, healthier relationships with self and others. This process of healing is done through a lens of self-compassion and non-judgement, which is essential when delving into the psyche and exploring the way we experience our mind.
We also treat and support:
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Bipolar Disorder
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Grief and Loss
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Personality Disorders
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Substance dependence
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Internet / Technology addiction
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Sexual Dysfunction
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Relational Issues
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Eating Disorders
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Stress Management
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Self Development
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LGBTQIA+ Mental Health
