Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-oriented approach that explores how your past experiences, unconscious patterns, and early relationships continue to shape the way you feel, think, and relate to others today. Rather than focusing only on the surface, it looks at the deeper roots of what you're carrying and why certain difficulties keep returning, even when you want things to be different.
On this page you can learn more about what psychodynamic therapy means in practice and what it can help with. It is available both in person and online.
Psychodynamic therapy can be offered as a standalone approach or woven into an integrative way of working combining it with other methods where that feels helpful. This is something we can explore together; you don't need to arrive with a decision made.
Psychodynamic Therapy at a glance
• What it is: A depth-oriented approach that explores unconscious patterns, early experiences, and how the past shapes the present.
• How it helps: Supports recurring relationship difficulties, long-standing low mood or anxiety, low self-worth, grief, and a sense of feeling stuck or disconnected.
• How it works: Through a safe, reflective relationship, you explore feelings, memories, and patterns to develop deeper self-awareness and more lasting change.
• Who it's for: People who feel something runs deeper than day-to-day stress, and who want to understand the roots of how they feel and relate to others.
Understanding the patterns beneath the surface
Many of the patterns that cause us difficulty in relationships, in how we feel about ourselves, in the way we respond under pressure were formed long before we were aware of them. Psychodynamic therapy creates space to explore those patterns with curiosity rather than judgement, and to understand the emotional logic behind them.
Drawing on ideas from attachment theory and relational psychotherapy, this way of working pays close attention to:
• How early relationships with caregivers have shaped your expectations of others
• Feelings or memories that may have been pushed out of awareness but continue to influence you
• Recurring themes across different areas of your life such as work, friendships, intimate relationships
• What happens in the relationship between you and your therapist, which can itself offer valuable insight
What psychodynamic therapy can help with
Psychodynamic therapy is particularly well suited to concerns that feel deep-rooted or long-standing. Common reasons people seek this approach include:
• Recurring relationship patterns such as conflict, avoidance, people-pleasing, or difficulty trusting others
• Low self-esteem and a persistent inner critic
• Anxiety or depression that doesn't have a straightforward explanation
• Grief and loss, including losses that happened long ago but still feel present
• Feeling emotionally numb, disconnected, or like a different version of yourself in different situations
• Experiences of a difficult childhood or early relationships that continue to affect you now
• A sense that something is off, even when life looks fine on the outside
Accessing Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy can be offered both in person and online. In-person sessions take place at my therapy room in Richmond, Surrey; online sessions are available to clients across the UK.
This approach tends to suit people who want more than symptom relief, who want to understand themselves more fully, and to make changes that last. Sessions are open and exploratory, led by whatever feels most alive for you, at a pace that feels manageable.
Bringing it together
Psychodynamic therapy offers a reflective, relational way of working that takes seriously the influence of the past on the present. Whether in person or online, the aim is to create a safe and consistent space where deeper patterns can surface, be understood, and gradually shift so that you feel more free, more grounded, and more like yourself.