PsychSense Psychotherapy

Breaking the cycle of unconscious thinking patterns, influenced by the past and revealed in a person's present behaviour.
What is PsychSense Psychotherapy about?

Perceptions
Many believe that the way they perceive the world and interact with people is just the way it is and the way they are but research reveals another view. Bowlby, an attachment theorist, spoke of our early years of life as being crucial to the way we view ourselves and the world. It is thought that our connection with our primary care givers and the sense we make of our surroundings in our formative years, creates our view of reality, and can have a big influence on the way we act and interact in later life.

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." Carl Jung
The Cycle
Do you find yourself sometimes stuck in a negative cycle, feeling overwhelmed or wondering why good things never seem to come your way or why your interactions with people never seem to be satisfying? Do you often feel overwhelmed or experience others as overwhelming or you fear that you may be 'too much' for others. Perhaps you are someone who often feels depressed and doesn’t really know why or you lack confidence or crave admiration insatiably?

You may appear to be functioning well in work/business but have ongoing frustrations forming intimate or meaningful relationships believing you just have bad luck meeting the wrong people. Do you live on the reflections of yourself in the eyes of others and struggle to cope when on your own. Perhaps you feel you can never dare to be yourself, always wearing a mask because of a belief that who you are doesn't work or is not good enough?

"The most common form of despair is not being who you are." Soren Kierkegaard
The Story
Similar to other theorists I believe individuals primarily have a story about themselves and their lives that they consider is true and unchangeable. As clients are lead to discover unhelpful beliefs, self-sabotaging habits and negative choices made within their story, a transformation can begin.

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." Buddha
The Process

Singles Therapy
Therapy primarily involves changing the story and breaking the cycle of unconscious thinking patterns, influenced by the past and revealed in a person's present behaviour. This process is begun by exploring understandings, impressions and experiences as they arise in therapy, in connection with reflections on our early years along with our experience of our primary care givers.

To honestly share our fears, hopes, disappointments and doubts with another in the space of counselling/therapy can be challenging, but it is also the beginning of the healing process. Most are unused to revealing their true selves behind the mask, much of which can be unconscious functioning, and find that discovering long held beliefs and defences, and allowing them to fall away, is a process that takes time.

Crucial to this infinitely rewarding experience is the therapist who can create an environment of empathic attunement and initiating helpful transactions to facilitate honest and insightful exploration. Also crucial is the experience of a different way of being in connection with another, initially with the therapist. My belief is that only as individuals embrace and connect with their felt responses through this process can they begin to rebuild new ways of thinking and being, particularly in how they experience themselves and others in relationship. The outcome is to build a more satisfying true and authentic self and to find one's true passion in life.

“My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another.” Shakti Gawain.
Counselling
Sometimes clients may just need someone to listen with an empathic ear while they work through a current issue. It may be grief over a loss of partner or employment, working through family issues, dealing with stress or anger. Clients may wish to gain relaxation or meditative techniques to assist them through a difficult time. The counsellor provides the client space and an opportunity to explore, discover and clarify ways of living, thinking and being that may assist in gaining a more helpful perspective or satisfying resolution.
Couples

We all need to be heard and understood but with a reactive or silent partner this appears impossible for either. The question that seems so difficult to answer is often, “How do I communicate, listen, understand or move into my partner’s space, without losing myself in the process? What about me? I am also in pain!

Initially the counselling process is about experiencing a dialogue that de-escalates conflict, through a process and technique that encourages differentiation or keeping my sense of who I am while still being present for another.

Couple’s are encouraged to experience understanding and being understood by stepping into their partner’s world. As couple's share their individual stories, understanding is gained of how unmet needs and learnt childhood patterns continue to impact on current relationships with both partners and friends. Empathy is able to grow as understanding is gained without the expectation that 'my partner must fix me' or 'I need to fix them'.

Being present to the other is about listening, reflecting and communicating what/where you are and what/where I am with understanding and support rather than expectation, conflict, disagreement, judgement, anger, fear, depression or abandonment.

“Millions of people are suffering: they want to be loved but they don't know how to love. And love cannot exist as a monologue; it is a dialogue, a very harmonious dialogue.” Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh).

Our learnt childhood patterns continue to impact on our relationships with partners and friends.
Clientele
Clients may present with:
Depression, eating disorders, over-reaction to criticism, relationship issues, anxiety, stress, panic attacks, anger, rage, fear, abusive behaviour grief and loss, lack of self worth, not feeling connected with themselves or others, or simply a lack of passion for life. These sufferings can be viewed as defences against feeling the pain of loss. Many issues that we experience are a reflection of either trauma or unhelpful beliefs often brought on by having unavailable or inaccessible primary care givers in our formative years. As we explore and begin to understand these lost parts of ourselves, grieve over the loss and look at our unconscious thought patterns around these experiences, the opportunity is presented for developing new and more helpful ways of thinking and being.
Carolyn Packard

B Ed, MSc (Masters in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Counselling), IMAGO trained couple's therapist, Three-year postgraduate research and training in the treatment of personality disorders with the Masterson Institute in New York. Member of PACFA (bound by their code of ethics), AIRTA (IMAGO) Singles and Couple's

I am a psychodynamic psychotherapist and I believe that unless we reflect on the way we perceive ourselves, our way of being and how we interact with others we are doomed to repeat unhelpful patterns.

"What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself." Abraham H. Maslow

On a personal level, I have been married for over 38 years, my husband and I have two married sons and we are grandparents to six grandchildren. I would like to think that I bring a wealth of experience from the knowledge, training, struggles, disappointments, successes, failures and achievements of my life to the benefit of clients.

Professional development is an ongoing priority consisting of attending relevant workshops and seminars, gaining supervision and exploring research in collegiate groups.

Personal Development is also a priority that I consider essential for all counsellors and therapists and has been ongoing giving me an experiential understanding of the process of transformational thinking and being. The adage that one can only take clients as far as they have been themselves holds some truth.

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people." Carl Yung
Contact
Mobile
0429 081 593

Email
carolyn@psychsense.com.au

Location
West Busselton

Name
Email
Phone

Send
Comment