Psychotherapy’s origins are based in psychoanalysis and psychology.
Psychotherapy and the therapeutic relationship allows the individual to experience an environment where they can safely talk about their issues and anxieties. Often people find themselves caught in a pattern of behavior or events that they may find to be destructive or disruptive in their lives. Sometimes the result is that they feel isolated and can’t move forward or resolve this way of being. A Psychotherapist does not normally prescribe drugs, nor do they approach depression or other forms of anxiety in this way. Rather they work in partnership with the individual client in a supportive role to help them understand and focus on their concerns. This is usually achieved by using various techniques such as active listening and verbal skills. Psychotherapy is not about making someone’s life wrong and giving them a list of instructions on how to live a “better life”. It is about their own discovery of the “self”, and finding other ways of experiencing themselves, relationships and the world in general.

Somatic Psychotherapy

Somatic Psychotherapy is fundamentally a therapy which includes the
body. Historically, it is a relatively new form of psychotherapy which recognises that the mind and body are inextricably interconnected. The view of the Somatic psychotherapist is that the body is as much a part of our emotional feelings as is our minds. Because contemporary Western society has invariably separated mind and body, sometimes the physical manifestations of anxiety and our emotions go unrecognised. Somatic Psychotherapy works with these manifestations to helps people gain a better understanding and a way of managing the triggers to their depression or anxiety. The body is not just a vehicle that transports our minds around.

Lyndel Dean

Lyndel Dean is a Psychotherapist with 12 years experience, teaching yoga and Zen Shiatsu Massage Therapy. As a Yoga teacher she first began to realise that focusing on the breath, whilst directing our awareness to sensations felt in specific areas of the body, can help increase the flow of energy, dissipate anxiety and calm the autonomic nervous system. “When I first started teaching Yoga I noticed that some of the asana's (postures) often triggered an emotional response, creating in some people a strong need to talk about their experience.”

Although Lyndel works from a strong academic and theoretical base in relation to Clinical Psychotherapy, she has been able to draw from her experience as a body oriented therapist so that she can work with the mind/ body connection. Lyndel agrees with the Director of The Australian College of Somatic Psychotherapy, Jeff Barlow, who recently said in an interview, “ We often believe that the way we feel about life and about ourselves is just a matter of changing our mind, but personal change has to be deeply connected to our bodies…through our neurophysiology.”

Lyndel believes that our body/mind are not only formed and informed by our genetics but also through our experiences, and interaction with others in our relationships. Sometimes those experiences and relationships, particularly during early childhood, can contribute to undermining our confidence .We develop particular patterns of behavior, and are attracted to possibly harmful relationships. Often we may experience ourselves and the world in a way that may cause us anxiety. Without focusing on pathology or trying to pull her clients apart, Lyndel focuses on building the trust in the relationship with her clients, so that through verbal counseling (not advice giving ) and various types of body awareness techniques, the client may be able to move forward with a more desirable organization of experience. Together both therapist and client find a way of making sense of how and why. Lyndel also notes that talking has a very important role in the process because language helps human beings conceptualise and articulate their ideas, feelings and experience.

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