The word psychotherapy is a composite of two Greek words - psyche - or “soul” and therapia, which means “to attend to”. So, in therapy, we pay attention to or attend to, the soul.

But what do we mean by “the soul”? The soul is not the mind, nor is it the spirit. It is the deepest part of our being. Mysterious, possibly eternal, it is our true identity beyond our beliefs, our opinions and even our values. If we are in tune with our soul, then we are living our purpose.

Psyche was also a goddess. As a beautiful innocent young maid she lived a charmed but ultimately unsatisfied life of blissful unconsciousness in which all her wishes were effortlessly fulfilled. Becoming more and more discontented she wished to know more about the invisible lover that lived with her in her castle. The jealous goddess Aphrodite set her many trials, one of which was a terrifying and apparently hopeless descent into the underworld. Her reward was a fulfilling and conscious relationship with her lover.

If we apply this myth to psychotherapy, the message is that, by undergoing the trial of descending into the parts of us that we are rarely in touch with - the vulnerable part, the frightened part, the bits of us that we are ashamed of - we discover the lover within. Or, to put it more prosaically, we enter the therapy room with a sense of dissatisfaction or anxiety or low self esteem and, with the help of the therapist, we dare to talk about and explore our inner world in order to gain self acceptance, self awareness and peace of mind.

In Depth Psychotherapy we see the presenting issue, whether that be depression, anxiety, low self esteem or any of the host of so-called “disorders” as symptoms of a deeper malaise. With tools such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or by using pharmaceutical drugs, we can lessen these symptoms so life becomes more manageable. But what usually happens is that the symptoms return or they mutate, often taking the form of a physical illness. Perhaps we should be asking, “What is my anxiety trying to tell me?” Or, “Am I feeling depressed because I am out of alignment with my true purpose?” In other words, why not attend to the root cause of the issue instead of treating the symptoms? To face one’s inner demons, one’s deepest fears, one’s shadow as Jung would say, takes courage and patience and persistence but ultimately the rewards are transformational and permanent.

Of course, sometimes the symptoms are so debilitating or distressing that we need to attend to them before we can move on to treat the underlying cause. Therefore I am not averse to using tools and techniques in order to quieten the nervous system, establishing the conditions for deeper work.