Find Trauma Psychotherapists in Cape Town, South Africa

Trauma therapy treats what stays behind after a frightening or overwhelming event. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR are the recommended treatments ¹².

World Health Organization guidance recommends both for post-traumatic stress disorder ³. Cognitive therapy and narrative exposure therapy are also used.

Treatment usually includes preparation, and work on the memory itself comes later. It is for people whose symptoms have persisted.

Not everyone who has been through something bad needs it. Ask a practitioner which approaches they are trained in.

Everyone on this page describes their work as psychotherapy. A psychotherapist works through talking with you about your thoughts, feelings and behaviours ⁴.

Psychotherapy usually runs longer than counselling and aims for clinical change. It works on patterns that repeat rather than on one current problem.

A psychotherapist trains in psychological treatment rather than in medicine. What that training covers, and which approach a practitioner uses, differ between practitioners. Ask which approach a psychotherapist trained in, and how long they usually work.

Groote Schuur Hospital - Psychiatry Outpatient Services. Phone +27 21 404 9111. Western Cape public hospitals charge on a means-tested scale. Patients in the lowest band pay nothing for specialist outpatient visits. Public patients are accepted by referral from a district or secondary service. Each specialty has its own eligibility criteria.

Our records name no register for the title psychotherapist in South Africa. See the South Africa page for the professions that do carry a register there.