Mr Piotr Szmyt MA

I invite you to think about psychotherapy as a way of searching for new perspectives – new ways of being, relating, feeling, and experiencing life. Our upbringing equipped us with a certain point of view on who we are, how we love and feel, and even what we want and aspire to. Many of those experiences gave us clarity in later life but some still cast a shadow on who we truly are.

I am a psychotherapist and I can accompany you on your path to a better quality of your life. My approach in psychotherapy combines a psychodynamic perspective with a more body-focused intense short dynamic therapy (ISTDP). In therapy, I value both empathy and directness. Sometimes what helps in the therapeutic process are warmth and acceptance and other times confrontation and clear perspective. You can get to know my approach to the therapeutic relationship in the first consultation session.

My focus in therapy is on changing here-and-now patterns between patient and therapist. This will make you see how we relate to each other and how this reflects your relational experience in your life and how you can change it. In the long term, you will better understand your past schemas and give meaning to unexpected reactions and symptoms. We will explore your bodily responses in search of possibly buried or protected emotions (anger, fear, joy, sadness). Sometimes your anxiety will help us to rediscover emotions, thoughts, desires, and longings that were securely locked under a tension of anxious, constricted body and mind causing symptoms ranging from minor distractions, and obsessive thoughts to bodily tensions, pains, and tiredness.

Throughout the course of psychotherapy, we will discover links between our past, present, and future in the form of future wishes, desires, or worries. This will help you to give meaning and understanding to your current life situation and the way you experience your life. On the other hand, looking into your specific current life situations and therapeutic relationship will provide you with the experiences necessary to see yourself from a perspective and decide what serves you well and what stands in the way to a fuller life.

I work under continuous supervision.