Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy can help you with
- better understanding psychological disorders and their background
- developing strategies to cope with stressful symptoms
- establishing new behaviors and ways of thinking
- better realising and regulating your own feelings
- clarifying interpersonal difficulties, improving problem solving skills and self-confidence
- focusing on your individual needs and life goals
After a discussion of your individual needs and concerns as well as a professional assessment of your difficulties, we will define your personal therapy goals in collaboration and determine methods and techniques you can apply to reach your goals. My therapeutic work is based on cognitive behavior therapy, extended by other scientifically proven methods of psychotherapy, e.g. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance-and-Commitment Therapy (ACT) and specialized traumafocused methods. Your own strengths and resources, as well as your self-determination and personal life values are of particular significance in my therapeutic approach.
Treatments focus in particular on anxiety, depression, burnout and stress, obsessive-compulsive disorders, trauma and trauma related disorders, difficulties with emotion regulation and interpersonal problems. I specialise in psychotherapy for adults and couples, but my academic and clinical background also qualifies me for the treatment of children and adolescents (e.g., cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorders, and depression in children and adolescents, DBT for self-injury in adolescents).
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a scientifically proven psychotherapy approach that focuses on clarifying and coping with actual and concrete problem behaviors. The primary aim is to cope better with stressful symptoms and situations. The individual history of learning and associated typical behavioral or cognitive patterns are are an integral part of the treatment, as they are important for understanding your problems and designing the desired changes.
The cognitive-behavioral approach is characterised by the following elements:
- The principle that human behavior, including thinking and feeling, are mainly determined by the individual history of learning - therefore many behaviors, including problematic ones, may be unlearned
- Orientation on concrete goals - individual and concrete goals for therapy are formulated in collaboration with you and evaluated repeatedly over the course of the treatment
- Transparency - you will be informed at all stages of treatment about the diagnosis and the planned and applied therapeutic methods
- Helping you to help yourself - you will learn strategies in therapy that apply to situations you face in your daily life
Psychological Counseling
Psychological counseling can help you
- with reflecting about your current situation
- to better understand and address your psychological discomforts such as depressive symptoms, anxiety, difficulties concentrating, sleeping disorders, irritability, stress and interpersonal problems and will be supporting you in addressing these issues
- with initiating further steps to problem solving when necessary
In contrast to psychotherapy, psychological counseling focuses even more on reaching concrete goals, and its duration is usually limited to a few sessions.
If suitable and requested, further psychotherapy may be following in order to work on the problem in a deepened and more specific way.
Couples Therapy
Couples counseling or couples therapy may be indicated
- if your relationship is in crisis
- if your relationship is suffering from continued conflicts or communication problems
- in case you wish to change negative behavioral patterns weighing on your relationship
In cognitive-behavioral couples therapy the therapist and the couple work together, developing ways of dealing with conflicts constructively and changing negative behavioral patterns in the relationship. The cognitive-behavioral approach focuses on the coping with difficulties and practicing new behaviors and skills (e.g., communication training, problem solving skills, dyadic coping with stress).
Supervision and Therapeutic Self-Awareness
I am a qualified supervisor for cognitive-behavioral supervision (Diploma of Advanced Studies UZH in Cognitive-Behavioral Supervision) offering single and group supervision for psychologists and other health experts as well as for specialized health care institutions.
I am an accredited supervisor and therapist for therapeutic self-awareness with the following institutions and professional associations:
- Akademie für Verhaltenstherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters der Universität Fribourg (AVKJ)
- Postgraduale Studiengänge in Psychotherapie der Universität Basel (PSP)
- Postgraduale Weiterbildung in kognitiver Verhaltenstherapie und Verhaltensmedizin der Universität Zürich (MASP)
- Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Verhaltenstherapie (SGVT): Member of the trainer section
Lectures, Courses and Workshops
My experience as a lecturer includes teaching activities at the universities of Basel, Fribourg, and Zürich; speeches at international conferences, as well as courses or workshops in corporate environments (e.g., on topics such as depression, stress and burnout).
Speeches, seminars or workshops can be organised according to prior agreement. I would be happy to discuss all opportunities in a personal conversation.
