services

What is psychoanalytic psychotherapy?

The following description is taken, with permission, from the website of the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Western Australia (APPWA):

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy focuses on the emotional relationship that emerges between two people — the psychotherapist and the patient — in a carefully created setting. This unique relationship is designed for the discovery of, the surfacing of, and the exploration of the powerful dynamic subterranean influences that affect who and how one is as a person, and how one relates to others. This approach emphasises the important formative influence in our lives of significant relationships from early infancy to the present day.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy can be of help to many people — children, adolescents, and adults — with problems in living, learning, working, and relating. These difficulties usually emerge in forms such as depression, anxiety, general unhappiness, relationship breakdown, sexual or intimacy difficulties, and personal crises. Some people struggle with rigid and ongoing patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving that are maladaptive. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy may also assist people experiencing more serious disturbances.

For a more detailed description of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, visit the APPWA website: www.appwa.org.au

Couple therapy

My particular interest is in psychotherapy with couples, an area I have specialised in – both clinically and in teaching – for many years. My approach to couple therapy draws to a large extent on psychoanalytic theory, but also on aspects of family systems theory, especially the work of Murray Bowen.

I see the process of couple therapy as involving three elements:

Creating a ‘safe space’ where both partners can feel safe to reflect on and talk about their experience of their relationship in a way that, in most instances, they cannot do without the mediating presence of a therapist.

Encouraging each partner to reflect on their own contribution to the relationship and its difficulties, so that they can move from an unproductive struggle to change each other to a collaborative exploration of how their relationship might be different. A significant part of this aspect of couple therapy involves helping the partners to understand some of their less conscious hopes, fears and expectations concerning their relationship, often stemming from experiences of relationships in their formative childhood and adolescent years.

Facilitating experimentation in responding differently to situations that arise in the relationship, both in the therapy sessions and in the day-to-day life of the couple between sessions.

Psychotherapy with individuals

Much of my work with individuals stems from the difficulties people experience in forming and maintaining an intimate relationship, including working with people who are seeking to learn from the experience of the breakdown of a relationship. Other types of work involve problems associated with anxiety and depression, low self esteem, sexual difficulties, and the on-going effects in adult life of trauma or distress experienced in childhood and adolescence. I have a particular interest in short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy, where a contract is made for a limited number of sessions and the focus of the therapy is limited to a specific area of difficulty.

Practice information

The following information will tell you something about how my psychotherapy practice operates. If you have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0407 381 025 or enquiries@jimcrawley.com.au .

Duration of therapy

An obvious and important question is ‘how many sessions will be necessary?’ There is no easy way of answering this question.

For couple therapy, the average duration of therapy is around 10 to 15 sessions—but there are variations either side of this figure.

For individual therapy, especially if dealing with issues that require personal change of some depth, regular sessions, occasionally fortnightly but more often weekly or twice-weekly, over a period of at least some months, are usually necessary.

Ultimately, you will be the best judge of whether you have achieved the change or growth you are seeking, and of when you are ready to stop therapy.

What will happen in the first session?

In the first session my aim is to obtain an understanding of the problem for which you are seeking help, and then to discuss ways in which I might be able to be of assistance.

If the difficulty concerns a relationship, my preference is to see both partners together for the initial session, and to hear about how each sees the difficulties in the relationship – each partner usually has their own views about this, and I need to hear both perspectives. Then I like to have a separate meeting with each partner, so that I can get to know each of them as an individual, before meeting again for a further joint session.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is of great importance in counselling and psychotherapy. All personal information gathered during the provision of my professional services will remain confidential, except when:

failure to disclose information would place you or another person at serious risk
I (or my records) are subpoenaed by a court
your approval has been obtained to provide a verbal or written report, for example to a GP or a lawyer, or to discuss material with another person such as a relative or employer.

In couple therapy I treat what is said during a session with an individual partner as confidential, and will not discuss this with the other partner or in a joint session. This confidentiality is not binding on the partners, who are of course free to discuss with each other what is said in individual sessions.

Appointments, fees and reports

The duration of a session is 50 minutes. Please note that the last appointment time is 4.30pm, and appointments at 4.30pm are often in high demand: I do not provide weekend or evening appointments. I aim to start sessions on time, but sometimes a short delay is unavoidable: it is therefore best to allow an hour. There is car parking on-site at my practice.

Fees are on a ‘per session’ basis, regardless of whether one person or a couple attend; from January 2010 the fee is $170 per session. Counselling and psychotherapy services are GST exempt; services billed to an Employment Assistance Programme (EAP), are subject to the GST.

Fees are usually not covered by private health insurance – although you may wish to check with your health insurance fund. If you are referred by a GP under a ‘GP Mental Health Care Plan’ or by a Consultant Psychiatrist, you may be able to re-claim part of the fee (for a limited number of sessions) from Medicare.

Cancellations and postponements

A minimum of 24 hours notice is required for a cancellation or postponement. If less than 24 hours notice is given, 50% of the fee may be charged.