Banah Psychotherapy

Welcome to Banah Psychotherapy. My name is Jane Harris and I am an integrative psychotherapist specialising in working with people with chronic illnesses and long-term health conditions. I Have a particular interest in M.E, Long Covid and Fibromyalgia. I offer therapy online or by phone. 

Living with a physical health condition or disability can be very stressful and debilitating. As someone who has suffered from a chronic illness for more than 20 years, I understand the emotional impact that a physical health problem can bring. Some of the things you may be feeling include:

• Frustration that you can’t do the things you want to do and see other people doing
• Embarrassment or shame about your symptoms 
• Anxiety about engaging in activity and the potential impact on symptoms
• Grief over the many losses you are experiencing or have experienced as a result of your condition or disability – health, friends, employment, social life, hobbies etc. 
• Social isolation and loneliness
• Feeling misunderstood by friends, family, society and the medical profession
• Stressed and anxious regarding dealing with the welfare benefits system
• Depressed and hopeless – wondering if life will ever get better

So how can psychotherapy help?

‘Banah’ is a Hebrew word meaning ‘to build’. I chose this name for my psychotherapy practice because I really like the concept of building people up, especially people who may be feeling broken down as a result of their illness or disability. Psychotherapy can help to build; - 

Hope

When you are suffering from a condition for which there may be no known cure, life can feel pretty hopeless. This is often because we lack the sense that we have any control over our condition. Particularly when newly diagnosed or even if we have been suffering from a condition for some time, we can struggle to come to terms with it. However, acceptance is the first step in moving forward and psychotherapy can help with this by allowing you the space to process your thoughts and feelings about your condition and grieve the losses associated with it. 

Psychotherapy can then help to increase our sense of psychological control over our condition and our life with it. This may be through learning different ways of viewing symptoms, learning relaxation techniques to reduce stress or learning strategies for dealing with difficult relationships and ways of getting our needs met. 

Wellbeing

Psychotherapy can also help to increase our psychological wellbeing and this in turn can make us feel more hopeful about the future. There are many ways to increase psychological wellbeing. Some things we might do include; -

• Helping you to maximise your energy by balancing activity and rest so you avoid ‘boom and bust’ cycles of overactivity/crashing,
• Teaching you relaxation and coping strategies
• Helping you to identify your wants and needs and increasing your confidence and ability to get them met. 

Purpose

Psychotherapy can help you to develop a new lease of life and sense of purpose, even in the midst of a debilitating health condition. This may involve helping you to discover your values and what things bring you life and helping you to find ways of including these activities in your life, even in small amounts if necessary. Having a sense of purpose has been linked to increased psychological wellbeing. 

Can psychotherapy improve my physical health condition?

Research is increasingly showing how stress plays a large part in making physical health conditions worse. Psychotherapy can help in lots of ways to reduce psychological stress and therefore may reduce some symptoms if they are exacerbated by stress (however, it is important to state that psychotherapy is not a cure for physical health problems and there is no guarantee that improvement in symptoms will occur). 

Do I have to only talk about my health condition?

Not at all. I believe that anything that is bothering you or causing you distress is relevant. It is likely that your health condition impacts (and is impacted by) many other aspects of your life such as relationships, work, finances etc.

I specialise in working with chronic illness and long-term health conditions, but am happy to work with anything that you want to bring which may be impacting on your health condition or which your health condition impacts on. 

I offer an initial free 15-20 minute consultation so you can see if you feel I am someone you would like to work with. Regular sessions last for 50 minutes.