Mark De Freitas

I have worked as a counsellor and psychotherapist with children and adults since 2001. My abilities as a therapist have benefited greatly from working in NHS, Clinical Psychology, Education, Workplace and Substance Misuse settings. I have experience of helping people with an extensive range of issues. My approach is evidence based, on research from psychology and neuroscience. I will help you develop the skills that the research shows to be effective in untangling ourselves from emotional distress.

My aim is to develop an open, trusting and collaborative therapeutic relationship with you. To help you develop the practical skills to reduce your negative emotions and to direct your life towards greater personal fulfillment, replacing limiting life patterns with greater harmony with yourself and others.

I offer long or short term therapy. I also offer Anxiety Management, for more information about this please scroll down to the Any Further Information section. And for more information about DBT, please scroll down to the Other Areas section.

For as long as I can remember I have been intrigued by the age old question of, how do we create a happy and fulfilling life? I believe that neurosciences study of the relationship between the brain and the mind have provided the most convincing answers to this most enduring of questions. These new discoveries have helped us to realise that many of the things we do to improve the quality of our lives don’t actually help, and in the long term they often make things worse. This goes some way in explaining why many people spend years trying to improve the quality of their lives without success. In our attempts to live better we all too often unknowingly do the wrong things, although for the right reasons.

My approach is based on what neuroscience has revealed about how to live happier more fulfilling lives. I will help you learn the practical skills that clinical trials have shown to have positive and lasting effects on our mental health. The aim of my work isn’t solely to reduce negative emotions, but help direct you towards greater life fulfillment. I believe living well isn’t solely the reduction of suffering but also feeling fulfilled.

Because our mental well-being is so intimately connected to our physical well-being, these changes can help us maintain our physical as well as our mental health. By reducing toxic stress that has a negative effect on both the body and the mind, helping restore our natural body rhythms of sleep, appetite and recovery.

I will support you to develop the necessary skills to overcome your personal difficulties. Working together we will bridge the gap between where you find yourself in life, and where you would want to be. As your therapist, I will support you in developing the necessary skills for life to flow more naturally. Therapy is an opportunity for you to develop greater clarity of mind, to see through the psychological fog, which will enable you to see how to establish the life you want for yourself. Therapy is a space within which you can find greater personal freedom.

Appointments.

I will usual arrange an initial appointment with you, either in person or on the phone. This is an opportunity for us to discuss your reasons for seeking therapy, and to see if we both feel that I am the right therapist for you to work with. Following our initial appointment we will usually agree a s schedule of appointment. The usually pattern for appointments is to meet weekly, on the same day and time each week. We will periodically review our work together and assess how we are progressing. Therapy normal ends when we both feel the time is right.

I initially trained as an Integrative therapist, training in Cognitive Behavioural (CBT), Humanistic and Psychodynamic therapies. My therapeutic approach is Existential/Humanistic. The focus of which isn’t solely to alleviate the difficult aspects of life, but to make life happier, richer and more fulfilling. To find a way for you to live with greater purpose and direction.

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), is a type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(CBT). DBT is used to help people develop a set of skills that research shows to help improve a wide range of behavioural and psychological issues. DBT can be used to help with mood disorders, such as, anxiety, anger or depression. DBT is effective in helping people who experience problematic habitual behaviours, such as, substance misuse, OCD, eating disorders or self harming. DBT can also be used to help those experiencing relationship difficulties. DBT is effective because it focuses on developing skills associated with health and well-being, as opposed to merely symptom reduction. DBT is a very practical system of working to resolve personal difficulties.

£50 Therapy session.

My areas of special interest are working with stress and anxiety disorders such as: Anxiety, low mood, panic attacks, general anxiety disorders, OCD, phobias, work related stress, sleep disorders, eating disorder, health issues, and addiction.

Stress is the bodies’ natural response to feeling under pressure. It is useful in motivating us to achieve what life requires of us at home, work and in the other areas of our lives. Unfortunately, in excess it can have the reverse affect making us feel anxious, which is harmful to our well-being.

In therapy I will help you to understand the cause of your stress and how to manage your anxiety. You will develop practical skills with which you can reverse the damaging effects of your anxiety. This will enable you to live with greater peace of mind and restore balance to your body and mind.

Although anxiety is made up of the same component parts, we each experience it in our own unique way. The degree to which we experience the different recognizable components is often used as a guide to categorising types of anxiety, such as OCD, phobias or work related stress.

Anxiety affects our body while simultaneously affecting us emotionally, psychologically and behaviourally. When we feel anxious it affects all aspects of our being and our ability to function. If we experience frequent anxiety it can have a profound affect on the quality of our lives.

The physical affects of anxiety can disturb our sleep pattern and appetite, and in the long term may lead, to conditions like Insomnia and digestive problems, lack of appetite, sickness and IBS. The physical affects of anxiety can also make us feel tired or lethargic. Some people feel restless when they are anxious which can lead to exhaustion, which is a common feature of Work Related Stress.

The emotional aspects of anxiety can make us feel insecure, uncomfortable, overwhelmed, or threatened. This can lead to changes in our behaviour, such as Social Anxiety, when we avoid anxiety provoking social situations. Or compulsive behaviours (OCD) were we repeat certain behaviours in a futile attempt to manage our anxiety. We can experience Health Anxiety, the persistent concerns about our or other people’s health, which can lead to excessive hygiene rituals, research about health conditions and unnecessary medical appointments.

The psychological affect or General Anxiety, can make us worry excessively, have intrusive thoughts, and find ourselves unable to let go. This can lead people to blame themselves for how they feel and can result in Low-Self-Esteem or Depression or Depressive Anxiety, which is a combination of feeling sad and anxious.

The behavioural aspect of anxiety can lead to us trying to avoid the unpleasant affects of anxiety through avoidant behaviours or Addiction to alcohol or drug misuse. Or engaging in other excessive avoidant behaviours like over eating, phone use, shopping or gambling.