Paola Filotico - Clinical Psychologist

We are going through unusual times, and the challenges to our mental health are as important as those to our physical health. As a Clinical Psychologist with 13 years of experience, both in the public and the private sector, and with experience in Psychology of Emergency, I can help you cope with difficulties old and new.

Sometimes life throws unexpected events at us and we find it hard to cope. Sometimes everything seems to be well, and still, we are unhappy. There are times when we feel haunted by our past, and times when we just don’t understand some parts of ourselves - thoughts, emotions, or even physical pain. It can all feel like an overwhelming blur.

It is hard to face such inner struggles: perhaps we have never been taught that it is possible to take care of our mind, or perhaps we were never given the necessary tools to do so. We can learn, and I will help you deal with the journey, so to make sense of your experience, and find new directions and meaning.

My focus is on understanding your problems in the context of your unique experience as a human being; clinical labelling can be done if you wish so, but it will not be my priority.

Among other problems, I can help if you are struggling with any of the following:

• Sadness
• Difficulty dealing with uncertainty
• Loss of pleasure in things
• Self-accusation and self-blame
• Being in physical pain without an apparent medical reason
• Frequent feelings of shame and guilt
• Sleep problems
• Irritation without knowing why
• Feeling emotionally affected by political uncertainty
• Worrying about the climate crisis
• Difficulty being with others
• Worrying a lot
• Fear of the future
• Not seeing the point in life
• Being exhausted without knowing why
• Having many unpleasant and disturbing thoughts that you can’t get rid of
• Feeling that you are losing control
• Being unhappy with your appearance
• Worrying a lot about your health
• Preoccupation around eating
• Anxiety related to coronavirus and Covid-19

I created an ad-hoc intervention to help you deal with lockdown and related problems: boredom, anxiety, engagement with your work, difficulty to focus, tensions with partner and family. Techniques for Resilience is a 3-session training in emotional and intellectual skills that will help you thrive under these extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

At the moment I only engage with clients online and over the phone. I have a long experience with virtual therapy, having engaged with roughly half my clients in this way for many years now. When intervention techniques are properly adapted to a different context, virtual therapy is as effective and engaging as it is in-person, but it does pose its own challenges: for example, it can be difficult to talk to your therapist when you have your family around, or you might be afraid that it would be hard to build a proper therapeutic relationship without meeting in person. I will be happy to discuss any doubts or fear you might have around virtual engagement during an initial free call, and tailor my intervention to your needs. I have clients from different countries in the world, so I keep flexible hours.

The Techniques for Resilience psycho-education course is structured as follows:

First session: Dealing with yourself

Second session: Dealing with your work

Third session: Dealing with others

What to expect when you get in touch

It can be difficult to decide whether someone is the right person to help us, even more so in times of distress: be in touch for a 20 minutes free telephone consultation, or via email, to discuss your difficulties, and see how we can move forward. This is by no means a commitment to initiate therapy, just an opportunity to ask any questions that you may have.

As a Clinical Psychologist, I am trained in various evidence based therapeutic approaches that I can use ad hoc during your therapy, depending on your needs. I like to have a collaborative attitude and to have you actively involved in your treatment if you wish to be.

If after the initial consultation you decide to continue working with me, we can arrange an assessment. This can take one or two sessions, depending on the nature of your difficulties and your history, and it will give us a chance to know what we want to work on and make an initial plan. Depending on your problems and preferences, we can focus on a specific issue and agree on a set number of sessions, or we can consider therapy as an open-ended, existential process, with an explorative focus. As therapy is a process of change, plans around it can change too, so we will regularly review them according to your needs: for example, an initially long-term therapy could become shorter, and vice versa.

I offer therapy in English and Italian.