Dr Zach Vogiatzis

You might be struggling with anxiety, depression, loneliness or just a feeling of being stuck. You might be experiencing relationship issues or work-related stress. You might be suffering from low self-esteem or low-confidence. You might have developed unhealthy coping mechanisms such as overeating, drinking or exercising too much. Individual therapy provides you with an understanding of the origins of these difficulties and the tools to navigate your life as you develop better coping mechanisms and skills that alleviate suffering.

I am an experienced Chartered Psychologist and an expert in talking therapies, offering private psychological therapy in-person and online. I have years of training in a range of psychological therapies that address the full scope of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Providing a compassionate approach grounded in evidence, I offer you the most effective psychological therapy, tailor-made to match your unique needs and difficulties.

Having worked as a clinician for several years, I have widespread experience in the NHS and third-sector services and have treated from mild to moderate to severe and long-term mental health conditions. I have specialist training in the most up-to-date evidence based psychological therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) and Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). My rigorous training and experience in leading NHS Trusts and my personal commitment to my profession mean that my clients can be confident that they are receiving the highest standard of care.

For more information about my training and clinical experience you can visit my website https://thepsychologyclinics.co.uk

If you would like to arrange an appointment you can contact me by email (dr.zach@thepsychologyclinics.co.uk) or by using the contact form on this page.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

CBT is a talking therapy that aims to help people understand that the way they think affects how they feel and consequently how they behave. It also focuses how in turn their behaviour affects the way they think and feel. In other words, in CBT, a cognitive (evaluating your thoughts) and a behavioural approach (evaluating your behaviours) are combined to assist people in managing their problems in the present. Depending on the problem identified, a particular emphasis might be given to a cognitive or a behavioural approach in the sessions. For example, if you are struggling with a condition that triggers unhelpful behaviours (such as checking or cleaning rituals in obsessive-compulsive disorder), CBT therapy will mainly address the behavioural patterns.

Thereby, CBT operates under the premise that, by changing the way we think or behave when faced with a particular problem/situation, we can alter the way we feel. This model of therapy identifies negative thought patterns and/or behaviours, with the view to challenging them and creating more realistic ones. For example, if after a break-up you believe that ‘I’m a failure in relationships’, then you may feel anxious and low and start to withdraw. This behaviour, in turn, can lead to feelings of sadness and anxiety and consequently you avoid going out and meeting new people.

This vicious cycle of thoughts, feelings and behaviours can lead to isolation and increased feelings of unhappiness. Rather than accepting this negative thought pattern, CBT will help you to identify alternative ways of responding in order to disrupt this negative cycle. Instead of thinking that ‘I’m a failure in relationships’, you can choose to think about what has not worked out in this particular relationship, learn from it and move on. Thinking this way may lead to positive feelings and higher confidence, which can help you to open up to the possibility of meeting new people.

Unlike some other therapies, CBT is mostly embedded in the present. Whereas past events and experiences are taken into consideration, the main focus remains on current difficulties. CBT is usually a short-term therapy model varying from six weeks to six months.

What is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)?

EMDR is a unique, evidence-based, psychological treatment model designed to process overwhelming feelings, thoughts and images associated with memories of traumatic events. EMDR was initially developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma. However, recent clinical research has shown that EMDR can be effective for any psychological disorders where disturbing memories are central such as panic disorder, phobias, complicated grief, performance anxiety and OCD.

During EMDR treatment, thoughts, emotions, memories, images and sensations associated with the traumatic experience are processed through bilateral eye movements. More specifically, the therapist uses a hand motion technique to guide the client’s eye movements from side to side, similar to watching a pendulum swing. This helps the client to remain anchored in the here-and-now whilst processing the effects of the traumatic memory. Thereby, thoughts and feelings that are associated with the traumatic event are replaced with more positive ones which in turn decrease overall distress and enhance emotional well-being.

Overall EMDR therapy aims to:

• Reduce the impact of the traumatic memories
• Help you to reduce levels of stress, anxiety and hypervigilance
• Reduce feelings of isolation, hopelessness and depression
• Help you to cope with day-to-day routine better and regain normality in your life
• Increase enjoyment and pleasure in your activities and relationships
• Increase self-esteem and confidence

What can I expect if I receive EMDR?

• We will agree on key traumatic memories that you want to work on
• There will be some repetition of this process which is part of the reprocessing experience
• I will continue to work with you and focus on specific memories until the intense affect associated with them has decreased

EMDR can significantly accelerate the healing process after a traumatic experience. The number of sessions required will depend to the complexity of the psychological difficulties being dealt with. In general, the more isolated the traumatic memory being treated, the shorter the treatment tends to be. EMDR is designed to be used as a stand-alone process, but can also be effectively integrated with other therapeutic approaches.

What is Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)?

DIT is a structured, short-term, individual therapy. DIT targets specifically symptoms of anxiety and depression and helps to improve how people function in their relationships. More specifically, it aims to increase people’s awareness on their current emotional difficulties, such as anxiety and depression, and how they are linked with what is going on in their relationships. DIT focuses on identifying and addressing problematic interpersonal patterns that may be traced back to early relationships and are repeated in current ones.

DIT could help you develop healthier ways of being in, as well as coping with, important relationships in your life. The main principle of this therapy model suggests that psychological distress overall dissipates when people are able to address relationship issues more effectively.

With the DIT approach, you’ll be actively encouraged to reflect on what you think and feel about yourself and others, aiming to enhance your awareness of your interpersonal difficulties. This new awareness will help you to identify problematic relationship patterns, which in turn could support you in addressing them more effectively while, at the same time, relieving your symptoms of distress and enhancing your interpersonal functioning.

What is Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)?

Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy is an accelerated form of psychodynamic therapy that enables the rapid resolution of a wide-range of emotional disorders. ISTDP is an evidence-based psychotherapy that is strongly supported by contemporary clinical research findings. ISTDP techniques are particularly designed to resolve depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms among other disorders, as well as treat an array of self-defeating patterns and behaviours, many of which originate from troubled or unstable early life attachments.

What is Psychodynamic Therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy encompasses the work of all analytic therapeutic models, from the classical Freudian psychoanalysis to contemporary analytic models such as relational psychoanalysis. Psychodynamic therapy has been clinically applied to a wide spectrum of psychological disorders with a wealth of research supporting its effectiveness.

The core principle of the psychodynamic approach asserts that current emotional difficulties may have their origins in early experiences. It suggests that unresolved past experiences and conflicts remain in the unconscious and can influence one’s behaviours and relationships in the present. Therefore, it aims to bring unconscious experiences into consciousness, helping the individual to develop deeper insight and awareness of deep-rooted feelings and memories that can influence their behaviour and relationships. Exploring one’s thoughts and feelings about past and present experiences as well as the connection between them enables unresolved conflicts and distressing symptoms to be processed.

Psychodynamic therapy can be particularly helpful, but not limited to, with deeper-seated issues such as:

• Bereavement and loss
• Chronic stress and anxiety
• Low self-esteem and low confidence
• Persistent depression
• Recurrent emotional and/or behavioural problems
• Relationship difficulties

Psychodynamic therapy can also be very useful to people who are curious about themselves and how they operate in relationships. Therefore, psychodynamic therapy can be beneficial and lead to increased self-awareness and confidence, better relationships and a greater ability to manage stress.

Fees: £120 per 50 minutes session. Please note that my fees are benchmarked against other similarly trained psychologists.

I am registered with most health insurance providers such as AETNA, AVIVA, AXA, BUPA, CIGNA GLOBAL, VITALITY & WPA.

As with all psychologists I require notice of cancellations in order to avoid a charge. The cancellation policy is 48 hours for the initial appointment, and seven days for ongoing sessions.

Therapy sessions are 50 minutes long and occur once weekly at the same time and location unless otherwise agreed.

Email me at dr.zach@thepsychologyclinics.co.uk to arrange a consultation today. For more information you can visit my website http://www.thepsychologyclinics.co.uk