Cape Town psychologist

Welcome to Therapyroom.co.za!

By Samuel Waumsley M.A. Clin. Psych.

Samuel Waumsley

Registered Clinical Psychologist | Cape Town

samuelwaumsley@gmail.com

0843502102

Monday: 8am - 5pm

Tuesday: 8am - 5pm

Wednesday: 8am - 2pm

Thursday: 8am - 2pm

Friday: 8am - 2pm

>>Fill in book a session form

Therapy sessions in Cape Town:

Therapy allows you to hear your authentic reflections about life openly and clearly. A focus is on core personal narrative and perspective, and the symptoms that our life journey can bring about in us. In considering mental health matters we seek in psychotherapy to address what our authentic psycho-emotional needs are, and where they may come from. I often work with:

Symptoms of anxiety: Anxiety is associated with the fight, flight, freeze, or friendly! reflex. As human beings we have a strong response to danger and stress that is highly attuned, automatic and that neurochemically is processed faster than we can register the stressor consciously. When one is anxious we can panic and really 'not remain calm' - freezing, rushing, becoming angry or agitated (with ourselves unhelpfully often or others) in high stress situations, sometimes that is chronically activated.
Signs of depression: Depression is arguably at its core a feeling to do with hopelessness or of meaninglessless -experience of the 'existential abyss' if you like. It can involve our sense of self in life and our experience. It can be useful to consider depression as also faintly bringing a challenge to the self. Often there is something wrong in our life, or in our worlds or in our lives before, or in what we were told that is felt deep down that bothers and depresses us. Sometimes we all need help in some form to break free from negative conclusions, cycles and entrapments.

Seeking well-being in life:

Therapy is a place for hearing personal stories that people carry, and finding ways to answer personal wounds and address psychological experience clearly and authentically. How does one respond to life's ups and downs; to rawer moments or to stark feeling? We can respond with attunement to things. And we can seek this deep reflective capacity in life with the help of positive values - like equality and dignity. Sessions are psychodynamic in orientation, also drawing on relational, existential, narrative and gestalt therapy perspectives.

What does therapy do?

There is great depth to the human experience. How can we listen to this more? By being more aware of one's own needs and feelings to start with; next to others' around us, with calm assertiveness and positivity if we can, centered in warm-hearted values. Talk therapy sessions - 50 minute formal discussions - work to allow pertinent issues to surface in the therapeutic space. This can be in a few sessions - or over more. In sessions we try to shift unconscious and conscious feeling by accessing pinch-points in mood, outlook, histories. We seek empowerment through a positive 'existential' appreciation of ourselves and others, as well as of life.

>>Therapy - what to expect:

1. Meeting, history-taking and describing issues at hand.

2. Building understanding around symptoms and challenges.

3. Deeply familiarising ourselves with this dynamic understanding of the issues at play.

4. Sustained focus on day to day life contemplatively and on issues at play, while seeking ways to positively shift outcomes meaningfully.

Experience & services:

Attachment
Anxiety
Brief therapy
Long-term
Depression
Panic attack
Self-esteem
Intergenerational
Implicit relational
Socratic dialogue
Narrative
Reaction
Existentialism
Assertiveness
Adult child and parent sessions
Online therapy
Dream interpretation