ADAM CLAYTON MA MUKCP
Soulful and Compassionate Therapy,
Alwoodley, North Leeds
In-person & Online
When thoughts and feelings become burdens & How Therapy can help
Distress doesn't have to be a life sentence
I offer Relational Integrative Psychotherapy in North Leeds. As you wonder about how working together might be able to help- I invite you to take some time with some of the invisible burdens you carry.
We often mistake our most painful patterns for our core personality. We tell ourselves 'that's just who I am', or it's 'just in my nature'. But often, these pervasive feelings are not your 'birth right' or a 'life sentence'- they are markers of psychological distress that have been asking for attention for a long time.
Below are some of the convictions we often hold about ourselves. As you read them, be gentle with yourself, you might find your throat tightening, or your chest feeling heavy or your breathing changing. Try and keep your feet grounded as you read them slowly or ask someone you trust to sit with you. Part of the distress you feel is your body and nervous system reacting to being seen and heard.
Afterwards, I'd encourage you to look at my page on The Wisdom of the Body to explore how I help you work with the somatic markers of distress and past misattunement.
Do you recognise any of these voices?
I feel sadness and regret
I feel empty
I'm such a perfectionist
I always sabotage myself
I always push people away
I feel fake or false
I'm so clumsy and incompetent
Everyone always relies on me
I feel guilty and ashamed
I feel trapped
I have no sense of meaning
I have no ambition
I always treat other people badly
I can't make decisions
I can't set boundaries
I feel like an imposter
No one understands me
I don't belong
I'm internally blocked
I'm lifeless
I see threats and danger everywhere
I'm always flooded and overwhelmed
My heart is always heavy
I don't feel real
This always happens to me
Nothing will ever change
Messages like these can feel like they are constantly circulating in our heads, hearts and bodies. Many of these experiences are signals of nervous system dysregulation or engrained attachment patterns from our earlier lives. In our sessions, we might explore these through psychodynamic or integrative therapy, working with the roots of burnout, dissociation, or the feeling that you 'don't feel real.'
The most difficult sensation is often the belief and conviction that there is something fundamentally wrong with us. Shame is often the hidden and debilitating feel which blocks liea and connection, with other people, with our own capacity for self-compassion. Therapy is often a gradual process whereby you test out whether those shamed parts of yourself can be held and accepted. My own journey of training and personal therapy means that I know the paramount importance of dealing gently with wounds that have been carried silently for many years.
In our time together, I won't try and silence these parts of you, neither will I rush you to reveal your inner self too quickly. Instead we'll acknowledge that these are very common, very human experiences. By sitting with them in the presence of a supportive other, you can begin to untangle the 'fate' of your past from the potential of your future. In this quiet and tender way, change can begin. If this sounds like an environment where you could begin to be 'gentle with yourself' why not explore more about my practice:
My homepage
More about Adam
How Therapy Helps with connecting Mind, Body and Feelings
How I use Dreams, Imagery and Creativity to connect to your 'True Self'
Why long-term therapy offers something different to manualised approaches like CBT
FAQ
If you would like to share some of the burdens that you carry and explore where they might originate then consider booking an initial consultation to discover how Psychotherapy could help. You'll be very welcome at my North Leeds office or to connect via secure online working.
Warm wishes, Adam
