Therapy for anxiety, stress & low mood in Bendigo
As a Master’s-qualified narrative therapist and registered counsellor based in Bendigo, I often work with people who have found that shorter-term or infrequent talk therapy did not provide enough relief from persistent worry, fear or depressive moods. The therapy and understanding I offer is curious about where symptoms come from rather than just managing them. I work with people weekly, providing space for gradual but steady change. My practice is evidence-based, meaning I reflect critically on what evidence-based psychotherapy practice means.
Beyond labels: Anxiety and depression
A collaborative therapeutic approach
A GP, psychiatrist or psychologist may have provided you with a diagnosis of anxiety or depression.
Although I may explore what diagnostic labels mean to you, I do not diagnose people. That said, I don’t work without direction. Importantly, I prefer to get to know people through mutual exploration of the problem they bring, and then I discuss how the psychotherapy I provide may help.
If, for a long time, you have felt persistent inner turmoil, Narrative Therapy and a psychodynamic understanding offer a way of exploring and making sense of such terrains.
I come from the stance that people’s internal struggles are deeply individual and shaped by life experiences as well as culture, family systems, and groups we are in, but may not feel, we belong to.
Instead of just labelling or trying to banish feelings of inner terror or dark thoughts, therapy is about making sense of who we are, giving space to speak in our own voice about what frightens us, and what takes our joy away.
The therapy I provide is grounded in the two of us collaborating and thinking together. My main training in narrative therapy and a psychodynamic understanding of how we develop and attach to others guides my practice:
Narrative therapy for anxiety and depression cares about exploring the relationship with labels, the judgment and stories of others influencing what you think and your own implicit strengths and knowledge.
Psychodynamic understanding with emphasis on the therapeutic relationship, and becoming connected to yourself and others, understanding how patterns of anxiety or low mood may have taken root.
Anxiety: Understanding where it comes from
There are many kinds of anxiety that a person can feel, and you may have your own metaphor for what anxiety feels like.
A colloquial, often-used description of anxiety is feeling like the other shoe is about to drop. Another metaphor for anxiety may be that you are falling perpetually, as if there is an abyss below you and no one will catch you. I think of this type of anxiety as terror.
This terror is sometimes explained in psychodynamic thinking as something that happened before we had words for it; hence it’s not easily addressed with willful thinking, nor can we intellectualise ourselves out of it.
Importantly, we are not on a fact-finding mission. Although anxiety may sometimes stem from relational trauma or neglect with taproots in our early history, we aim to work with how anxiety presents in your life now
Depression: What is underneath the label
You may have had dark night of the soul thoughts for a long time, or a sudden life change or significant life transition has brought on what has sat in the background as a subtle, difficult-to-describe feeling of numbness or hopelessness.
Anxiety and depressive symptoms I help people with
Persistent inner turmoil: Feeling like the other shoe is about to drop, or navigating a perpetual sense of terror.
Numbness and hopelessness: A perpetual, subtle, difficult-to-describe feeling of emptiness.
Chronic stress and overwhelm: When intellectual thinking or willful strategies fail to calm your internal sea of emotion.
The shame of feeling anxious and low: Despite being perceived as competent at work and other areas of life as a professional.
The one who keeps going: You may not be flat on the floor, but you keep yourself busy by helping others and may collapse when things are quiet. If you are a helper or helping professional, this may be related to your work persona.
Why therapy takes time
You might have come here with a sense of hopelessness and feel that even therapy is futile and something you cannot do right. Finding hope and then solid ground may take some time. Particularly if your struggles have lasted a lifetime.
Over time, what is difficult to formulate may gradually become less formless and easier to deal with. Even for darker shapeless things that have troubled you for a long time and dragged you under.
Get in touch with Throughline Counselling
Whether you’d like a call back for a brief talk or have a specific question, feel free to get in touch.
There is no charge for a brief initial conversation.
No need to share sensitive information by form, if we decide to meet in person or via telehealth, I set aside the first three sessions to understand more about what you’re going through.
You can read more about me and how I work before you reach out.
Warmly
Frederikke
E: frederikke@throughlinecounselling.com
M: 0427 043 171