How Therapy Changes You: When Something Begins to Return
This is the last part of a four part series grappling with the stages of therapy. Many people come to therapy with very little idea of what meaningful work actually consists of, even when they’ve had therapy before. The Threshold Series is my attempt to explore this process, from recognising that something must change, to […]
Should Therapists Be Moral Authorities? The Rise of Therapy Language in Politics
I’ve been noticing a shift. As therapy language increasingly enters politics, therapists are no longer only seen as clinicians, but as moral voices, people who are expected to interpret events, take positions, and guide others toward what is psychologically “right”. But what happens to the therapeutic stance when psychological insight becomes moral certainty? This raises […]
How Long Does Therapy Take? A Psychotherapist’s Perspective
The Question Most People Ask One of the first questions people ask me when they begin thinking about therapy is a practical one: how long does therapy take, and how many sessions might they need? It’s a reasonable question. Starting therapy involves time, emotional commitment, and financial investment, so it’s natural to want some sense […]
Why Therapy Feels Worse Before It Gets Better: The Psychological Desert
This essay forms the third part of a four-part series on psychological thresholds: The Desert Phase of Psychological Change. In the previous essay, I explored why psychological thresholds are so difficult to cross. Here I turn to what can happen when we remain there long enough, and what may begin to return. The first experience […]
Looking For an English-Speaking Therapist in Berlin? What Actually Matters
Many of the people who contact me are unsure what they are looking for as they begin searching for an English-speaking therapist in Berlin. The process can feel surprisingly opaque. I hope to offer some orientation here, to make it more navigable. Berlin offers no shortage of therapists who work in English. A brief search […]
When Certain Interpretations Become Unspeakable
I recently attended a webinar on case formulation in therapy led by a senior clinician whose work I respect. What stayed with me was not just the psychodynamics of the case, but a parallel process in the group that seemed to reflect a broader cultural difficulty. What happens to clinical thinking when certain observations become […]
Staying With What Is: Why Psychological Thresholds Are Difficult to Cross
This is the second part of a four-part series inspired by a shared feeling that we are standing on a threshold. In my January essay, Crossing the Threshold, I explored the psychological thresholds and mythic dimensions of this moment. Here, I look more closely at why thresholds are so difficult to cross, and what may […]
Psychotherapy is Not Neutral Work
”No-one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human breast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed.” Sigmund Freud On the 19th January, 2026 Rebecca White, a 44 year old therapist was murdered in her office in Orange County, Florida. […]
Therapy at the Threshold: Depth Psychotherapy in the Age of AI, Avoidance, and Lost Meaning
The passage from one cycle to another can only take place in darkness–René Guénon As I write this, half of my city sits in darkness, beginning the new year as collateral in a political attack directed at the wealthy. It is January, and the prevailing mood is one of vulnerability. Since Covid in particular, each […]
Is Therapy Due a Correction? The Boom, the Drift, and the Coming Reset in Therapy Culture
Every industry that grows too fast forgets what made it valuable. Therapy is no exception. A recent article in The Cut exposed and criticised Internal Family Systems, or IFS, a therapeutic approach that has gone from niche to mainstream in record time. I’d always thought of it as harmless, even interesting, but reading those accounts […]