Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, compulsions, and rage can point or pull people in directions that their soul needs in order to move into health and vitality.

In its Greek origins, the word psychotherapy comes from psyche + therapeia and means tending soul/spirit. In a depth psychological approach, client and therapist explore unconscious contents of the psyche. We look beyond the outer problematic behavior and thoughts to become familiar with the inner world.

Via analysis and imagination, meaning and direction can be gleaned from symptoms, synchronicities, dreams, associations, fantasies, and spontaneous images.

QUOTES

“What door is opened into soul through our wounds?”
– James Hillman, Re-Visioning Psychology

“Psychological health is not merely the absence of symptoms; it is the positive presence of inner capacities and resources that allow people to live life with a greater sense of freedom and possibility.”
– Jonathan Shedler

“the essence of this work can be expressed as facilitating a relationship to suffering that helps one bear it in a new way”
– Kara Swedlow, MA, LMFT

Empathic therapy is “Walking with another person into the deepest chambers of his soul.” – Rollo May