Geraldine Lothian
Psychodynamic Psychotherapist
The couples I work with often arrive having had the same argument many times over. They know each other's lines. They know where it ends. What tends to be most tiring is not the fight itself but the sense that neither of them can see what is really going on.
I pay attention to what happens between you in the room. Not only what is said, but the particular shape of the exchange. The moment one of you pulls back. The topic that makes the air change. The words one of you uses about the other that carry something older than the relationship itself. That is where the dynamic lives, and where it can begin to shift.
The thinking behind the work is psychodynamic. It assumes that what shapes our current relationships is rarely only current. The patterns we fall into with a partner almost always carry something from much earlier, often from the family we grew up in. Making that visible is slow work, but it changes what the two of you are actually arguing about.
I trained in psychodynamic theory and practice at WPF Therapy, and I hold a COSRT Level 5 certificate in couple and relationship therapy. I am registered with the BACP, the UKCP (Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis College), and the Foundation for Psychotherapy and Counselling, and I am a member of the Black, African and Asian Therapist Network. I am currently completing advanced specialist training in couples psychotherapy at Tavistock Relationships, accredited by the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC). All of my couples work is conducted under close clinical supervision by senior practitioners at Tavistock Relationships.
Culture is rarely separate from the rest of what happens between a couple. Class, race, faith, migration, family expectation. These are not add-ons to a relationship; they shape the terms on which it was formed. I try to hold that in mind from the first session, so that it can be named rather than worked around.
If you would like to talk about whether this kind of work might fit for you, you can get in touch through the contact form below.
Couples therapy in Oxford Circus and South East London
Geraldine sees couples in person at two locations: Oxford Circus in central London, and South East London. Sessions are fifty minutes, held on Monday evenings and Thursday evenings at Oxford Circus; Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday mornings in South East London. If you are looking for couples therapy, marriage counselling, or relationship counselling in central London or South East London, this is where that work happens.
The approach is psychodynamic. That is explained more fully in the bio above and on the how we work page.