Welcome
Based in Edinburgh, I offer psychoanalysis and psychotherapy to individuals who would like to resolve the difficulties that may prevent them from enjoying fulfilling relationships and rewarding lives.
For people living beyond easy reach of Edinburgh, I offer sessions online via Zoom.
Faced with feelings that might be confusing and even frightening, we can feel very alone. Psychoanalysis offers support in finding our way forward in life. This can be particularly helpful if we are stuck or repeat painful patterns of behaviour.
In psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, we begin to really understand ourselves and these insights can free us to function better and find new solutions.
A crisis or a painful life predicament often brings people to analysis. However, analysis can also be very helpful in addressing lingering dissatisfaction or disappointment, or a chronic sense of stress and unhappiness.
About me
I trained in psychoanalysis with the Institute of Psychoanalysis (British Psychoanalytical Society); and previously with the Scottish Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists. I am bound by the British Psychoanalytic Council’s Code of Ethics and committed to maintaining its high standards.
Having been in private practice since 1997, I have a great deal of experience in working with people from around the world, a range of professional and personal backgrounds, and many varied, complex life situations.
Member, Institute of Psychoanalysis
Member, British Psychoanalytical Society
Member, European Psychoanalytic Federation
Member, International Psychoanalytical Association
Member, Scottish Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists
Registrant of the British Psychoanalytic Council
Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy
Many people find that psychoanalysis and psychotherapy are helpful in making fundamental changes to the way they feel about themselves, how they interact in relationships and how they experience life.
Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy offer a safe space in which you can talk openly about your difficulties and, together with the help of your analyst/therapist, understand the origin of your struggles and find better and healthier ways of living. This can offer relief and bring a sense of new possibility.
It can often be surprising to see how heavily our present life choices are influenced by events in our early lives. As we become aware of these connections between the past and the present, we are less limited by our history and can move forward in new ways.
The experience of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy can be powerful and life-changing in improving mental health, overcoming personal and relational problems and fulfilling your potential.
Psychoanalysis is an intensive treatment which entails attending fifty-minute sessions four or five times a week. Psychoanalytic treatment usually lasts several years.
Psychotherapy varies in terms of number of sessions each week. Some people will just attend one session each week; others will meet two or three times each week.
Sessions take place in my consulting room in Edinburgh. For people living beyond easy reach of Edinburgh and unable to attend in-person, I offer sessions online via Zoom.
Here is a brief description from the Institute of Psychoanalysis:
"Psychoanalysis is a highly effective psychological treatment that improves the lives of many people.
There are times in all our lives when our emotions feel overwhelming and we can even become unwell with a mental health problem. Having psychoanalytic treatment can help us to better understand ourselves and to work through our difficulties.
Psychoanalytic treatment consists of meeting with an analyst on a regular basis for sessions that last fifty minutes. This stable, confidential structure gives you and your analyst the chance to connect with and understand what is happening at a deeper level. By being so generous with time, attention and thought, psychoanalytic therapy can bring about authentic and lasting change, even when working with substantial emotional difficulties.
At the heart of psychoanalysis is the recognition that our complex and often unconscious emotional life is a fundamental part of being human. Sometimes we don’t understand the beliefs and fears that shape our way of looking at and living in the world, as they have become ingrained and automatic. We can find ourselves repeating destructive behaviours, feeling stuck in unhappy relationships and stunting our emotional, creative and professional development.
Psychoanalysis can significantly diminish psychological suffering and improve our health and wellbeing, opening up our capacity for greater fulfilment in life."
Areas of Help
Here are some examples of areas where psychoanalysis and psychotherapy can be very helpful:
Mental health struggles such as anxiety, depression, psychosis and suicidality
Eating disorders
Sexual difficulties
Self-destructive and self-sabotaging behaviours
Problems with family relationships
A pattern of painful or unsatisfactory relationships
Trauma
Low self-esteem
Psychosomatic conditions
Being bullied and abused
Divorce
Bereavement
Anxieties, disappointments or conflicts at work
Feeling you are not fulfilling your potential
Chronic feelings of unhappiness
Struggles with motivation and lack of purpose
Personal Development
The benefits of psychoanalysis extend well beyond easing suffering. The process is innately creative and freeing, bringing a sense of inner enrichment, aliveness and fresh possibilities.
Amid the stresses and strains of modern life and the repetitive pressures of career and family, parts of ourselves can get quietly buried away and remain unexpressed. Some people experience this as a vague sense of dissatisfaction, a feeling of something missing in life; others may feel they are not fulfilling their potential or that they are living life on half-burn.
Psychoanalysis is a place where our forgotten or neglected selves can have a voice and come alive, adding new dimensions to our lives. This process is usually both moving and enlivening.
Psychoanalysis is also a space where the fundamental questions about oneself and one’s life can be explored. Engaging in this exploration can be very satisfying.
Beginning
The initial consultation gives us the opportunity to gain a basic picture of what you might be seeking help with. We will also be able to explore whether psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy might be an appropriate and useful intervention. This first session takes 90 minutes.
We will often need one or two further meetings to continue our exploratory discussions. These initial sessions offer you a taste of psychoanalytic thinking and can help you decide if this feels right for you. These subsequent sessions last 50 minutes.
If we agree to embark upon analysis or therapy, we would arrange a format for working together - how many sessions a week; fees and payment; and a schedule for sessions.
The frequency of sessions and the duration of treatment can vary. Both of these depend on individual circumstances and what would feel helpful. There is no such thing as a "standard" treatment; it is always tailored to each person's specific needs.
Psychotherapy
Some people feel they would like to meet once-weekly, or for two or three sessions each week, in order to talk through their thoughts, feelings and difficulties. They may feel this is the right amount of support they wish for. There might also be practical considerations of time and money.
Psychoanalysis
Psychotherapy might not be sufficient, particularly if there has been a great deal of struggle or distress. There might be a need for more support, more time for in-depth help and understanding. Here, analysis would be recommended, which entails meeting four or five times a week.
The time and space offered by several sessions a week can facilitate a deeper exploration of yourself and your life, your unconscious and its influence, and its myriad manifestations which include dreams and fantasies.
This is both a very supportive and also very creative process, with the option to lie on the couch.
Location
Sessions take place in a quiet and private room in the south side of Edinburgh:
6A Strathearn Road
The Grange
Edinburgh EH9 2AH
A short walk from:
Bruntsfield, Morningside, Marchmont, Newington and Colinton.
Within easy reach of:
Blackford, Gilmerton, the West End, Princes Street, Leith and Stockbridge.
For people living beyond easy reach of Edinburgh, I offer sessions online via Zoom.
Get in touch
You are welcome to contact me if you are interested in an initial consultation. In addition to your name and contact information, it would be helpful if you could write a few sentences about your current circumstances and why you are seeking analysis or therapy.
Any information you provide will be read only by me and held in strict confidence.
© Sharadha Bain
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