Frequently asked questions

Can therapy help me?

According to Carl Jung ‘when an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate’. Jung is pointing towards the agency that each human being has over their situation in life.

That is not to say that we can control or should be able to control everything that happens to us. But the way I see it, each one of us has the capacity to reflect on our situation and raise our self awareness in a way that helps reflect things back to us in a constructive manner. Therapy offers a perspective on what we may be contributing to a certain relationship ourselves and I will help you with that process and provide a safe and non-judgmental space to air your feelings.

What is Psychodynamic Therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy deals with the unconscious reasons behind a certain behaviour. It takes the approach that our behaviour and feelings as adults are rooted in our childhood experiences. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are client’s self awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behaviour.

A psychodynamic therapist tries to untangle conflictual situations that clients may be faced with, helping them look at what might be going on underneath a certain behaviour.

The focus of psychodynamic couple work is on the dynamic created between two people, i.e their relationship instead of appropriating blame on one party or another. It can help couples or individuals understand the role they may be playing towards their problems. This in turn helps you to take a step back and hopefully develop empathy for others.

For couples, the unconscious choice of partner is explored by exploring the relationships in the family of origin which form the blue print for adult relationships.

What is CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) ?

NHS UK describes CBT as based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle.

CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. You're shown how to change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel.

It looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis. It's most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems.

CBT interventions that I use include learning how to manage stress and anxiety by learning relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, coping self-talk and distraction techniques.

What is EMDR therapy?

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new treatment that's been found to reduce the symptoms of PTSD. It is a phased focus approach to treating traumatic symptoms and anxiety by reconnecting the client in a safe and measured way to the images, self-thoughts, emotions and body sensations associated with the trauma. It allows the natural healing powers of the brain to move towards adaptive resolution.

It involves making side-to-side eye movements, usually by following the movement of the therapist's finger, while recalling the traumatic incident.

How does sex therapy work?

Problems around sex can put a tremendous strain on a relationship. These may include:

• Low sexual desire or interest in sex in both men and women.
• Erectile difficulties and premature ejaculation in men due to psychological, health or age related issues.
• Life stage changes like peri/postnatal depression in both women and men.
• Painful sex for women due to skin conditions, injury or surgery.
• Vaginismus, difficulty with having penetrative sex, where the muscles in vagina go in to a spasm making it very painful and even impossible to have penetration. This could be due to past sexual trauma/abuse or psychological reasons.
• Peri-menopause or menopause that can make sex painful or unpleasant in women.

There are myriad reasons for why couples or individuals are unable to have sex. Psychosexual therapy aims to address the root cause thinking about developmental patterns (like attachment and childhood traumas) while at the same time attempting to offer advice and techniques to overcome such difficulties.

How do you work with eating disorder?

I work with disordered eating by using The Understanding your Eating Programme (developed by Julia Buckroyd). The work is based on current research and aims to help you think about how you use food, so that you can be better placed to choose whether you want to continue doing it that way. You will learn to have much better ways of managing your feelings and will be less tempted to use food to comfort yourself. It will help you become more confident with better self esteem and a better body image. You will find that food becomes much less of an anxiety and no longer dominates your thinking.

How often would I/we be having sessions with you?

In my experience in working with individuals and couples, I have found that clients benefit from having weekly sessions, where they can take their problems to. The regularity of sessions helps build a scaffolding to support you cope with challenges and in bringing about change. The work can bring up painful feelings and any longer gaps between sessions can leave you feeling unsupported.

My partner is not willing to come to therapy, what can I do?

Sometimes one partner feels ready to speak about their relationship but the other partner might not be ready to open up. My suggestion in a situation like this is to book an initial assessment where we can understand a bit about what may be going on with a view of inviting your partner to a further session.

Failing that even if one partner is able to think about their relationship issues it would mean they are able to not only get support in their challenges but also have a third person’s point of view on how to take things forward.

I am a young adult and suffering from eating order, can you help?

Yes. I have experience in working with disordered eating and with young adults.

Do you see LGBTQ individuals and couples as well?

Yes. I offer help to clients of all genders and sexual orientation.

How can I know if a therapist is a good fit for me?

The initial assessment offers both you and me a chance to get a sense of what it would be like working together without an obligation to carry things forward in case either party feels feels it may not be the right fit for them.

How can I book an appointment and tell me more about your consulting fee?

E-mail me at hello@FatimaSyedain.com. I will make every effort to get back to you within 24 hours, and usually before that. I charge GBP 175 for each 50 minute session. I do sometimes take clients on concessionary rates if my schedule permits.

I don’t live in London, can you still be my therapist?

Yes. I can provide online couple and individual therapy sessions to my clients from across the UK as well as the EU, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Doha & Bahrain.

How can I pay you?

My fee is GBP 140 for a 50-minute session. I do not accept insurance. I accept payments via bank transfer and Paypal for clients in the UK. Clients outside the UK will be sent an invoice via Paypal. You will be able to easily pay through Paypal using all major credit cards or through your Paypal account.

What is your appointment cancellation policy?

I have a 48-hour cancellation policy, so you will be billed the full amount if you cancel less than 48 hours in advance.

If possible, I will try to reschedule you to a later time during the week so you don’t have to pay the fee, but I cannot guarantee this as this depends on availability in my booking diary.