counselling and complementary therapy in Cheshire
10 Hope Street, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 1BA.  Tel: 01270 764003

What is Psychosynthesis?

One of the core discoveries of modern psychology is that human beings are conditioned by their childhood experiences. Freud and others spoke of the unconscious, a part of our minds that is normally inaccessible but which produces real effects on feelings, thoughts and behaviour.

Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, while working with the methods of psychoanalysis developed by Freud made the discovery that not all distress could be explained by the past. Many problems arise because of "existential" issues such as unfulfilled potential, lack of meaning, alientation, emptiness, loss of identity and the need for purpose. These symptoms carry a message, that needs to be listened to rather than tranquilised.

Psychosynthesis therefore combines the analytical approach of uncovering forgotten childhood memories with an exploration of the individual's untapped potential. It teaches that every individual has a part that is seeking to grow towards wholeness (the Self), but that this growth can be blocked by experiences from our past. In the process of therapy the blocks are gradually removed enabling the client's own healing process to operate.

Many problems may point to the need to become aware of your higher potential. This may include accepting and integrating impulses such as sexuality and aggression but also becoming open to the human qualities of beauty, truth, compassion and joy.

What can Psychosynthesis do for me?

The aim of Psychoynthesis psychotherapy is to bring all parts of a person's being into more harmonious relationship. Change will occur in the personality bringing results outside in the practical world. This is done by working for a release from unhelpful or or destructive patterns of belief or behaviour, and opening to a clearer sense of purpose, meaning and direction in life.

You may find Psychosynthesis helpful if you are:

• finding relationships difficult
• struggling with childhood trauma or abuse
• feeling that life is dull and pointless
• struggling with pain, fear, addictions
• suffering loss or bereavement
• experiencing anxiety or depression
• wanting to explore your spiritual path

Working with a Psychosynthesis therapist, you can explore these or other issues in safety and confidentiality.

Maurice Tomkinson, founder and director of The Hope Street Centre, trained at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in London, and uses Psychosynthesis in his work as a counsellor and psychotherapist.