Individual psychotherapy, Couples therapy,
Early childhood and mothering

Individual psychotherapy

Louise is passionate about helping her patients in a way that will help them for many years after terminating the therapy. Insight gained, losses mourned and changes made have a major impact on a person’s functioning for the rest of his/her life. She explores with clients how problems first made their way into their lives and what the ways are to overcome these problematic influences.

Louise’s theoretical orientation is psychoanalytical. This approach is aimed at an in-depth understanding of the conscious and unconscious aspects of functioning. She believes that internal views of the self, others and the world are formed during an individual’s childhood. The ways that emotional needs and different emotions are dealt with during childhood continues to influence the person. She will help you understand why you think, feel and do as you do. She has a thorough knowledge of human psychological development, the meaning of symptoms and the consequences of specific traumas and experiences.

The aim of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is deep-seated change in personality and emotional development. The relationship with the therapist is a significant part of the therapy. The confidential and non-judgmental setting offered by the therapist facilitates a process where unconscious patterns of the patient’s inner world become apparent in the patient’s relationship with the therapist.

Couples therapy

When dealing with couples, Louise works from the understanding that both parties contribute to the struggles and problems that develop in relationships.  We tend to “choose” people that match us psychologically in some way.  Initially, during the honeymoon phase, everything might feel wonderful, but as time goes by both people’s internal worlds (their personality, fears, assumptions, emotional wounds, unmet needs) start reacting to one another and can soon lead to great levels of unhappiness.  The aim of couple therapy is to understand how our internal worlds play itself out in our relationships.  Understanding for one another and empathy is deepened and communication improves as both people’s childhoods and internal worlds are explored.

Early childhood and mothering

The foundation for mental health is formed during the first years of development.  The importance of the early years in a child’s emotional development and the enduring impact that this has on the person’s functioning, sense of security and emotional health is well known. Louise is the mother of three children and feels strongly about children’s emotional needs. Early mothering is very important because a baby’s first relationships become the template for later relationships. Louise enjoys working with mothers and young children. She has a keen interest and deep understanding of the types of issues that mothers struggle with. She is also very knowledgeable about children’s early emotional needs and developmental stages and did a series of talks on childhood emotional development for Radio Algoa. She is trained as a mother-infant psychotherapist and has run a post-natal depression program.

Adoption and divorce

Over the years she has worked with many adults who were adopted as babies and she understands the struggles that adopted individuals have to deal with. She is also very aware of the enormous impact of divorce on families and works in this field.