Cape Town psychologist

Samuel Waumsley

M.A. Clin. Psych. (UCT)

Registered Clinical Psychologist in Cape Town

Psychotherapy in-person/ online therapy/ online psychologist

Enquiries: samuelwaumsley@gmail.com

Phone: 0843502102

Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm

Book a session form

Mental health care areas of experience:

Anxiety
Depression
Panic feeling
Esteem
Conscious metacognition
Emotional awareness
Life narrative
Existential reflection
Calm assertiveness
Dream interpretation

Mental health:

Therapy is a formal way of addressing core personal stories that we carry and the symptoms that they manifest in us. Our mental health depends on our conscious and unconscious appraisal of our position in the world and how we understand this. I chiefly work with:

Symptoms of anxiety: Anxiety is associated with the fight, flight, freeze, or friendly! reflex. As human beings we have a strong response to danger and stress that is highly attuned, automatic and that neurochemically is processed faster than we can register the stressor consciously. When one's anxious we can panic and really 'not remain calm' - freezing, rushing, becoming angry or agitated (with ourselves unhelpfully often or others) in high stress situations, sometimes that's chronically activated.
Signs of depression: Depression is at its core arguably a feeling and problem to do with hopelessness. It can involve our sense of self in life and our experience in the world. It can be useful to consider depression as, in addition to a suffering experience of gloom, also clearly bringing a challenge to the self. Often there is something actually wrong in our life or in life so far that's felt subjectively and subconsciously deep down that bothers and depresses us. Sometimes we all need help in some form to break free from negative conclusions.

Psychotherapy style:

Psychology is a language. Feelings and thoughts are like data we receive from our personally-callibrated sensing of the world. In recognising our patterns of behaviour and responses more clearly, we seek in therapy to understand ourselves more, and in life become more authentically ourselves. Our actual physical, personal and social environments are obviously also fundamental to our well-being and are essential to what therapy often needs to address in terms of difficuties and stressors. Our past and present life narratives also transect in complexity -which can be useful to unpack and talk through in a safe space, so as to find greater clarity and consciouness in the moment.

Sessions are psychodynamic in orientation, also drawing on relational, existential, narrative and gestalt therapy perspectives. In-session techniques employed include Socratic dialogue, free-association, intersubjectivity/ transference reflection, as well as dream interpretation.

Well-being in life:

Below the surface is depth in our human experience. How can we listen to this more? Is being more aware of one's own needs and feelings; next to others' around us, with calm assertiveness and positivity, centered in warm-hearted values -a way? Talk therapy sessions - 50 minute conversations - work to allow pertinent issues to surface in the therapeutic space. The work focuses on listening to and 'trouble-shooting' our psychological responses, associations and intentions. How does one respond to life's ups and downs; to rawer moments or to stark feeling? Perhaps we should respond with attunement; with compassion, seeking understanding of the self; soldarity with our true selves and needs authentically and meaningfully. And this within a sense of uplifting equality and powerful universal dignity.

We all seek personal well-being, and generally with good intentions, but we can make mistakes, or be diminished by others. A broken-heart; financial strain in an exploited world; the bullying of those close to us; or an absent or stressed parent for example when we are children, can derail a person, and are issues that can cry out for restoration and resolution. To cope and find our true selves as people one first needs to truly reflect and imagine what's objective within a situation, including existentially. Therapy is a place for hearing personal stories that people carry, and finding ways to answer personal pinch-points and address psychological wounds clearly and authentically.