Therapy for Deep Thinkers

If you need to understand an idea deeply before you can trust it, therapy built on simple explanations can leave you feeling unseen. I enjoy working with people like this. Psychologists call the trait a high Need for Cognition: enjoying effortful thought about complex things. I treat it as a strength to work with, not a habit to switch off.

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Is this you?

• You enjoy thinking hard about complicated things, and you want explanations that respect the subtleties of your experience.

• Advice that sounds too simple ("just stop overthinking") strikes you as implausible, or as missing the point.

• You can sometimes find a problem more interesting than its solution.

• You've noticed that thinking about how to live doesn't always take you all the way to living that way.

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When standard approaches fall short

Cognitive-behavioural therapies work partly because they simplify, highlighting the thoughts and behaviours where change is most possible. Many people happily trade some nuance for clarity, and judge an approach by whether it works in practice.

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But people with a high Need for Cognition need to understand ideas deeply to be persuaded by them. When an explanation doesn't recognise the subtleties of their experience, it can seem implausible or even invalidating, and it becomes hard to engage wholeheartedly. This is sometimes read as 'resistance' or avoidance. Often it reflects a genuine commitment to honest self-knowledge.

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How I work

Rather than struggling to make you stop 'overthinking', I respect your Need for Cognition and help you direct your critical awareness where it can do the most good. The challenge, as I see it, is to make the solutions more interesting than the problems.

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I draw on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Schema Therapy and other cognitive-behavioural approaches, adapted to you rather than applied as fixed protocols. Most people don't fit neatly into one diagnostic category, and therapy rarely resembles textbook examples. A flexible, broadly cognitive-behavioural approach can shed light both on mental health difficulties and on the shared struggles of living in a complicated, uncertain world.

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At the same time, I'm alert to the ways that intellectualising can divert attention from difficult emotional truths. When it's needed, I'll gently guide you towards realities you might naturally avoid, even when they stand in your way.

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Why this suits my background

My path to psychology ran through a PhD in Philosophy. Looking back, my interest in philosophy always had a psychological aim: understanding how self-reflection might help us live wisely. Yet thinking about how I should live didn't take me all the way to living accordingly. Philosophy helped me see why even small choices matter; psychology taught me how we turn meaning into motivation, by collaborating with our minds rather than lecturing ourselves.

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I have first-hand experience of both the promise and the pitfalls of this temperament. My own examined life doesn't give me the answers to yours, but it does give me real enthusiasm for the work. You can talk with me about anything that concerns you, without fear of judgement or disinterest. Through collaborative reflection, we can arrive at an understanding of your situation that moves you towards what matters most in your life.

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Two minds are often better than one.