Individual Psychotherapy
Individual Psychotherapy
A space that is entirely yours
Individual psychotherapy — sometimes called talk therapy — is a one-to-one conversation between you and a trained therapist, repeated regularly over weeks or months. It is private, confidential, and entirely focused on you. There is no agenda except the one you and your therapist agree on together.
People begin therapy for many reasons. Some come because of a specific symptom — anxiety that won’t settle, low mood that doesn’t lift, a relationship in trouble, a memory that won’t stop intruding. Others come because they sense something needs to change but can’t quite say what. Both are valid starting points.
How we approach therapy
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all therapy. Different people respond to different approaches, and your therapist will draw on several established, evidence-based methods depending on what you bring to the session. These include:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) — for examining the thinking patterns and behaviours that may be keeping difficult feelings in place.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — for learning to live with difficult thoughts and feelings without letting them dictate your actions.
- Psychodynamic and supportive therapy — for understanding how earlier experiences and relationships continue to shape the present.
- Trauma-focused approaches — including elements of EMDR-informed and narrative work for those who’ve experienced difficult or overwhelming events.
In your first few sessions, your therapist will get to know you and discuss with you which approach — or combination — seems most helpful for what you’re working on.
What individual therapy can help with
- Anxiety, panic attacks and persistent worry
- Depression, low mood and loss of motivation
- Stress related to work, relationships, or major life changes
- Grief and bereavement
- Trauma, including childhood adversity
- Self-esteem, identity, and life-direction concerns
- Difficulty regulating emotions or sustaining relationships
- Behaviour patterns that you feel stuck in
How sessions are structured
Duration: Typically 50 minutes per session
Frequency: Weekly is the standard pattern at the start of therapy. As you progress, sessions often move to fortnightly or monthly.
Length of therapy: Some concerns resolve within 8–12 sessions. Longer-standing patterns often benefit from six months to two years of work. You and your therapist will review progress regularly and decide together when the work is complete.
Mode: Available in person at all three Goa clinics, online via secure video, or hybrid.
Confidentiality: What you share in session is held in confidence within the limits set by Indian medical ethics and law. We discuss the specific limits of confidentiality with you at the start of treatment.
Is therapy alone enough — or will I need medication?
There’s no one size fits all. Generally for many concerns — especially milder to moderate anxiety, low mood, relationship issues, grief — therapy alone is often sufficient. For more severe symptoms or specific diagnoses, a combination of therapy and medication tends to work better than either alone. We will discuss this openly with you. The choice is always collaborative.