Depth psychotherapy requires a trusting and collaborative working relationship between therapist and client.  Through this working relationship the therapy facilitates the emergence of authenticity, self acceptance, and clarity of purpose.  The theoretical orientation I use in my work is a composite of relational, existential, and transpersonal psychology.  Below are a few of the people and concepts that have influenced my ideas about the process of psychotherapy.

Transpersonal: Jungian Psychology

Trust that which gives you meaning and accept it as your guide. 
—C.G. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung, a contemporary of Freud, was a founder of what has become transpersonal psychology.  One of Jung’s key concepts at the core of my approach to psychotherapy is individuation.  Whether we are single, have a partner, family, or other important relationships, we must each meet the challenge of becoming an individual; a whole person.

Individuation: Jung believed that a human being is inwardly whole, but that most of us have lost touch with important parts of our selves. Through listening to the messages of our dreams and waking imagination, we can contact and reintegrate our different parts. He believed the goal of life is individuation— the process of coming to know, giving expression to, and harmonizing the various components of the psyche. Each human being has a specific nature and calling which is uniquely his or her own, and psychological development requires us to claim all the parts of our selves in order to realize our wholeness.

Personal Story: Jung concluded that every person has a story, and when derangement occurs, it is because the personal story has been denied or rejected. Healing and integration comes when the person discovers or rediscovers his or her own personal story. —http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/jungsum.html

Writing and psychotherapy can both be tools for telling our story, and for finding that we can revise it, even re-write major parts of it, as our perspective changes.  This is the creative heart of psychotherapy— realizing that we are the author, we are not our stories.

Existential Psychotherapy

Unless the distant goals of meaning, greatness, and destiny are addressed, we can't make an intelligent decision about what to do tomorrow morning -- much less set strategy for a company or for a human life.  Nothing is more practical than for people to deepen themselves.  The more you understand the human condition, the more effective you are… —Peter Koestenbaum
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/32/koestenbaum.html

Existentialism as a clinical philosophy embraces human anxiety as a necessary experience in relation to the fundamental questions we must ask of ourselves and of life.  Existential anxieties that we all encounter are based on the need to answer questions such as:

Who am I?          
What is my purpose?
How do I balance relationships and independence?
What does it mean to be a successful human being?

Irvin Yalom identifies the four “ultimate concerns of life” as death, freedom, existential isolation, and meaninglessness. Therapy is a place where these concerns can be grappled with and addressed.  Health is a state in which we can exercise our essential inner freedom as we face these issues.

Further reading:
Peter Koestenbaum, Ph.D. The New Image of the Person, Greenwood, 1978; and Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness, Jossey-Bass, 1991.
See also the works of Irvin D. Yalom, M.D. at http://www.yalom.com/

Relational Therapy

I believe that at the most fundamental level, what goes wrong for people is in their relationships (especially the early and primary relationships), and, therefore, that healing also happens in relationship.  —Mary Bradford

Individual psychotherapy involves a unique form of intense relationship requiring focused presence and sincere commitment on the part of both client and therapist.  The safety and containment of this relationship forms a vessel for the deep inner transformation that can occur.  Though many relational and intersubjective theorists have inspired me, my approach has been most influenced by my friend and colleague Mary Bradford.  Mary demonstrates the kind of trustworthy presence and attuned responsiveness that exemplifies the best of therapeutic and collegial relationships.  Her article “Relational Therapy, A Personal Perspective” summarizes the relational therapy premise:

If psychological development occurs through relationship, then relationship is necessary for facilitating repair; or, since wounding is a relational process, healing is a relational process. What this means in practical terms is that as a relational therapist, I am the primary tool of my work— not my fund of information or any particular technique, though I may use those. My focus is on my use of myself, as half of the relationship, to give the client an experience of respect, acceptance, authenticity, and empathy. This prioritizing of connection also means that I respect the client's own inner authority and work toward her or his empowerment, rather than seeing myself as an authority on the client's problems.  —Mary Bradford, PhD, in Women's Therapy Center Newsletter, 1-2, 7-9 (2002, Spring/Summer)  email:MBradfordx@aol.com

As a relational therapist, I too engage with clients as a supportive, non-judgmental listener and witness; yet one who is active in asking questions to go deeper, to explore, or to clarify.  Reflecting on what I see, I offer feedback on the interactive process and individually tailored exercises to help clients liberate their potential and discover new ways to cope with the causes of distress in their lives.

Further Reading:

Jordan, J. V., Kaplan, A., Miller, J. B., Stiver, I. P., & Surrey, J. (Eds.) Women's Growth in Connection: Writings from the Stone Center, Guilford, 1991.

Miller, J. B., & Stiver, I. P. The Healing Connection, Beacon Press, 1997.

Mitchell, S. A. Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis: An Integration, Basic Books, 1988.