What is psychotherapy like?
- Kate Simmons
- Aug 31
- 2 min read
I have curated a few articles, videos and other resources below for those that are curious about psychotherapy, but not sure what to expect. The best way of course is just to try it and see if it's right for you, and importantly to find a therapist you feel you can work with... but there are some interesting insights below in the meantime:
Articles:
Therapy isn't about life hacks - the best solutions are simpler - and more complex Moya Sarner, NHS Psychotherapist, The Guardian, 2025
[...] "when done properly, it does not provide ready answers. Instead it offers a place where two people can be ruthlessly honest, think together, find meaning together. This work can change our understanding of ourselves, and in doing so change our lives." Stephen Grosz, The Guardian, 2025
Radio and podcasts:
In her Podcasts, Annalisa Barbieri talks to Psychotherapists about issues such as the parentified child, body image and intimacy.
Radio 4 ran two series of In therapy, a programme in which Susie Orbach works with several fictional patients (actors improvising). Series 1 has five episodes and Series 2 has ten episodes. Listeners can hear both the interventions Orbach makes with her patients as well as her inner reflections and thoughts. Orbach provides listeners with a sense of why she says what she does.
Videos:
'What is psychoanalysis? Is it weird?' is a short introductory video to the psychoanalytic world by the Freud Museum London
The analysts featured in this documentary contend that psychoanalysis has a long history as a progressive movement devoted to the common good. Psychoanalysis asks us to examine the processes of self deception that perpetuate both individual unhappiness and social structures that are inequitable and oppressive. Yet psychoanalytic education has for the most part focused on training and treating the relatively privileged. The Black psychoanalysts here examine this dilemma and engage in a vibrant and thought provoking discussion about race, culture, class and the unrealised promise of the psychoanalytic world.