Maria Lima
Clinical Psychologist
I specialise in:
About me
I am a clinical psychologist and a psychoanalytic psychotherapist interested in the complexity and diversity of the human experience, marked by pain, loss and hope. My personal and professional experience have shown me that it is transformational to have access to a space where one is regarded in a benevolently curious manner, so that one can start to regard one self with curiosity and benevolence as opposed to with relentless criticism and self-hatred.
I have lived, studied and worked in several countries and that experience has made me keenly aware of, and attuned to, the influence of the social and cultural environment on the individual. My clinical and research interests concern issues of identity, transgenerational trauma, oppression, multiculturality and multilingualism, and the creative process.
I have experience working with patients dealing with a range of difficulties, including: depression, anxiety, personality disorders, identity discovery and putting on the skin of adulthood, cultural adaptation, grief/loss, family/relationship/workplace problems, sexual difficulties, anger, abuse/trauma, psychosomatic/health concerns and ageing concerns.
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Approach
I work in a collaborative, empathic, and non-judgmental manner with my patients. I see psychotherapy as a process that involves understanding the whole person and not just their symptoms and current concerns. I believe in the power of talking to someone who really listens and who does not give immediate advice, but instead tries to find a new way of looking at things together.
I find it fundamental to create a safe space where the patient can, slowly but surely, give voice to silenced and hidden experiences which hinder their current sense of freedom and spontaneity. In this safe space, the patient can, most often for the first time, start to re-write their life narrative, with a renewed perspective and with themselves as principal character, as opposed to a superfluous one animated by other’s needs and wants.
Despite the fact that I have a considerable amount of experience as a psychotherapist, I believe that the patient is the expert in their own needs and I see my role as one of shepherding a process of introspection and self-reflection.
