Aristogeiton (Ari) Sotiriou

## About me People often come to psychotherapy because something keeps repeating, even when they understand intellectually that it is not helping them. You may find yourself caught in familiar relationship patterns, reacting more strongly than you would like, withdrawing when you want closeness, becoming anxious about separation, or feeling that the same emotional difficulties return despite your efforts to change them. At other times, therapy may begin during a period of transition, loss, uncertainty or change in identity, when the ways of coping that once worked no longer seem sufficient. I offer psychodynamic psychotherapy to individuals and couples who want to understand not only what they are feeling, but why certain reactions and patterns keep returning. My approach is grounded primarily in the British psychoanalytic tradition. Rather than focusing only on symptom management, we pay attention to the emotional meanings beneath your immediate reactions, the patterns that develop in relationships, and the ways earlier experiences may continue to shape how you experience yourself and other people. In sessions, I listen closely to what is happening in your life, but also to how you experience it. We may become curious about moments when a reaction feels unexpectedly intense, when you repeatedly find yourself in a familiar position, or when there seems to be a gap between what you understand rationally and what you continue to feel or do. Psychodynamic therapy is not simply about looking backwards. The aim is to understand how past and present come together in your current emotional life so that you have greater freedom in how you respond, relate and make choices. I work particularly with relationship difficulties, anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, attachment and separation difficulties, recurring interpersonal patterns, questions of identity and self-esteem, life transitions, and the experience of living between cultures or away from one's country of origin. I also work with people who may function well professionally or practically but feel that something in their emotional or relational life remains unresolved. ### Couples psychotherapy Couples often arrive in therapy wanting the other person to change. My work is less concerned with deciding who is right and more interested in understanding the pattern the couple has gradually created together. We may look at what happens beneath repeated arguments, withdrawal, criticism, jealousy, resentment or difficulties with intimacy. Often each partner is responding not only to what is happening in the present moment but also to older expectations, fears and ways of protecting themselves. The aim is to help both partners become more able to recognise the pattern while it is happening, understand their own contribution to it, and create more room for thought, communication and a different kind of response. ### Online psychotherapy My practice is entirely online. I see this as a deliberate way of working rather than a substitute for in-person therapy. Online psychotherapy can offer a high degree of continuity and flexibility, particularly for people with demanding working lives, those who travel frequently, expatriates and people living internationally. It also allows you to attend therapy from a familiar and private environment without adding travel time to the working day. For couples, online work can make regular attendance more manageable when work schedules, travel or location would otherwise interfere with continuity. ### Between sessions I also believe that useful therapeutic thinking can continue between appointments. When appropriate, I may suggest a carefully selected clinical reflection, structured question or interactive worksheet connected with something emerging in our sessions. These are not assignments and there is no expectation that you should complete them. They are simply another way of noticing thoughts, feelings and recurring patterns as they arise in everyday life, so that we can bring that experience back into the therapy. My training was at WPF Therapy, with my PGDip and MA in Psychodynamic Theory and Practice awarded by Roehampton University. I am UKCP-accredited, a registered member of BACP, and an accredited member of BPC and EAP. I work with adults and couples in English, French and Greek. If what I have described feels familiar, we can begin by thinking together about what has brought you to therapy now and whether my way of working feels right for you.