Anne Cussins

I am a UKCP accredited psychotherapist. I have worked in private practice since 1986 as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and offer longer-term, intensive therapy for most symptoms and diagnoses or brief, psychodynamic therapy.

I have a Masters degree in The Psychology of Counselling and Therapy. I also have a Diploma in Psychotherapy from The Institute of Psychotherapy and Social Studies.

Working psychodynamically means that we confront how the “emotional present” is influenced by events in early life, together with an ongoing experience of varying degrees of distress. I work with personality disorders where this is especially the case.   Many symptoms are a way of expressing how difficult experiences in early life have left their mark and continue to cause problems with self-image and the consequent effect on relationships.

Sometimes it's important to allow different aspects of personality to be seen so that we can understood their roots and try to have greater empathy with them ourselves.

I have many years of experience of providing psychotherapy for complex, personality problems, but I also work with all problems that occur during the life-cycle of a person’s development.

I provide an empathic therapeutic relationship from which emotional problems can be gradually explored in depth.

My specialisms are depression, anxiety and eating disorders. I have researched, in particular, women’s mental health and body-image. I have an interest in bereavement and have worked in the NHS. with bereaved family members. I see couples aswell as individuals in my practice.

You can contact me via email : acussins@outlook.com

See more about my approach by visiting my website: www.psychotherapyandeatingdisorders.com

I will see you in my consulting room in the Lansdown area of Bath or, if you live further afield, a consultation and further sessions can be held over Zoom.

I will be listening closely to hear, both the problems you are most concerned about, and your development over your life until the present. As a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, I like to know as much as possible about early family relationships, experiences at school and university, and about your current significant relationships. To this end I will make notes and ask some questions from time to time. I may try to clarify some issues, although you should feel comfortable with deciding what you would like to bring to the session.

My fee for a consultation is £80.

I work with psychoanalytic theory, developmental theory and aspects of practice that have originated from the Relational School such as rupture and repair. 

Many of the clients that I have worked with have had early developmental deficits, or trauma, leading to  personality traits which are difficult to modify as they seek to contain unbearable affects and maintain splitting between good and bad images of self/other. This can be challenging work and I offer many years of experience in thinking about technique, drawing from what can go wrong as well as what can be achieved with such clients.

I can supervise those with clients with personality disorders which is an area of specialism for which I have undertaken additional learning.

I will offer an half hour Zoom meeting as an initial step towards exploring if my supervision is going to be useful for you in your practice or job role. The fee is £35.