“I wish I could cry”

Does medication block emotions?

In Conversation with Marco Chiesa

A client’s journey into the therapy room often starts with a visit to A&E or their GP commonly followed by a trip to the pharmacy to collect up a prescription.  Many of the people we meet in our consulting room bring not only a presenting problem but also their reactions to the medication that they have been prescribed. It has now become essential for psychotherapists to have a thorough understanding of the drugs offered for help with emotional distress.

The FPC is pleased to present an opportunity to enhance our understanding of how such medication affects on our clients. Dr Marco Chiesa will begin with a presentation of modern psychiatry, explaining the purpose of the most common medications and their side effects.

Andy Cottom and Imogen Petit are psychodynamic psychotherapists working in Westminster. They will join Dr Chiesa in a conversation on how psychotherapy can work alongside these drugs. Using experience from their own practices, this will be an opportunity to discuss whether the medical approach is allied or at odds with talking therapy.

Andy Cottom is a psychodynamic psychotherapist working out of Westminster Therapy Associates, the group practice he founded in 2010. He is a trustee of UKCP and the Chair of their analytic college, the Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis.

Imogen Petit completed her psychotherapy training in 2015 at WPF Therapy. Previously she worked in PR, and then went on to work in for mental health charities. Since qualifying Imogen has worked in the counselling team within the Metropolitan Police Service providing therapy to police officers and staff. She now works in private practice full-time. 

Dr Marco Chiesa MD, FRCPsych is Visiting Professor at University College London and Consultant Psychiatrist in private practice. He worked as Consultant Psychiatrist and Head of the Research Unit at the Cassel Hospital, Richmond 1991-2015, where he developed the outpatient Adult Personality Disorder Service and carried out a number of research projects in the field of treatment outcome for patients with personality disorder. He is also a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society."