Meet the Therapist: Ana Lund
Ana Lund is a therapist in Manchester, M25
What attracted you to become a therapist?
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in people’s inner world and psychotherapy was an amazing vehicle for change in my own life.
Where did you train?
I trained in Manchester, at the South Manchester Centre for Psychotherapy.
Can you tell us about the type of therapy you practise?
While I am not dogmatic about any one specific modality, I have been trained in transactional analysis (TA). Transactional analysis is one of the humanistic modalities and it is based on the principle “I am OK, you are OK”. This principle of OK-ness meaning that neither client nor therapist are in one-up or one-down position, so it is fundamentally based on a view that the client is a resourceful human being. Transactional analysis has a strong relational component and uses extensively the concept of games, whether the games with the other or within our own internal functioning.
This approach is often combined with attachment theory, and I certainly use the attachment styles to understand how the client relates to their significant others.
Transactional analysis can be effective both in the context of solution-driven brief therapy and in the longer-term work.
How does transactional analysis help with symptoms of social anxiety?
According to transactional analysis in each one of us lies three different, interconnected parts, or ego states: Parent, Adult and Child. One of the first things to do when working with social anxiety would be to strengthen the Parent ego state. There is a number of techniques for achieving this, but sometimes just explaining the model to the client can be surprisingly effective.
What sort of people do you usually see?
I work with adults, from all ages and different walks of life. I very much like working with young people.
What do you like about being a therapist?
The creativity of it, the sense of immediate help and growth that the client can experience and the humanity of it.
What is less pleasant?
Self-care is important in this job – one needs to know how much much one can take on.
How long you’ve been with welldoing.org and what you think of us?
I have joined welldoing.org only recently and haven’t had the chance to join the online Facebook community yet.
Do you ever suggest books or apps to clients?
No, I prefer human contact.
What you do for your own mental health?
I see my own therapist regularly! I also exercise, which helps for both the physical and the mental. My family is a constant source of happiness and joy and is essential for keeping me ‘sane’.
What’s your consultation room like?
My consultation room is quiet, peaceful, spacious and has lots of natural light.
What do you wish people knew about therapy?
Although things have been changing in recent years, there is still a stigma attached to mental health. I wish people knew that accessing psychotherapy can sometimes be sign of sanity rather than insanity. People access psychotherapy for all sorts of personal reasons related to their own personal growth, dilemmas, crossroads in life etc.
What did you learn about yourself in therapy?
My first encounter with counselling/psychotherapy was when I was 18. I was referred to a psychologist for counselling and it turned out that what I believed was recurrent physical pain was in fact my body’s response to an enduring psychological stress. I was lucky to get a referral to a wonderful woman full of empathy. Once I could express how I felt about the situation the pain subsided. This experience opened a whole new world to me and I subsequently went back to psychotherapy in all major events of my life.
