Dr. Camilla Hennig

Curriculum

Scuola Bolognese di Psicoterapia Cognitiva (certificate of psychotherapy training)
EMDR level II certificate (EMDR Europe, Isabel Fernandez)

experience

During my internship, I worked for the National Health Service in London, with patients presenting with a range of mental health issues, including anxiety disorders, depression, personality disorders, drug and alcohol misuse, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders. My clinical work was combined with research under the supervision of Dr. David Veale (King’s College, London), with the publication of the following paper: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/40941802/72._SPOV_OCD_2015_ACCEPTED.pdf
Child Psychology professor, Istituto Lorenzo De’ Medici (Florence)
I led support and empowerment groups for abused women, using assertiveness exercises (associazione Mondo Donna)
Since 2018, I’ve been working as a freelance psychologist for clients a variety of different issues and psychopathology, including: eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, personality disorders, substance abuse, post traumatic stress disorder and more.

my approach

My techniques refer to multiple approaches, the main being cognitive behavioral therapy. A scientifically sound approach, the gold standard in the treatment of many mental disorders. It is founded on the observation of behavior in the "here and now", and in the identification of harmful and dysfunctional thought cycles.
Evolutionary component of my approach: the techniques I use have their basis in the Attachment Theory, or in the countless studies that have sanctioned the need of the human being to be protected from danger, both in childhood and in adulthood, by other significant people, and the how this need motivates a large part of behavior (functional and pathological) and guides relationships.
Finally, constructivism frames the whole philosophy behind my work: we human beings build our way of knowing the environment, and our knowledge (so what we think, how we act, the predictions we make about how things will turn out) is not the same as reality. For this, we can take off our glasses, whatever color their lenses are, and realize that the world is different from what we want to believe it to be. This ability is called meta-cognition and is the ability to distance oneself from one's thoughts, beliefs, even one's emotions, and recover a healthy doubt about their truthfulness and absoluteness. This generates a series of consequences that we can match to mental health.

In recent years, I have become passionate about gender studies concerning, in particular, stereotypes and prejudices reserved for women and men. I consider myself a feminist psychologist, as I include in my view the strong impact that the different cultural expectations reserved for women and men affect the mental health of both genders; the expression of anger (stigmatized in women), sadness and vulnerability (stigmatized in men), the perception of pain and consequently its treatment in clinics and hospitals are strongly influenced by the expectations that one has towards males and females, different and debilitating in many ways. Sexism, racism and all forms of discrimination find here, in the session, a space to be discussed and fought with acceptance of the fact that we live in a sexist and racist world. You will never hear me say "yes, but back to your psyche ..." when you talk about these problems.

TECHNIQUES

I use a multitude of techniques related to various approaches, from psychodrama to mindfulness, from standard cognitive behavioral therapy to constructivism. The "toolbox" is constantly expanding and therefore this list will not always be updated, but here are some of the techniques we might use in the session:

• EMDR (F. Shapiro): Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a technique validated and recognized by the WHO (World Health Organization) for the treatment of traumatic memories. It consists in returning to focus the mind on a traumatic episode and on the worst image of it, while following the movement of the therapist's fingers as they move left and right. Thanks to eye movements (the same we naturally have when we dream), this technique speeds up and facilitates the processing of information relating to the trauma, changing its physiology and leading to an alleviation of the symptoms caused by it.

• Chairwork (Moreno; Greenberg; Pearls): I work with the parts of the self, such as a critical self, a victim self, an aggressive self… Talking to each of these parts by imagining them sitting in front of us. This work is very powerful and helps people make important decisions, relive trauma and treat it from a safer perspective, and much more. It is a powerful and emotionally charged technique, it will always be a shared choice to use it or not.

• Compassionate Mind Exercises (Gilbert). Sometimes we are critical and judgmental of ourselves, I use techniques related to Compassionate Mind Therapy to relieve the burden of judgment.

• Slow motion narratives: it is the description of important and problematic life episodes of any kind, covering them together as if they were a movie, in detail (Where am I? What am I doing? What does the person in front of me do, what expressions does he have? Etc). Together we can retrace problematic scenes, get out of your character to project them as on a screen and see new details, discovering things that you couldn't see from inside, and that change the narrative, relieving pain, anger, problematic thoughts. Slow motion helps change your narrative of events, as well as your reaction to them.

• ABC (Ellis, Beck): One of the most used and powerful tools of cognitive behavioral therapy. The "homework" journal in which you will retrace your problematic situations, from alcohol abuse to quarrels, to symptoms of an eating disorder. You will learn to write down the different aspects of the situation you were in at that precise moment, the thoughts and emotions associated with that situation. Thanks to this, and to its review together in the session, we will better understand the causes of the problem and we will be able to give it new, unexpected explanations (and, subsequently, solutions).

• Mindfulness / meditation exercises (Jon Kabat-Zinn): meditation relieves problematic states by focusing our attention on a single aspect of reality (the breath, usually; but also its surroundings, the body in the chair and the tactile sensations, the taste of savoring a raisin ...). Mindfulness means being in the present moment, to savor it and look at worries and thoughts further away, with greater detachment. This detachment can bring great benefits to a therapeutic path.

• Interpretation of dreams: dreams are the "royal path" of access to the unconscious and to the most hidden parts, motivations and emotions of ourselves. In sessions, I generally use the reported dreams to give meaning and a framework to what the patient experiences in daytime life. With their powerful metaphors, dreams can also serve us to give direction and a broader meaning to the path we are taking together.
  

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN GOING TO THERAPY

Together we will look at your problem and we will find its meaning, its reason for existing. People who go to a psychologist are often ashamed of having a problem; understanding the meaning will take a heavy burden off your back, the burden of stigmatization and blame. No, it's not your fault. But it is your responsibility to act now to do something.

Understanding the function of the symptom together will allow us to find alternative strategies to solve the "real" problem, contextual to the symptom. A difficult family and painful relationships, a pain that cannot be expressed in words, a trauma. Terrible events can be accepted, alongside a welcoming, disinterested and experienced person.

ISSUES THAT I TREAT:

depression

Post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic events

anxiety, phobias and panic attacks

obsessive-compulsive disorder

social anxiety and performance problems (blocking university exams, anxiety at work)

sexual problems (dysfunction of erection and ejaculation, vaginismus, dyspaurenia, problems with desire)

couple problems

personality disorders

self-esteem and self-criticism issues

eating disorders: anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder

bereavement and trauma

addictions

educational and emotional problems in child management; work related stress

physical ailments without an organic basis

improvement of aspects of one's personality

LGBT issues (e.g. coming out, homophobia, transphobia)