Mr Adam Szmerling
Psychotherapist, Counsellor
Bayside Psychotherapy
Highett, Melbourne VIC 3190
In Person + Telehealth
Philosophy & Vision
I believe most of our adult struggles are covert (or not so secret) enactments from our early childhood experiences which were inadequately processed. Part of this problematic processing comes from our immaturity as children, especially in the face of trauma or even new, difficult encounters, all of which have effects that leave marks, traces and unconscious criteria through which we use to select partners in love and work.
Background
I have worked in private practice for 13 years, initially as a hypnotherapist but promptly became fed up with the unrealistic expectations with quick fix therapies, then counselling, psychotherapy and more recently psychoanalysis.
Services
Whether it's 5 sessions of short term counselling, 10 sessions of couples counselling, 50 sessions of psychotherapy or 5 years of psychoanalysis, the preliminary sessions will provide us both with a map of if and how we can best work together in order to unearth your deeply ingrained inner conflicts.
Quality Provision
While I abide by ethical guidelines stipulated by AASW for their registered social workers, I aim to ensure a consistent listening space from a position of nonjudgmental acceptance. I will only take on people I think I can help, and who seem likely to commit to the treatment. I won't see more than a set number of patients a day, to ensure I have the concentration necessary to help each patient. I also provide online only counselling using a secure platform
Areas of Special Interest
Accreditations
- Bachelor Social Science (Counselling) - 2010
- Grad Dip Psychotherapy - 2009
Modalities
Buddhist Psychotherapy - Dream Work - Freudian - Meditation - Mindfulness - Psychoanalytic - Psychodynamic
Therapy Approach
Adam Szmerling is a seasoned Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and Clinical
Psychotherapist based in Melbourne. With over 15 years of experience, Adam specialises in psychoanalysis (Lacanian) and Schema Therapy, offering insight-oriented talk therapy to individuals and couples. As the owner of Bayside Psychotherapy, Adam combines Eastern and Western treatment methods to provide tailored and effective therapy, both in-person and online. He holds qualifications including a Master of Social Work and a Certificate of Lacanian Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice.
Adam Szmerling, a Melbourne native, is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and Clinical Psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience. Practising Lacanian psychoanalysis.
Professional Associations
- Australian Association of Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Australian Hypnotherapists Association
- Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia
Practice Locations
8
539 Highett Rd
Highett VIC 3190
Face to face and online sessions. Ample parking
Appointments
9am-7pm Mon-Sat but please call to check availability or if I am taking on new patients at the time of your booking request.
Fees & Insurance
$200
Payment Options
Credit card. Mental Health Care Plan (not bulk billed), NDIS
Contact Adam
Please contact me to make an appointment
A conversation with Adam Szmerling
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I have never been able to think of any profession more interesting than dynamic psychotherapy, where we encounter the unconscious every day. Not that other professions or relationships are without transferences or an unconscious, but psychotherapy contains an intentional interest into the unconscious. In a sense, people pay you to interpret their unconscious. And, I have never worked with someone and not learned something new, and for this reason I would never choose another profession.
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Buddhism, specifically Theravada in the practice of non-dual, nonjudgmental observation and of course the now fashionable, mindfulness meditation. Coupled with Lacanian Psychoanalysis the critical element of speech often so lacking in meditation can't be said to be a 'complete' system but certainly the best I know.
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I have a special interest in the relationship between guilt and the world. Also the differences between shame and guilt, especially those unconscious elements and where self-deception comes into play. I'm fascinated by how we are so committed to the status quo even when it's unpleasant or destructive.
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Lacanian Psychoanalysis and some elements of Buddhist Meditation theory, but with a special interest in bringing unconscious elements of the psyche, especially those most shameful aspects, into speech, into discourse.
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I wish this could be answered in a gereralisable way but the fact is psychotherapy is not linear, some people feel better after the first session, where many feel more vulnerable at first. Depending on the transference, the person's history, how realistic are their expectations, and their commitment, deep progress can take quite some time...that said feeling better isn't tantamount to getting better and just talking can sometimes provide relief quickly. But for deeper changes to be realised it may take months or years.
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Therapy forces me to step outside myself and listen to people in a way that starts with the assumption that I don;t know what they're talking about. Put differently, that I can learn something new from what they have to say, no matter how trivial they themselves may think of their own speech at times. So therapy makes me better in the sense of busting the illusion that we all think the same.
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I like that in every session, no matter how many years I've worked with a patient, I always learn something... And, moments of insight are definitely likeable, where the patient arrives at their own insights and therefore the changes are more congruent and lasting.
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Actually, I treat a number of patients presenting with what is often called trichotillomania or compulsive hair pulling, so forgive me if I don't answer this question so literally. Ok, so some days are better than others. I am a very reflective therapist who meditates upon each patient and often I wish I had said this or that differently or not at all in a given session, but it's usually a lesson that it would have been better to say less or nothing at all and follow the patients lead...
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Aggressive narcissism, or any process where people are reduced to objects in the actions of others. Out of this excessive competitiveness and striving for more
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Song: "Ladder" by Stuart Davis.