Martin Langvik Eilertsen

I accept all types of problems. Common symptoms or themes can be anxiety, depression, inner turmoil, difficult relationships, bad conscience, shame, anger problems, refusal to make decisions, problems at work, trauma, sexuality, intimacy, closeness, etc. Often it can be about a crisis or major upheaval in life that has caused something to happen, or perhaps you have long wondered if you should talk to someone. You are welcome to me anyway.

I have a basic assumption that all mental suffering and hardship affects our relationship with other people - or with ourselves. It is in meeting others that we can experience both the best and the worst things in life. We can be afraid of other people; we may feel that no one likes us; we can feel so lonely that we think there is no place for us; we can be the "black sheep" of the family; we can be the one who was abandoned and lost everything; we can be the one who never manages to get close. The possibilities are many. That is why I am very concerned about the importance of relationships in how I work - we are both hurt and healed in relationships. Furthermore, I also have a basic idea that all people struggle from time to time, and am not concerned with categorizing something as sick or healthy.

In my opinion, therapy is not about building up – it is about tearing down: removing obstacles that hold the person back from developing freely. Most people have spaces within themselves that they were not aware they had (or that were perhaps closed off a long time ago). It can be an incredibly stimulating experience to (re)discover such richness within themselves. Very often I think that such spaces are about feelings that we have not learned to know (again), and that we have not been able to handle because they became too violent, painful or shameful. And often they lack language completely, and we become silent and do not know what to say. It also becomes difficult to think. Opening the doors to such spaces and getting to know their content can help set us free, and move us forward from what we thought was completely hopeless. That's why I often think that my job is primarily about introducing the people I meet to themselves - a kind of guided tour where I, as a fellow human being and professional, can make you aware of aspects of yourself and your history that you weren't aware existed.