Hello, my name is Kruno Cordas and I am a psychologist and an ISTDP psychotherapist accredited by British Psychological Society. My life experience had taken me through several different fields of psychological work and various scientific and alternative approaches to mental health. From psychology in hospitality and customer relations to computer science and mental health support in aviation to academic approaches to psychology and psychotherapy within universities and institutes. All these parts of my life thought me a small part of what I am today to perfect the practice of helping people in their psychological and emotional struggles.
Life can sometimes be hard, there are ups and downs, tears and laughter, joy and sorrow, insights and fall outs. I met some great friends, and people all around the world and visited over 100 countries world-wide. This had thought me about the universality of human suffering and coping, showed me how different cultures live, perceive the world, react and strive. All these experiences took me to the place where I am today – a psychologist with private practice. I am grateful for all these experiences so today I want to share this knowledge within scientific and empirical discourse to help people with various mental health problems.
About me and ISTDP therapy
After graduating University of Derby in UK focusing on clinical and abnormal psychology, I am practicing Intensive Short-Term Dynamic psychotherapy or ISTDP at my post-graduate level with ISTDP institute in Australia. ISTDP is an evidence based, clinically researched approach that delivers fast and enduring results with all different kinds of mental health issues. I had chosen this approach because it connects all the scientific fields of psychology and psychotherapy that I am passionate about. ISTDP is based on psychodynamic theory, attachment theory, cognitive behavioural principles, neuroscience of anxiety and somatic (bodily) approach. These are big words and maybe not so clear to everyone but each of them tells their own story and act as factors within ISTDP therapy which can heal you and make you feel and live a better life.
So, let’s see how each of them can help you!
Psychodynamic theory in ISTDP talks about connecting your conscious mind with unconscious processes helping you to get to know yourself and automatic behavioural and cognitive processes better so you can clearly grasp how they had been guiding your lives since you were a child up until today. Why you were choosing specific partners, how do you react in anxiety activating situations, what is your emotional and behavioural pattern of connecting to your friends, family, colleagues at work and how do you defend yourself psychologically through life? It is all connected with how you were modelled as a child by the caregivers and environment you had been surrounded (psychodynamic and attachment theory). The good news is that this can be reprogrammed and processed so you can become free in a sense you will not continue to react in certain situations but consciously choose your individual way forward. This increases self-esteem, individuation and puts you in control of your life. The key is to bring the unconscious to the conscious so you can start to be in control.
Neuroscience of anxiety in ISTDP shows us how different suppressed emotions and impulses activate anxiety and through which pathways this anxiety discharges through your body causing myriad of somatic problems such as blurry vision, headaches, chronic pain, tension in the body, heart, stomach and digestive system, etc. In ISTDP we learn all of this! By getting to really know your anxiety with precision, love and compassion you will know exactly what triggers it and how it spreads through your body and negatively affect it. As a result, you will learn to master the anxiety, regulate it and extinguish it at the end of the therapeutic process. It will feel like a big weight has been lifted from your body and you will know exactly when and how anxiety can knock on your door to stress your body. The key is, you will not let it in again and with time it will walk away from you and leave you in peace and harmony.
Cognitive behavioural approach in ISTDP informs us how to engage your prefrontal cortex or conscious part of the brain to take a good grasp and understanding of the emotions you had buried in your past and through your life. You will learn how to label emotions and feel them within your body in order to process them and let them go. This is done by the visual portrayal of specific emotionally charged situations from your past. Surprisingly, these, so called, hot spots or traumatic events from your life can be rewritten and deactivated so they do not engage your anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress you had been feeling so far.
This therapy works by analyzing what is under the symptoms of your problems. Where in clinical setting you might get a certain label such as General Anxiety Disorder, Clinical Depression or PTSD because your symptoms belong to a certain category of symptomatology, in ISTDP we look under those symptoms. For example, if you are diagnosed with depression, that is just stating the symptom but it does not give us the real reason why are you depressed! If you keep addressing the symptoms with therapies that are not effective or medications you might feel better but with time they will be back because you have not addressed the real cause of your mental health, just the symptoms! So what are we going to do is take an honest, deep look into your emotions, psychological defences and anxiety pathways to dismantle and reorganize them within your unconscious mind. This will in turn make a lasting change of your “operating system” and the real cause of your mental health problem will be solved - not just the presenting symptoms!
With all these tools contained in ISTDP we can successfully treat and solve your mental health problems. I am here as your co-pilot to lovingly guide you and compassionately be present with you on a journey to your happier and more successful life. I love what I do and I am here, ready to help you with precision, compassion and love on your journey to health.
