The Evolution of Therapeutic Approaches
Therapy has developed in waves in response to what people need and to the limits of what came before. These waves are not a hierarchy. Each has value, depending on the depth of support required.
First Wave - behavioural approaches (mid-20th century) focused on observable behaviour and remain useful for specific habits and symptoms, but they do not address emotional history, trauma, or early relational imprinting.
Second Wave (1960s–1980s) cognitive approaches, including CBT, recognised the role of thought patterns and continue to be helpful for many people. Their limits appear when distress is overwhelming or rooted in trauma, where rational thought is not easily accessible.
Third Wave (1980s–2000s) therapies brought mindfulness, compassion, and relational awareness. They acknowledge complexity, yet often work indirectly with the body and nervous system.
Alongside these developments, counselling and talk therapy remain deeply supportive for life transitions, grief, relationship difficulties, and times of stress. When experiences are held in the cells and nervous system of the body, however, talk therapy alone is often not enough.
Fourth Wave therapy (2010 onwards) works directly with the nervous system and the body, where unprocessed experiences are held. It supports change at a cellular and relational level, allowing healing to settle more fully and often more efficiently.
I offer counselling and therapy in Emsworth between Chichester, West Sussex and Portsmouth, with sessions available in person and online across the UK. My work is somatic, trauma-informed, and relational, supporting people with anxiety, stress, trauma and PTSD, relationship difficulties, health challenges, and major life transitions.
If you are looking for a local counsellor or therapist who works gently with the nervous-system and the body-mind, this approach may be a good fit.
Therapy has developed in waves in response to what people need and to the limits of what came before. These waves are not a hierarchy. Each has value, depending on the depth of support required.
First Wave - behavioural approaches (mid-20th century) focused on observable behaviour and remain useful for specific habits and symptoms, but they do not address emotional history, trauma, or early relational imprinting.
Second Wave (1960s–1980s) cognitive approaches, including CBT, recognised the role of thought patterns and continue to be helpful for many people. Their limits appear when distress is overwhelming or rooted in trauma, where rational thought is not easily accessible.
Third Wave (1980s–2000s) therapies brought mindfulness, compassion, and relational awareness. They acknowledge complexity, yet often work indirectly with the body and nervous system.
Alongside these developments, counselling and talk therapy remain deeply supportive for life transitions, grief, relationship difficulties, and times of stress. When experiences are held in the cells and nervous system of the body, however, talk therapy alone is often not enough.
Fourth Wave therapy (2010 onwards) works directly with the nervous system and the body, where unprocessed experiences are held. It supports change at a cellular and relational level, allowing healing to settle more fully and often more efficiently.
Why Fourth Wave therapy now
In a time of sustained stress, trauma, and rapid change, many people are no longer only asking what is wrong, but why their system feels overwhelmed. Fourth Wave therapy meets this moment gently and profoundly by working at the level where experience is actually organised and stored.
I offer counselling and therapy in Emsworth between Chichester, West Sussex and Portsmouth, with sessions available in person and online across the UK. My work is somatic, trauma-informed, and relational, supporting people with anxiety, stress, trauma and PTSD, relationship difficulties, health challenges, and major life transitions.
If you are looking for a local counsellor or therapist who works gently with the nervous-system and the body-mind, this approach may be a good fit.