Specialisms
What I can help with
Most people come to me for OCD, anxiety or trauma — but the same evidence-based tools help with much more. Open anything below to see how I work with it. And if you don't see yourself here, ask: if I'm not the right therapist, I'll say so and point you to someone who is.
Common difficulties
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
My core specialism: intrusive thoughts and the rituals, checking or mental reviewing that follow them, treated with CBT and exposure and response prevention (ERP).
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
Hours lost to a perceived flaw in your appearance — mirror checking, comparing, camouflaging — and the certainty that everyone else can see it too.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Worry that jumps from one thing to the next and never runs out of subjects, with tension, broken sleep and a mind that won't let you rest.
Health Anxiety
The fear that something is seriously wrong with your body: checking symptoms, seeking reassurance, and never quite believing the all-clear.
Panic Disorder
Panic attacks that arrive out of nowhere — racing heart, tight chest, the certainty something is badly wrong — and the fear of the next one.
Phobias
A specific fear — flying, needles, driving, animals, heights — that has grown big enough to shape your decisions.
Depression (Including Postnatal and Low Mood)
Low mood, flatness and exhaustion, and the loss of interest in things that used to matter — including low mood after having a baby.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & Trauma
Flashbacks, nightmares, being constantly on guard, or a past event that still feels present. I treat trauma with EMDR and trauma-focused CBT.
Emetophobia (Fear Of Vomiting)
The fear of being sick, or of seeing someone else be sick — and the eating, travel and social rules quietly built around avoiding it.
Other difficulties
Anger Management
Anger that escalates faster than you can catch it and leaves damage behind — to relationships, to work, or to how you feel about yourself.
Therapy For Autistic Adults
Therapy for autistic adults: anxiety, sensory overload, burnout and the cost of masking. The work adapts to how you think — it doesn't try to change it.
Bipolar Disorder
Talking therapy alongside your psychiatric care: understanding your patterns, catching early warning signs, and steadying the ground between episodes.
Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD)
Intense, fast-changing emotions, a fear of being abandoned, and relationships that swing between far too close and far too far away.
Disordered Eating
When food, weight or shape take up far more of your thinking than you would ever choose. This isn't a substitute for specialist eating-disorder services — if that's what you need, I'll say so and help you find it.
Pathological Jealousy
Consuming doubt about a partner's fidelity — the checking, the questioning and the mental reviewing that no amount of reassurance ever settles.
Procrastination
Chronic putting-off that costs you deadlines, opportunities and peace of mind — usually anxiety or perfectionism wearing a disguise.
Low Self-Esteem
The harsh inner critic: feeling not good enough at work, in relationships, or anywhere at all — and the rules you follow to keep it quiet.
Self-Harm
Understanding what the harming does for you — what it relieves, punishes or makes real — and building kinder ways to manage the feelings underneath it, without shame and at your pace. If you have injured yourself and need medical help, call 999 or go to A&E.
Sexual Abuse
Careful, unhurried therapy for survivors of sexual abuse or assault — recent or long ago, disclosed or never spoken about. I work with EMDR and trauma-focused CBT, and we only begin processing once you feel steady enough. You set the pace and you never have to give a blow-by-blow account.
Suicidal Thoughts
A safe, non-judgemental place to talk about thoughts of ending your life, and to build reasons and ways to stay. Therapy is not a crisis service: if you are in immediate danger call 999 or go to A&E. You can ring Samaritans free on 116 123, any time of day or night, or call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option.
Not sure where you fit?
You don't need a diagnosis or the perfect words to get in touch — describe what's going on and Gisela will tell you honestly whether she can help.
Social Anxiety
Dreading the meeting, the party or the phone call — monitoring how you come across, and replaying every word of it afterwards.
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