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Tuesday 09:00 - 19:00 Wednesday 09:00 - 19:00 Thursday 09:00 - 19:00 Friday 09:00 - 19:00 Saturday 09:00 - 15:00

Integrative Therapy Malta

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Ta' Xbiex
Integrative Therapy Malta

Psychotherapy & Counselling services, warranted Psychotherapists, Clinical Supervision

22/08/2025

I am happy to announce that I am now offering Clinical Supervision sessions to Psychotherapists, Counsellors and other mental health professionals, both online and at my clinic in Ta'xbiex.
If you're a therapist or mental healthcare provider and you're looking for a space of safety and reflection, where you will gain insights into your work with your clients, but also support for your own well-being, feel free to reach out.
Alina

30/07/2021

People in general are very good at finding new and creative ways to self-sabotage. And you don't have to look too far to see this. We mostly learn self-betrayal habits in relationships, growing up. In order to keep people in our lives and constantly keep others happy, we understand that we need to sacrifice most of our needs.
In other words, as we desperately try to get people's approval, acceptance and get closer to them, the more we distance from ourselves.
The more we want others to like us, the less connected we'll be to our authentic emotions, needs, interests, thoughts.

But just as we're good at self-betrayal and self-sabotage, we are equally capable of being gentle, comforting and kind to ourselves.
We want to foster more self-compassion, so that we can grow a loving attitude towards ourselves, rather than self-betrayal. We want to start speaking to ourselves in ways that are supportive, caring and encouraging. We want to learn how to sooth and comfort ourselves when we’re hurting, rather than being judgmental and constantly shaming ourselves for being vulnerable or hurt.

Start paying attention to the ways in which you're betraying yourself.

21/07/2021

Belonging isn't actually about fitting in. Belonging is who we are. Fitting in is who we are trying to be, in order to feel accepted.

Fitting in requires us to sit in other people's expectations and betray our own needs, believes, feelings, or in some cases our own sense of self. It will come to tell us who we "should be", instead of exploring and embracing the totality of who we "really are". This can feel very disempowering.

In order to adapt to the circumstances of our lives, we creatively adjust in the best way we can, with the resources we have at the time. In order to feel accepted and loved growing up, most of us create a habit of rejecting or disowning parts of ourselves.

An important aspect in adulthood is to become more emotionally literate, to recognise and understand our thoughts, emotions and needs.
Another important aspect is to learn how to sit in other people's criticism and disapproval, and start trusting ourselves more.

13/11/2020

Self-compassion is rooted in a healthy and "fair" self perception.
It's our capacity to be vulnerable and give ourselves the chance to be human and make mistakes, without harshly judging ourselves.
It's about treating ourselves like we would treat someone we love deeply, with understanding and support.
What is your relation with compassion and self-compassion?
Instagram:

25/10/2020

"We learn our belief systems as very little children, and then we move through life creating experiences to match our beliefs. Look back in your own life and notice how often you have gone through the same experience." – Louise L. Hay

Notice what are your beliefs about yourself, others and the world — see how they've influenced your life (including the people you choose) and have shaped everything you do.

Awareness is a powerful tool — it helps us realise we have choices. By becoming conscious of our own belief system, we can choose healthier options for our wellbeing (habits, relationships, behaviours, careers, etc).

21/10/2020

As children we survive by adapting to our environment. The adjustment and adaptation created in childhood to protect ourselves, will come to limit us as adults.

My defence mechanisms growing up was deflection and dissociation (I almost have no memories from my childhood) — which allowed me to lose contact with emotions like anger, sadness, pain and disappointment & to continue to love my parents in spite of their flaws. This is how I knew to protect my attachment relationships as a child.
I've continued a big part of my adult life deflecting and numbing my own needs, feelings, sensations. Until I've learned otherwise — to sit with my experiences, feel and stop "running away".

We continue to live our adult lives based on adaptations learned in childhood.
We need to become aware of what no longer serves us and move beyond our survival mechanism.

16/10/2020

It's okay to feel whatever you're feeling. There might be wrong actions, behaviours and practices, in the sense that they might contradict social norms and laws. But there are no wrong feelings.
You are allowed to feel whatever it is you're feeling: love, hate, gratitude, resentment, disappointment, etc.

What creates pain and struggle is the resistance in accepting our emotions. When we meet a feeling (natural happening) with thoughts like "I shouldn't be feeling this" or "It's wrong to feel like this", we come into conflict with the reality and naturalness of what we're experiencing.

But when we allow ourselves to simply experience and feel our feelings, they will eventually shift. Emotions come and go only if we allow them to, as they are not permanent.

15/10/2020

"I don't have needs; everyone needs me".
People who have experienced developmental trauma might feel ashamed of their own needs and find it almost impossible to identify them.

Instead, they learn to be very perceptive of other people's needs, which becomes a big part of their life — constantly attuning to others' needs instead of their own. They give to others what they would need for themselves.

As children we might have feared that: "If I express my needs, I will be rejected or abandoned."
As adults, we tend to be around people who will not meet our needs, thus reinforcing our belief that expressing or even having needs is pointless.

It's our responsibility as adults to re-connect with our own needs, and understand that the more we ignore and neglect them, the more frustrated, angry and resentful we'll live.
📷

14/10/2020

Many people who have experienced trauma use denial to negate the reality of their life experience.
Denial is a defence mechanism and can cause a disconnection from our own bodies, sensations, emotions and even memories.

Positive thinking is often the clearest sign of living in denial. Many believe that thinking makes it so, but the truth of the matter is that reality always wins.

The purpose of this defense mechanism is to blind you with optimism so that you can move forward without the heaviness of reality.

The more we avoid feeling our anxieties, fears, pains and sufferings, by surrounding ourselves with positive thinking, the more disconnected and split we'll feel.

When reality is telling you something that conflicts with your own beliefs, it’s time to practice introspection, seek inside yourself and face what you discover.

Staying positive is good, but staying grounded is even more important — this will help you integrate a healthy self-image and connect with your true self.
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13/10/2020

People often invite us to unconsciously re-enact their own life scripts (internal scenarios) and we might become whomever they need in order for this to happen.

We can become more critical, judgmental, angry, extremely worried and caring, jealous, etc. When it's more difficult to recognise yourself from how you usually act, feel, talk, behave you might be unconsciously playing someone else's life script.

A life script is an unconscious life plan (scenario, narrative), that we make up as children about ourselves, relationships and life in general.

For example, a big chapter of my own life script was that I had to be the good girl, always being careful about how people perceive me and putting a lot of energy into other's opinions of me. Another chapter was that life is always a struggle, there is no time for rest and relaxation, and I need to work very hard to achieve what I want.

I'm becoming more and more aware of how I've invited people to unconsciously play my life script, just as I was invited to play roles in other's life scripts.

We need strong self-awareness in order to step outside someone's life script, by becoming ourselves. We also need to bring consciousness into what roles people play in our own lives. Are they reinforcing our life narrative?

12/10/2020

Communication is an essential component of any human interaction. Active listening and passive listening are two ways we listen to people.

In active listening, the listener has to concentrate, make a conscious and active effort to understand and respond to what is being communicated.

In passive listening, there is a tendency of our mind to drift to other topics from time to time; although we think we might be listening, we are not actually understanding what is being said.

It can be deeply frustrating to connect with someone who means well, but isn't actually available to hearing what you're trying to share.
Sometimes asking for what you need (feedback, advice, silence, etc) and sharing how you really feel in relationship can genuinely change a dynamic.

11/10/2020

I find it difficult to trust and feel completely safe with people who aren't aware of their own darkness and learn to accept it (greed, anger, vengeance, jealousy, lust, competitiveness, etc.).

The more we refuse to accept that as being part of us, the more it will control us blindly and manifest at unexpected moments and in ways we can't explain or understand.

It’s understandable that the process of becoming civilized requires us to repress some aspects of ourselves, that don't fit in with society's expectations.
However, this comes at a great cost to us.
We are born whole and complete, but we slowly learn to live fragmented lives, accepting some parts of our nature, but rejecting and denying other aspects.

The more we avoid and reject our darkness, the more powerful it becomes.

Address

Ta' Xbiex

Opening Hours

Tuesday	09:00 - 19:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 19:00
Thursday	09:00 - 19:00
Friday	09:00 - 19:00
Saturday	09:00 - 15:00

Telephone

+35699621332

Website

http://www.integrativetherapy.com.mt/

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