Counsellors who work psychodynamically believe that our feelings, thoughts and patterns of behaviour in the present can be shaped and affected by our past experiences - sometimes without us being fully aware of it.
We can be helped to feel more self-acceptance, more self-understanding and more in charge of ourselves through better knowledge of what we are thinking and feeling. To gain this knowledge we need to look at our underlying issues.
Our past may feel full of "big things" or "little things", or maybe a mixture of both. In any case, we may not always think about these things consciously and they could be expressing themselves in our current difficulties.
By talking through our troubles in a safe, non-judgemental, professional relationship with a trained therapist, we can come to know ourselves more deeply, and may begin to spot how our past comes alive in our present. We can then think about new ways of behaving that we might like to try out in everyday life - for example, being able to talk to others about when we feel sad, or angry - and we can start by trying out these new ways of being in our counselling sessions.
In this way we can move forward, developing our resilience, our capacity for change, and our ability to know, accept, and be proud of, our unique selves.