Juliet Rosenfield

I am a psychoanalytic therapist, meaning I prioritise my patient’s unconscious communications, through what they say, do, or express in other ways. I listen to overwhelming, sometimes disturbing or embarrassing feelings which may not have been spoken aloud or meaningfully shared before. It is not a quick fix and requires a patient’s commitment and patience. However, it can be transformational to be 'heard' in this way, and to feel finally understood. Gradually it can bring about enduring change in how someone feels about themselves, leading them to a more fulfilling and happier life. 

I am interested in two areas of difficult adult experience; couple relationships and bereavement.

Often, between two people, psychological distress is demonstrated in damaging behaviours ( an affair for example.) I am not judgmental but interested to know what is being avoided when someone ‘does’ ( known as acting out) rather than working painful feelings through. Frequently, unresolved situations from infancy or childhood are blamed on a partner and resolving them in therapy can help a couple enormously.

Close bereavement has no parallel and I treat it as distinct to other 'life losses.' Someone suffering profound grief ( and shock) may not even have  language to express how bereft they are.  This requires a particular kind of intensive listening. Grief does not conform to any kind of pattern, despite the many definitions that are frequently cited about it. I take each patient’s pain as unique, but I do believe for most relief can come with therapeutic help.

I understand commercial and institutional environments and after Oxford I spent fifteen years in advertising, ending up working at the Cabinet Office in Government Communications. There I began an MA at the Tavistock in Organisational Consultancy and decided to train as a psychotherapist. I studied Integrative Psychotherapy at Regent's University and am UKCP and BACP accredited. I have worked in two NHS settings alongside private practice; Camden Psychotherapy Unit and the Tavistock Couples Department. 

I was a UKCP Elected Trustee 2019-22, and now Clinical Trustee at the Freud Museum, London. I have written two books; The State of Disbelief ( Hachette 2020) an account of grief and the couple, and Affairs ( Pan Macmillan, 2025) on the taboo subject of affairs, and early emotional difficulties that may explain them. I believe psychoanalytic ideas have much wider applications to society, and my doctoral work at UCL in the Psychoanalysis Department focuses on or couples and the difficulties they face.

j.rosenfield@qaspractice.com