Dr Marianna Szabó Clinical Psychologist
BA(Hons), MPsych(Clin), PhD, MAPS
I am committed to using therapeutic approaches that are supported by research evidence. For most psychological problems, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is recommended due to the strong evidence for its effectiveness. For people with long standing problems, CBT is often complemented with Schema Therapy techniques. Mindfulness-based approaches are helpful for a variety of psychological disorders and problems in daily living, both in combination with CBT and Schema Therapy and on their own.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
In CBT, the psychologist and client work together in a collaborative fashion to better understand what is currently happening in the person's life, and to develop more effective ways of coping. The sessions focus on examining the relationships between the client's thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and aim to change unhelpful thinking patterns that lead to distress. Through various exercises, the client learns to notice and change their own patterns in thinking and behaviour. In essence, CBT helps clients to become their own therapist by the end of the treatment.
CBT is a relatively short-term treatment that focuses on current problems and aims to reduce symptoms. Treatment can be as brief as 6 sessions or as long as 20 sessions, depending on the complexity and chronicity of a person's difficulties.
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During my Masters training as a clinical psychologist, I received a strong grounding in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), and have been using this approach as my primary treatment modality over the years.
Schema Therapy
Many people say that they have been anxious, worried, or depressed for most of their lives. They may also feel that they are 'stuck' in some way in their life patterns: perhaps they keep making the wrong choices in their romantic relationships, or having repeated difficulties at work, or conflicts with family members that seem to be going round and round with no resolution. Schema Therapy can help people with such patterns of long-term difficulties.
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Schema therapy tends to take longer than CBT, as it aims to change life-long patterns. It is more concerned with understanding connections between difficult experiences that occurred in the past and the problems that occur in the present. Current challenges can often be understood in the context of the client's upbringing, previous circumstances, or cultural values. Emotionally processing past experiences and developing new ways of understanding and interacting with the world can have beneficial effects on a person’s current difficulties.
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Schema therapy is a complex, integrative psychotherapy. It provides a framework for combining techniques from other therapies, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Gestalt therapy, and more recently from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-based approaches.
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I received my initial training in Schema Therapy during my Masters in Clinical Psychology, and continue using this approach when it is appropriate for the clients' goals. Schema Therapy has gone through an exciting period of development in recent years. New techniques have been introduced and empirically tested, giving valuable opportunities for Schema Therapy practitioners to expand our skills and introduce new ways of helping clients who struggle with long-standing problems.
Mindfulness
​Mindfulness originates from Buddhist practices and teachings, and has been applied in modern health care settings in a secular form. Like many other mindfulness practitioners and teachers, I believe that an understanding of the traditional teachings, a regular personal meditation practice, and a high quality science education in modern healthcare all combine to provide the best background to teach mindfulness.
​My current mindfulness and meditation practice started in 2004, when I attended a series of teachings with leading Australian Buddhist scholar Bhante Sujato. Since then, I took part in several silent retreats with eminent monastic and lay Buddhist teachers, for example, Thich Nhat Hanh and Gregory Kramer. I completed advanced professional training with international leaders in the secular applications of mindfulness in healthcare, including Prof Jon Kabat-Zinn, Prof Mark Williams, Prof Susan Bögels, and others.
In my academic work, I created advanced seminars teaching about mindfulness at the University of Sydney, which have been highly valued by students. I also facilitate a mindfulness program in cooperation with student well-being services at the University of Sydney. My research about mindfulness has been published in leading scientific journals and presented at major international conferences.
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I am planning to start a new Introductory Mindfulness program in Sydney and online. If you would like to receive more information about program dates and times, please contact me and I will let you know as soon as they are available.
Mindful Parenting
The Mindful Parenting program is an 8-week structured program originally developed by Professor Susan Bögels and her colleagues at the University of Amsterdam, NL. The program is similar to Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Prof Bögels and colleagues expanded on these programs to be more relevant to the challenges parents encounter in their everyday lives, in the context of their relationship with their children. Any parent who finds parenting stressful can benefit from this program.
I completed advanced teacher training with Prof Bögels in Amsterdam in 2017 and have since introduced the program in Australia and in Hungary. The first scientific study in Australia evaluating this program for parents of anxious children has been carried out by a PhD student under my supervision at the University of Sydney.
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The program involves 8 weekly meetings, and a 9th meeting a month later. During these meetings, parents learn about stress, the effects of stress on their parenting, and ways to reduce their stress reactions and change their parenting behaviours using mindfulness. The 9th meeting is important to enable parents to check in with their mindfulness practise and to discuss any difficulties they may have.
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I am planning to start a new Mindful Parenting group program in Sydney and online. If you would like to receive more information about program dates and times, please contact me.
