Dr McKensey is trained as both a psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist. He works with all mental health issues in adults. His clinical focus emphasises the value of talking treatment, making sense of suffering and with less focus on the removal of symptoms. The aim is more about understanding and addressing deeper psychological pain.

Since the discovery of prozac (fluoxetine) in the last 1980’s there has been a impressive drive to find biological treatments for mental health problems. These aim at reducing the suffering caused by symptoms. There are currently upwards of 40 antidepressants, across numerous drug classes, and similar number of antipsychotics or mood stabilisers developed. Although these medications have beneficial effects, increasingly it has been identified that these treatments are not a cure for mental illness, but simply an aid within a greater treatment framework. The hope that we would find biological treatments to solve the mental health burden has not emerged out of the last 50 years of technological and medical advancement.

Although Dr McKensey is trained in biological treatments, he has specialised in non-medication based treatments, the most effective being psychotherapy. In many way this parallels the slow shift in the profession back towards psychological ways of working. Increasingly we are having to rediscover old treatments and redevelop them. Talking therapies are time consuming and resource heavy, they require a lot from both clinician and patient, but also offer a lot in return. They offer the possibility of more permanent change.

If you are interested in treatment with Dr Mckensey, please contact the practice.