Jasmina has also completed a PhD in the area of chronic, treatment-resistant depression. This research looked at understanding how early childhood experiences influence personality and the development of chronic depression. It also explored treatment response to TMS and found that those with more severe forms of depression tended to have underlying personality vulnerability, complicating their treatment response which made them less likely to respond to biological / medical psychiatric treatments. This means that for those people medication alone was unlikely to shift their issues and even when not in a depressive episode, such individuals tended to feel down and ‘not good’ about themselves even when positive experiences happened to them.
She has a passion for helping those who have experienced this type of long-standing emotional difficulty, who can often feel let down by the system that does not know what to do with their suffering or how to help them overcome their struggles. While such individuals may have a variety of diagnoses there is a lot of similarity in such experiences such as mood fluctuations, perhaps with a mixture of anxiety and depression symptoms. There is often pervasive self-doubt, endless worry, with a negative and highly self-critical outlook. Low-self esteem, feelings of inadequacy and feeling unworthy or worthless tend to be common, as are high expectations of self with perfectionistic tendencies. Such individuals may tend to overthink and ruminate. They may be overwhelmed by emotion and rely on self-destructive ways of coping whether self-harm, addiction, self-loathing, compulsion, self-neglect or active avoidance. It can be common for such individuals to struggle to have a sense of self apart from their diagnosis or symptoms when having been unwell for so long; often feeling lost in amongst it all. Jasmina recognises that all people want to be seen and accepted for who they really are. She strives to provide a safe space in which people can achieve an authentic connection with themselves and work towards making lasting changes in their life.
Jasmina works with adults and older adolescents and likes to work with any gender, sexual orientation and cultural background and will always do so openly, honestly and respectfully.
Experience and interest in working with the following:
- Chronic, treatment-resistant depression
- Anxiety conditions (generalised, panic, OCD)
- Complex trauma, PTSD and dissociative phenomena
- Mood disorders, depression, Bipolar, pre and post-natal depression
- Eating disorders, body image issues, binge eating
Personality disorder and emotion dysregulation - Addictions
- Psychotic disorders
- Grief and loss, complicated grief reactions
Her focus will not be on your diagnosis per se (unless required) but rather on what are the issues you are experiencing and how do we work together to help you to make meaningful changes in your life. The aim in her work is to help clients obtain symptom relief of course. However, treatment will also be focused on overcoming the underlying maladaptive patterns of how you relate to yourself and your world, which leads you to repetitively encounter the same struggles again and again. As such, you can expect to work in the here and now but also to work with relevant past issues that have a presence in your current life. Her approach is warm, open and honest within an attachment-based and emotion focused framework.
Jasmina has gained skills in utilising a number of therapeutic modalities including psychodynamic, DBT, mindfulness, ACT, CBT, motivational interviewing, behavioural interventions and somatic/body based techniques. She has extensive training and knowledge in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) and this forms the basis of her therapeutic approach.
Being an avid learner, she is actively interested in continually evolving her skills and knowledge.
Her interventions are also underpinned by research and understandings in neurobiology and trauma informed therapies. She will utilise psycho-education and skills training as required depending on your issues in order to maximise your treatment outcomes She will meet you with compassion and an active energy in your process of healing and recovery.