Bradley Murray

Dr. Murray is a psychoanalyst and Registered Clinical Counsellor who has been in private practice for 11 years. He is based on the North Shore and offers online psychodynamic therapy, psychoanalysis, and consultations for individuals living in the greater Vancouver area as well as throughout BC.

He often works with:

• young adults

• middle-aged adults

• university and college students

• organizational leaders and executives

• health care professionals

As a psychoanalyst, he helps people look inward so that they can thoughtfully work through aspects of their personal lives and relationships. Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies emphasize the development of insight over time as we explore what you are like as a unique individual. This is to avoid imposing pre-given or over-simplifying solutions to your problems.

Themes that often come up in Dr. Murray's work with clients include:

• overcoming blocks or inhibitions to developing your capacity for creative expression, leadership, or other goals you are pursuing

• understanding your patterns in relationships

• addressing the feeling that you have been presenting a "false" self

• addressing feelings of shame and embarrassment

• learning about yourself and what you want

• dealing with experiences of boredom

• addressing patterns of avoidance (such as overusing social media or substances)

• gaining comfort with feelings that have been avoided

• facing difficult or traumatic memories

• intimacy, connectedness, trust

• being able to take care of others without sacrificing your own needs

• addressing aspects of yourself that feel undeveloped or stuck in early life

Many people have these kinds of concerns. It is also common for these concerns to lie at the root of distressing symptoms, such as depression and anxiety.

Dr. Murray also offers cognitive-behavioral (CBT) treatment, an approach to therapy that helps people address “thinking traps” and initiate behavioral strategies to help with specific psychological symptoms.

During the assessment phase, we will work collaboratively to develop an initial therapy plan that makes use of one or both of these approaches and draws on psychotherapy research findings. This will take into account how long you have been struggling with your concerns and whether you have tried any counselling or therapy in the past.

I look forward to hearing from you if you are interested in beginning therapy or psychoanalysis. The process begins with an initial telephone or video consultation so that we can start the conversation and you can make an informed decision. If you will benefit from a kind of help that I do not specialize in, I will do my best to offer a referral to a suitable service or to a clinician within my referral network.