Choosing a therapist can be tricky. How do we know who we’ll feel comfortable with? Will they understand us? Judge us? Will we feel safe enough to open up to them about deeply personal issues? Knowing a little more about the other human being we’ll encounter could help us make our decision.
Clinical Psychologist, Dessy Tzoneva, has a love of language, presence, and kindness. Born in Bulgaria, she has experienced both the separateness of different cultures, and the unity in a shared humanity. She completed her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology through the University of Pretoria, and – over the last few years – has worked with patients at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, 1 Military Hospital, Itsoseng Community Clinic, Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital, Tara Psychiatric Hospital, and Leratong Hospital.
Before following her passion for psychotherapy, Dessy worked in the language editing and copywriting field, where she gained an understanding of work dynamics, the corporate environment, and just how vital it is that we feel fulfilled in the work we do.
Dessy believes in a holistic approach to mental health, and in the benefit psychotherapy has to offer not only to people living with a mental illness, but also those seeking a more meaningful and rewarding existence. She feels driven to make psychotherapy more accessible to people who are committed to investing in themselves, irrespective of their socioeconomic status.
Special Interests
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Medically unexplained physical symptoms
- Suicidal thoughts
- Relationship difficulties
- Intense, overpowering emotions
- Dissociation
- Sense of emptiness / meaninglessness
- Loss / grief
- Traumatic childhood experiences
- Loneliness / isolation
- Existential / meaning-in-life concerns
- Death-related worries
- Sleep difficulties
- Personality disorders
- Psychotic illness