Monica Dumitriu

I am a medical doctor and psychotherapist specialised in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Integrative Psychotherapy. I live in Prague, Czech Republic and I am a registered and certified member of Czech Association for Psychotherapy (Česká asociace pro psychoterapii).

Before turning to psychotherapy, I worked for more than 20 years in a corporate environment and enjoyed the comfortable and secure life I had, but I felt that I could offer more to people and myself. Understanding how the mind works was the key for me to live a meaningful life. I wanted to understand how people who had gone through horrible experiences managed to survive and appreciate life and how people who seemed to have been given everything did not enjoy their life and destroyed themselves.

I took courses in coaching, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Human Resources, philosophy of religion and things started to take shape, but were still vague and missing consistency. Eventually, I decided to study psychotherapy and the puzzle began to fall into place.

But apart from understanding the “whys” of the human mind, there was one more thing that motivated me in this quest: deep down in my heart I have always been an incurable optimist. I always believed that, no matter how stuck a situation seemed, there was always a solution. I wanted to help people find a way to live a fulfilled life against the heavy odds that might have marked their start in life.
On the other hand, I do not believe that psychotherapy offers magical solutions. Psychotherapy means hard work on the part of both the Client and the Therapist. Psychotherapy, especially CBT, helps by identifying unhealthy patterns of thinking and behavior, by providing explanations and answers, and a safe place to create and exercise the new healthy patterns of thinking, behaving and feeling.

My aim is to guide clients to find their own solutions and build resources so that, no matter what turn life takes, they are equipped to face it.
A successful therapeutical process is time limited, the client does not have to spend years in therapy in order to see improvement. That’s why I particularly like CBT: it works with well-defined goals, it is straightforward, it is structured and you can evaluate the progress.

I cannot promise that therapy with me will be a joyful journey all the time. Therapy can be sometimes a painful process, but you have to get worse before you get better. You have to face your shadows, confront your demons before being able to make peace with them, and ultimately part with them. But how wonderful it is when you finally get there, isn’t it?

Services that I offer:

• Psychotherapy for: anxiety disorders (generalised anxiety, social anxiety, phobias, panic attacks), depression, fear of abandonment, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, addictions, trauma-related disorders, eating disorders, psychological issues due to medical conditions.
• Counselling for: personal development, life transitions, relationship conflicts, career change and career development, stressful time periods, family conflicts

I offer online and in-person (at my private practice in Prague) therapy sessions in English and Romanian.