Samantha Merry specialises in trauma, burnout, dysfunctional family dynamics, and dissociation as a response to overwhelming experience, as well as therapeutic writing. She works with adults in longer-term psychodynamic psychotherapy in Bromley, South East London.

 

My clinical work has deepened over time around three interconnected areas: trauma and dissociation, complex family dynamics, and therapeutic writing. More recently, the psychological dimensions of menopause have become a significant strand of my practice. Each of these reflects sustained clinical training and research interest.

Trauma and Dissociation

Trauma is one of the most common threads in the work people bring to therapy, and one of the most varied in how it presents. It may have arrived as a single acute event, or it may have accumulated quietly over years, in families, relationships, or environments that were consistently difficult or unsafe. Many people I work with don’t initially identify with the word “trauma” at all.

I work across the full range of trauma presentations, from single-incident PTSD through to complex and developmental trauma. I have a particular specialist interest in dissociation and work with adults across the full dissociative spectrum, including complex dissociative presentations and Dissociative Identity Disorder. I hold the SCID-D qualification, the most comprehensive clinical instrument for assessing dissociation.  I draw on this training to inform my clinical work with clients rather than offering standalone assessments. I have also had specialist training from the Pottergate Centre, the European Society for Trauma and Dissociation, and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

My approach is psychodynamic and trauma-informed. That means I understand your responses as intelligent adaptations to difficult circumstances, and we work at a pace your nervous system can tolerate.

Complex Family Dynamics

Family relationships are often where we first learn, and sometimes struggle, to connect. I am particularly interested in how early family patterns continue to shape adult relationships, self-esteem, and emotional life. You might have grown up with emotionally distant, unpredictable, or highly critical parents, or found yourself in the role of caretaker, peacemaker, or the one who was always expected to cope.

Together we look at how those roles and expectations still shape you, even when your life looks very different now. This work can be meaningful for people who appear capable and composed on the surface but privately feel unseen, anxious, or unsure where they belong. Understanding these patterns brings clarity, and the possibility of relating in ways that feel more authentic.

.

Writing as Therapy

Writing has long been part of my own reflective practice, and I have seen how useful it can be as part of clinical work. For some people, writing helps when speaking feels too much. For others, it offers a way to reflect, slow down, or find words for experiences that remain just out of reach in conversation. I offer different ways of using writing therapeutically: journaling, letter writing, memoir, poetry, free writing, and more structured reflective exercises. Writing ability is not required and neither is confidence. The focus is on what the writing helps you notice, express, or understand, not on producing polished work.

Writing is always optional. Some people find it immediately useful. Others prefer to keep the work spoken throughout. Both are equally fine. My doctoral research at the University of Chester examines the relationship between therapeutic writing and dissociation. I am a member of Lapidus International, the national body for writing and wellbeing.