What off the record actually means here
Confidential therapy can mean two different things. Most therapists keep what you say private, which is a promise. Far fewer can keep the fact of the work off every record, because they bill insurance, file diagnoses, and sit on a national register that documents who is treating whom. That is structure, not a promise, and structure is what people mean when they search for therapy that is off the record.
What I run is the second kind. I do not bill insurance, so no claim and no diagnosis code is ever sent to an insurer. I do not file a diagnosis on a clinical record. I send nothing to a GP, an employer, or a registry, because I am not inside any of those systems. You contact me directly and pay directly, in any currency. There is no intake that routes anywhere, and nothing that a future check, clearance, medical, or diligence process can retrieve, because it was never created.
Why the record matters to the people who ask
The people who search for this are rarely hiding anything. They are clearance holders and contractors who do not want an unnecessary documentation trail. They are executives, founders, and partners for whom a diagnosis on file is a liability in a future raise or review. They are clinicians, lawyers, and pilots whose regulators can ask about treatment. They are people living in small countries where a single central register holds everything, and people who simply do not want a label following them through insurance, occupational health, or a visa medical for the rest of their lives.
For each of those concerns there is a page that goes into the specifics.
Where to go for each concern
If the worry is a diagnosis on your record, see therapy with no diagnosis on your record. If it is insurance and registry exposure generally, see private therapy with no insurance and no registry. If it is your GP being told, see therapy that is not reported to your GP. If it is a security clearance, see how therapy affects a clearance and the page for cleared professionals. All of it is the same arrangement underneath: private pay, fluent English, depth work, nothing on a record.
The honest limits
Private and off the record means no reimbursement. If you need medication, you need a prescriber, and that creates a record. If you need a formal diagnosis to obtain accommodations, a disability claim, or anything in a legal process, you need a clinician who will document it. If your situation involves a court order or risk of harm, you need registered local care, and I will tell you so on the first call. What I offer is depth and privacy, not the lowest price and not a way around documentation you actually need.
Questions about confidential therapy
What people bring to online therapy
The people I work with in English come for a wide range of reasons: anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, anger management, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem issues, procrastination, sleep problems, attachment patterns, self-sabotage, perfectionism, identity questions, and existential concerns. Online counseling makes this work possible from wherever you are, whether you need an English-speaking therapist, a virtual counselor, or simply someone who can work in your language at a depth that matters.
How it works
Sessions are online via secure video call. I work with individuals and couples (60 minutes). Before your first session, we have a free 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.
Selected research on this approach
My work is psychodynamic and depth-oriented. These are some of the studies on the effectiveness of that kind of therapy. They describe research on the method in general, and are not claims about any individual outcome.
- Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378
- Steinert, C., Munder, T., Rabung, S., Hoyer, J., & Leichsenring, F. (2017). Psychodynamic therapy: as efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(10), 943-953. PMID 28541091
- Leichsenring, F., Abbass, A., Heim, N., Keefe, J. R., Kisely, S., Luyten, P., Rabung, S., & Steinert, C. (2023). The status of psychodynamic psychotherapy as an empirically supported treatment for common mental disorders: an umbrella review based on updated criteria. World Psychiatry, 22(2), 286-304. PMC10168167