Consult.

In recent times, video-conferencing through skype and other well-known applications have become popular for psychotherapy, although the process does suffer from some limitations. They cannot be considered as effective as a face-to-face session. However, in view of increasing requests from individuals and couples from different parts of the country and the world, Dr Nagaswami, now offers consultations by video-conferencing (Skype and FaceTime). If you would like more details or would like to fix an appointment for a video-chat, please mail him at videosessions@vijaynagaswami.com

Face-to-face sessions are offered only at Chennai. If you’d like an appointment you could call +91-7338969025 or +91-7200158866. You could also, if you prefer, mail appointment@vijaynagaswami.com


Couple Therapy.

Traditionally, the practice of Couple Therapy varies depending on the ‘school of Couple Therapy’ the therapist is affiliated to. There is the Psychodynamic School which traces all conflicts in the marriage back to childhood and tries to rectify these. There is the Systemic School which treats marriage as a living system and attempts to arrive at mechanistic and systemic solutions to fix its component parts. There is the Cognitive Behavioural School that sees marital issues as being products of ‘faulty cognitions’ or inaccurate thoughts and focuses on getting both partners to change their negative cognitions of each other. There is also the Emotionally Focussed School that works with the emotions experienced by both partners in an attempt to modulate and moderate the relationship and attempts to strengthen the relationship bond.

Dr Nagaswami’s approach to Couple Therapy does not confine him to any of these schools but tries to get the best out of each in order to facilitate what he has described as the four Cs of marriage: commitment, connectedness, communication and companionship. He helps couples work on the following areas:

◆ Moderating expectations
◆ Understanding marriage templates and creating a final marriage template
◆ Defining ‘I’ and ‘We’ spaces in the relationship
◆ Moving from ‘Me & My Family Vs You & Your Family’ to ‘We and our Families’
◆ Control Games
◆ Fighting Smart
◆ Smart Communication Basics
◆ Enhancing Intimacy
◆ Balancing other life spaces (family, friends & work) with the marriage space



The couples who seek his intervention are essentially ‘normal couples’ with ‘normal marriage issues’ for which they are hard pressed to find solutions, since their marriages are so different from that of their parents. Some couples, of course, by virtue of carrying unresolved conflicts for too long, have a lot of toxicity in their marriages. Typically, Couple Therapy would last a few weeks over ten to sixteen one-hour sessions. Starting with a first combined session to understand and assess the issues involved, therapy will involve a few independent sessions with each partner and a few more combined sessions thereafter. The therapeutic process involves talking, understanding, resolving and moving on.

Individual Psychotherapy.


Most people think that psychotherapy is a form of treatment for people with severely disturbed minds. That perhaps was the case when psychotherapy was founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, today psychotherapy and counselling are much broader in their scope and really refer to helping people find a way out of any bottleneck that their lives place in their path. By understanding oneself better, one can learn to find the most appropriate solutions. Psychotherapy helps one arrive at this understanding through a process of talking about, interpreting and obtaining insights into one’s maladaptive behaviours. The process can take up to six months of weekly sessions, but those who go through this usually find themselves much more empowered to deal with the ups and downs of their lives.