When a relationship hurts and you still cannot let go, it is not a lack of willpower. At PsicoDiversa we work on dependency from the root. In-person practice in Málaga, in the Carretera de Cádiz area.
The first 15-minute call to get to know each other is free and with no obligation.
Not in Málaga? We also do online therapy for emotional dependency.
At PsicoDiversa we work every day with people caught in relationships that hurt them. We are a psychology center in Málaga specialized in emotional dependency and compulsive relationships: it is our main specialty, the one that shapes how the practice works. If you are looking for a psychologist specialized in emotional dependency, here you will not have to explain what is happening to you from scratch.
The same mechanism — looking outside for immediate relief — can lean on a behavior or on a substance. Each one has its own page, with the detail.
The phone and social media, shopping, sex, work or food: routines that calm you for a while and leave guilt, isolation or a sense of losing control behind them. We do not treat it as a “vice,” but as a way of managing deep pain.
A space to talk about your use without anybody putting pressure on you: for when you are still not clear about what you want to do with it, and for when the medical treatment is over but there is work left to do inside.
Emotional dependency rarely arrives all at once. It settles in little by little, and one day you find yourself arranging your whole life around another person, watching their mood and their silences.
Maybe some of this sounds familiar:
You do not have to recognize yourself in all of it. If several of these sentences have been repeating in your life for a long time, it is worth talking it over. And it does not only happen with a partner: it also happens with family, with friends, or with an ex who never quite leaves. Some people call it emotional dependence: it is another way of naming the same pattern, and in session it is worked on the same way.
Everyone arrives with the word they found on their own. If the doubt going around your head is whether the relationship is hurting you, our guide to toxic relationships goes over what gets called that and what does not. And if where you recognize yourself is in the role of the one who takes care, covers up and puts their own life off, that part is told in our guide to codependency.
Many people arrive at the practice ashamed, repeating the same sentence: “I know what I have to do, but I do not do it.” As if it were a flaw in their character.
At PsicoDiversa we understand dependency not as a “vice,” but as a way of managing deep pain. The need for approval, the fear of being left on your own and the relationships that keep repeating usually have their root in your attachment history: in what you learned, sometimes very early, about what you had to do in order to be loved. That way of relating, the one that switches on with every silence and every delay, is called anxious attachment.
That is why the work goes to the base: what purpose that relationship serves, what void it is trying to fill and what resources of your own you can build to hold yourself up. What you decide about your relationship is yours to decide; our part is to support you without judgment and at your pace, with care that is close and professional. The aim is for you to be able to choose your relationships freely again and to build healthier ones, with that person or without them.
We start by getting to know you: your history, the relationship (or the relationships) that bring you here and what you have already tried. From that we put together a plan of your own, which may combine:
We do not work with closed programs or with deadlines along the lines of “in eight weeks you will be better”: each process takes its own time and we review it with you. If you want to read more about the models, we explain them in how we work. And if you feel more comfortable speaking in English, Laura sees clients in both languages.
Not sure whether your case fits? Tell us and we will say so honestly.
We see clients at C. Mendoza, 6, dcha (Carretera de Cádiz), 29002 Málaga. A small, quiet space, meant for talking calmly and without rushing.
We work mainly in person. When you cannot travel, the session can be held online, with the same way of working.
If you do not live in Málaga, we have a page on online therapy for emotional dependency.
Laura Nhate Intchanhe Mendes
You will be supported by Laura Nhate, who runs the practice, in person and online. A specialist in trauma and addictions, she graduated in Psychology from the University of Málaga and specialized in Health Psychology at the International University of La Rioja. She co-founded PsicoDiversa with María Zuleica, also a psychologist.
Three steps, starting with a call to get to know each other.
You tell us what is going on and we explain how we work. Ask whatever you need and decide calmly, with no obligation.
You start therapy with your psychologist: you put what brings you here into words and set clear goals from the outset.
We adjust the process to your situation and review it with you as it goes. Everyone moves at their own pace.
Fifteen minutes: you tell us what is going on, we explain how we work, and you decide, calmly.
You can also call us at 600 21 57 83.
Putting a name to what is happening to you is our job, so you can come without any diagnosis. An honest clue: if the relationship gives you more anxiety than calm, if you arrange your life around the other person, if you need their approval before you can settle, or if you have tried to step away several times without managing it, that is what is called anxious attachment or emotional dependency. In the first assessment interview we look at it together and tell you clearly what we see and what we suggest. If you would rather read something first, we have a guide to the signs of emotional dependency.
No. Many people start without knowing what they want to do with the relationship, and that is a completely valid starting point. Therapy is there so that you get back the ability to really decide, without fear deciding for you; nobody is going to push you to break up. What you do with that freedom is yours.
It depends on each person: on your history, on the moment you arrive at and on what you want to work on. We do not give timeframes: every process is different, and promising dates in mental health would not be serious. What we do is set clear goals from the start and review with you how it is going.
Yes. Holding up someone who cannot be all right without you also wears you down, and it is a pattern with a name of its own: codependency. We work with the person who does the caring (the boundaries that are hard to set, the guilt that shows up when you try) just as we do with the person who depends. For that case we wrote a guide to codependency for family members.
Both. The practice is in Málaga, in the Carretera de Cádiz area, and for anyone who cannot travel (or simply prefers it) we hold the sessions online, with the same way of working. For the online option there is a page with all the information.
An individual session costs €70, whether in person or online. You will find the full price list on our services page, and asking commits you to nothing.
Book a free 15-minute introductory call. We explain how we work and you decide, with no obligation.
Tell us briefly what brings you here and how you would prefer us to talk.
Or if you prefer, book your call on WhatsApp or by phone.
