About me
I’m Pierpaolo Paparo, an Italian psychotherapist based in Paris, offering therapy in English and Italian, online and in person. I trained in Ireland, where I completed my Master’s in Psychotherapy and also went through significant personal change, including the end of my marriage. That period shaped my interest in psychotherapy, mindfulness, and the demanding but meaningful work of rebuilding a life with more honesty, awareness, and direction.
Before becoming a therapist, I worked in asset management. That background helps me understand the pressure many professionals carry: responsibility, performance, decision-making, and the need to keep functioning even when things feel very different inside. I often work with expats, international professionals, and high-functioning adults who may seem capable on the outside but privately struggle with anxiety, OCD, overthinking, depression, relationship difficulties, self-criticism, or life transitions.
My own life across Italy, Ireland, and France also informs the way I understand expat experience. Living between languages, cultures, and identities can be enriching, but it can also bring loneliness, uncertainty, and a sense of not fully belonging. I aim to offer therapy that feels human, grounded, and connected to real life: not abstract, not formulaic, and not disconnected from the pressures people are actually living with.
APPROACH
My approach is integrative, humanistic, and ACT-based. I place Acceptance and Commitment Therapy at the centre of my work, while also drawing on psychodynamic understanding, somatic awareness, mindfulness, and CBT-informed tools when useful. Therapy, as I practise it, is not simply a place to talk about problems or try to think more positively. It is a structured and collaborative process for understanding the patterns that keep you stuck and learning how to respond differently to difficult thoughts, emotions, sensations, and relationships.
In sessions, we may explore anxiety, OCD, overthinking, avoidance, emotional pressure, relationship patterns, identity, grief, or the impact of major life transitions. With OCD, I may also integrate ERP and exposure-based work, while keeping the focus on psychological flexibility rather than forcing control over thoughts or feelings. I work collaboratively, but with enough structure to help you develop practical psychological skills you can use outside the therapy room.
Clients often come to me because they are tired of repeating the same internal loops: analysing, controlling, avoiding, pleasing, performing, or trying to hold everything together. My role is to help you slow down, understand what is happening, and build a more workable relationship with your mind, your emotions, and your life. The aim is not perfection or constant calm, but greater clarity, flexibility, and movement towards what matters.
