Blog

According to a new survey commissioned by Self-Harm UK, The Mix and YoungMinds, a third of 16-25 year-olds in Britain have at some point self-harmed. Despite these rising numbers, confusions and contradictions persist in the way we define and conceptualise self-harm. To mark Self-Harm Awareness Day on March 1, Professor Stephen Briggs addresses the link between suicide and self-harm, and explains why they need to be understood in the context of core developmental struggles.

Eating disorders don’t really have anything to do with food or bodies – that is the contention of Barbara Pearlman, a clinical psychologist who has developed an innovative, neuroscientifically-based treatment. Why is eating disordered thinking so hard to shift? For Pearlman, who has worked in this area for over 30 years, the answer lies in neurological deficits, and the difference between symbolic and concrete thinking. To mark the start of Eating Disorders Awareness Week, she explains how Internal Language Enhancement Therapy (ILET) helps the sufferer reconnect with overwhelming or incomprehensible thoughts that have become ‘lost’ in the bod...

Countless articles have been written on ‘How to get the most out of supervision’. After all, we pay for our supervisory hour, and the time is precious. But does this transactional stance towards supervision mean we sometimes overlook the real issue? For Robin Shohet, good supervision – like therapy itself – is all about the relationship. So he has devised a set of questions to help supervisees reflect on their supervisory relationship – and perhaps kick-start a few important conversations.

Do your clients often seem to be living in a state of permanent self-judgement? Psychotherapist and author Kalman Glantz had a lightbulb moment when he began to link our ‘mad rush’ to self-evaluate to the market system. Here he explains how living in a competitive, hierarchical society impacts on our sense of self – and why trying to boost self-esteem isn’t the right therapeutic strategy

Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular dates to propose on, meaning wedding bells may soon be sounding in some of our clients’ material. As psychotherapist Annette Byford understands all too well, the impact of an engagement isn’t always confined to the couple in question. The author of a new book of interviews with mothers of brides and grooms, she explains why weddings present families with a huge adaptive task – and highlights some difficult feelings they may stir up.

There has been a huge shift in public consciousness recently when it comes to the scale of sexual violation endured by women at the hands of men. But what about those men and boys who are themselves survivors of sexual abuse? Sarah Van Gogh, author of a recent book on this subject, has seen the impact of such experiences on those men that do find their way to therapy – and suspects far more male survivors remain overlooked and unsupported in their shame and despair.

To conclude her blog series marking Children’s Mental Health Week, Dr Fiona Pienaar shares new research findings about the impact of sleep on young people’s capacity to cope with worries – and offers some tips on how adults can model attitudes and behaviours that foster healthy bodies and minds.

Time is a fundamental element of the therapeutic frame, which we go to lengths to boundary and protect. But outside the consulting room, it can seem as though our relationship with time is getting out of hand. In the fourth of her week-long series of blogs to mark Children’s Mental Health Week, Dr Fiona Pienaar reminds us of the importance of ‘finding time’ – that elusive but critical ingredient in our relationships and wellbeing.

Getting away from technology and out into nature is fundamentally important for our mental health. In the third of her week-long series of blogs to mark Children’s Mental Health Week, Dr Fiona Pienaar explains why we should all be stepping away from technology and engaging with the Great Outdoors – and reflects on the key skills this can foster, not just in children, but in therapists.

Young people’s digital use is in the headlines at the moment. But it is adults who face the challenge of monitoring children’s time on social media, and who have a responsibility to model healthy behaviour. In the second of a week-long series of blogs to mark Children’s Mental Health Week, Dr Fiona Pienaar draws our attention to the Family Media Use Plan, and suggests parents – and practitioners – get involved in thinking about digital mental health.