Skip to content

Blog

Our lively editorial platform, serving you with enriching and engaging reads from world leading therapists, psychologists and other key voices several times a week.

Filter by
Sort by

Why Our Understanding of Alcohol Use Needs Turning on Its Head

  • 19th Nov 2018
  • Davyd McNamara

How aware are we that alcohol is more drug than drink? That the actual physiological effects of alcohol are only a small part of the story? And that treating any substance as a ‘vice’ that needs to be ‘given up’ is a fundamental misunderstanding of its function? As Alcohol Awareness Week begins, drug and alcohol awareness trainer Davyd McNamara calls for ‘integration’ not ‘separation’ in working with people who use alcohol. Above all, he says, this should be about the human needs we use alcohol to meet – and the hidden selves we use it to express.

‘Ugly’ Psychotherapists: How to Flourish Amid Misery

  • 16th Nov 2018
  • Brett Kahr

Professor Brett Kahr was shocked when an acquaintance remarked on the ‘ugliness’ of psychotherapists. But it got him thinking. Burdened with misery and immersed in trauma, are we therapists too often weighed down by our work, and preoccupied only with enduring? Published today, Kahr’s new book, How to Flourish As a Psychotherapist, is an attempt to shift this bar. As he argues in this blog, we become better therapists for our clients when we learn, not just how to survive in our profession, but how to thrive.

Ringing the changes with the Society for Existential Analysis

  • 14th Nov 2018
  • Cristalle Hayes

The Society for Existential Analysis has just marked its 30th anniversary with a forward-looking conference. What might existential therapy, and therapy in general, look and feel like in 2048? As existential psychotherapist Cristalle Hayes reflects, change is both an important evergreen theme in therapy, and a pressing reality for the profession itself. Here she passes on ten key messages from the weekend’s SEA conference, which might just help therapists of all modalities face, and embrace, the future.

Healing the Authoritarian Wound in Therapy

  • 12th Nov 2018
  • Eric Maisel

Authoritarian personalities have preoccupied researchers since the Fifties. But until recently, a vital part of the story was overlooked: the psychological impact of authoritarian people on those they came into contact with. As Anti Bullying Week begins, American psychotherapist Eric Maisel explains why he created the Authoritarian Wound Questionnaire – and how therapists can help to address this important area of client experience.

How Diagrams Can Help Us Communicate With Clients

  • 9th Nov 2018
  • Charles M. Boisvert

The spoken word is considered the quintessential vehicle of psychotherapy. Yet, when it comes to auditory processing, we all have our limitations. In fact, our brains devote more resources to visual processing than all other senses combined. Charles M. Boisvert, the co-creator of Visually-Enhanced Therapy, thinks diagrams can serve the therapy session on many levels – and help us engage with harder to reach clients.

Stress and the Neurology of Noticing

  • 7th Nov 2018
  • Tracy Jarvis

Today is the 20th annual National Stress Awareness Day, created by mental health charity Mind to encourage us all to stop and think about the impact of stress on our lives. That shouldn’t, of course, exclude therapists. We work with our clients' stress. But do we make time to notice our own stress levels? A specialist in trauma, stress and neuroscience, psychotherapist and Director of Psychotherapy Excellence, Tracy Jarvis, recaps the science of stress and the neurology of noticing, and offers some simple suggestions for reducing and regulating stress in your system.

"Men Want Someone to Be Real With Them"

  • 1st Nov 2018
  • Martin Pollecoff

If Martin Pollecoff didn’t already have a moustache, he would be growing one for Movember. The psychotherapist and Chair of UKCP has much experience to share about the importance, and challenges of, engaging men in therapy. He started his counselling career at an Alcohol and Substance abuse clinic in Wrexham, and founded The Long Boat Home for ex-services personnel and their families. This November, men’s mental and physical health will once again be in the spotlight. But, argues Pollecoff, outside the consulting room, it is harder for men to talk honestly than ever before.

"A Relationship of Hope Has Been Formed"

  • 28th Oct 2018

Thirty years ago, Dr Farhad Dalal published his landmark paper, ‘Jung: A Racist’. On October 13, the London conference of the Confederation for Analytical Psychology invited two African American Jungian analysts to speak about key issues in US politics, law, culture and therapy, including racism encountered in their training. Jungian analyst Heather Formaini asks, what took us so long?

The Emotional Truth Behind Anxiety Symptoms

  • 13th Oct 2018

Anxieties and panics aren't merely neurobiological dysfunctions. By heading straight into the core of meaning at the heart of symptoms, therapy becomes a place where a deeper sense of order replaces the apparent senselessness of presenting complaints, and clients awaken to areas of self that have control over what previously seemed utterly out of control.

The Gottmans' Call to Make Couples Therapy More Effective

  • 27th Sep 2018
  • John and Julie Gottman

A New Wave of Systems Theory and Therapy Now Includes Scientific Inquiry. A second revolution is quietly taking shape—a new wave of systems theory and therapy—that marries the wisdom of clinical intuition with the rigors of scientific inquiry. With more precision and accuracy, we can now begin to answer two key questions about relationships: what causes trouble between people and what helps them not merely survive together, but actually rekindle love and delight?