Blog

In the late Nineties, psychoanalyst Vamik Volkan decided to stop seeing clients and focus solely on supervision. From this vantage point, he found himself paying particular attention to the impact of working in foreign countries, and the importance of attending to the ‘deep currents of history’ in clients’ material. Drawing on the case detailed in his forthcoming book, Ghosts in the Human Psyche, he explains why supervisors need to attend to historical, cultural, and political issues.

Divorced couples are saying something important about regret.

Dr Sue Johnson is the leading innovator of Emotionally Focused Therapy, an attachment-based approach rooted in emotional process and originally used with couples. Her new book, Attachment Theory in Practice, took her over thirty years to write, and sees her apply her learning to the whole field of psychotherapy, sharing techniques for treating anxiety and depression as well as relationship problems. Here, she explains EFT’s value for contemporary practitioners, as a coherent cross-modality approach that’s all about the power of connection.

Blue Monday was long ago exposed as a PR stunt, a construct cooked up to sell holidays. But the third Monday of January still brings with it a glut of depression-themed news stories. So perhaps it is a good moment to consider psychotherapy’s complex relationship with depression, which is not immune to marketplace influences. Stephen Barton, co-author of a new book about CBT for depression, thinks a reorientation of focus is necessary. If therapists are to help address the worldwide growth in depression, he argues, we need to stop dwelling on our treatment ‘successes’ – and start putting more energy into considering our ‘failures’.

Neglected children and adults often experience double deprivation, which can play out in therapy, too. But there is hope. To mark the publication of his new book, Nurturing Children: From Trauma to Growth Using Attachment Theory, Psychoanalysis and Neurobiology, Graham Music explains why neglect can come to be repeated in the consulting room – and what therapists can do to allow aliveness to flourish.

What does going to the gym have to do with going to therapy? For Professor Sarah Niblock, emotional and physical maintenance are inseparable enterprises. Nine years ago, feeling unhealthy and depressed, she decided to take her fitness in hand – and was amazed to discover how exercise could enable personal growth and self-knowledge. From building mental stamina to releasing trauma, here the CEO of UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) shares the insights that getting physically fit has given her into the relationship between our bodies and our minds.

Dry January is now part of our national parlance. It dominates New Year’s Resolutions, saturates social media feeds, and kick-starts many a wellbeing calendar. According to a YouGov study, more than four million Brits will be attempting to give up alcohol this month. But what does this preoccupation with ditching booze for 31 days say about our relationship with alcohol? Substance awareness trainer Davyd McNamara thinks we need a more sustainable shift – one that accepts our basic human needs.

Whether or not you practice goal-oriented psychotherapy, you and your clients may be spending time this month thinking about what you want to kick in 2019, and what you want to accomplish. New Year’s Resolutions may help us make positive changes. But they can also reinforce negative self-image as our goals fall by the wayside. We asked top coach Mark J Silverman for some advice on how to actually get things done.

When clients focus on their own breathing, they're making the most fundamental mind-body connection. Regardless of what they're talking about—childhood trauma, a painful marriage, or just the struggle to be open with you in the session—breathing can help them get in touch with their immediate experience and be fully present, for the moment, in their own lives.