When disaster changes the course of life, the effects are rarely contained to the moment of crisis. The visible damage is often matched by hidden struggles that surface in the days, months, or years afterwards. In my own work, I have sat alongside people who have faced devastating events, and I have … [Read more...]
AI psychosis: why depth therapy cannot be automated
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly being promoted as a tool for psychological support, whether through chatbots, self-help apps, or experimental “AI therapists.” The proposition is seductive: instant access, apparent empathy, and cost-effective delivery. Yet beneath the promise lies a profound … [Read more...]
Understanding children’s anxiety around school
For some children, school is a place of growth, friendship, and discovery. For others, however, walking through the gates each morning can feel like an uphill climb. The school day may seem long, and the combination of lessons, friendships, and expectations can stir emotions that children find … [Read more...]
All depth psychotherapy is trauma therapy – and the rest is marketing
Spend ten minutes on social media and you’d think trauma therapy is a rare, specialist service that only a select few therapists can offer. The implication is clear: most therapy isn’t “trauma-informed,” so you need to shop for the right label.This is marketing, not clinical reality. If you are … [Read more...]
The issue with online therapy platforms
Two key issues with large online therapy platformsOne of the first things I tend to ask new patients in a consultation is about their previous experience of therapy. Increasingly, I’m hearing that somewhere along this journey they have tried an online therapy platform - such as BetterHelp or … [Read more...]
How to meet negative thoughts with compassion
We all experience negative thoughts and sometimes these thoughts can be painful, undermining and leave us feeling worthless. Some people simply try to tolerate them, and others might feel they are deserved - or even criticise themselves for having them in the first place. But is there another way to … [Read more...]
Why there is no such thing as a patient
Winnicott's radical insight: There is no such thing as a babyWinnicott’s claim that "there is no such thing as a baby" is one of those deceptively simple psychoanalytic truths that resists being reduced to metaphor. He wasn’t being poetic. He meant it literally: there is no baby in isolation. … [Read more...]
How AI tools between therapy sessions are undermining the therapeutic relationship
The space between psychotherapy sessions is not empty. It is saturated with psychic material such as fantasy, frustration, longing and resistance. It is where the work reverberates, where the transference lives on, where the unconscious continues its motion. Yet increasingly, this space is being … [Read more...]
Rewiring the past: EMDR demystified
EMDR has become one of the most talked-about psychotherapy treatments – and for good reason. Extensive research has shown that it is one of the most effective approaches developed so far for trauma and chronic pain. It is recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). The … [Read more...]
Masochism and the impossibility of desire
Masochism is perhaps one of the most misunderstood clinical structures in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. It has been removed from the DSM for largely political reasons and has thus disappeared from the psychological lexicon.It is a term that is conflated with victimhood, reactivity, or … [Read more...]
Dissociative identity disorder: A rare trauma response, not a social trend
In recent years, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) has become a trending topic on social media, particularly on platforms like TikTok. Short-form videos often depict individuals rapidly switching between so-called “alters,” complete with visual and behavioural cues. The implication—sometimes … [Read more...]
Parental presence in a digital age: lessons from Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ and the NVR approach
The new Netflix series Adolescence has sparked conversation for its raw portrayal of teenage life and family tension. As an NVR practitioner for the past nine years, I’ve come to realise that I view my world now through an NVR lens.As I was watching the show I was struck by its affirmation of a … [Read more...]
Holding the frame: the role of boundaries in psychotherapy
Why psychotherapists must remain vigilant about boundaries Despite training, supervision, and ethical guidelines, psychotherapists—like all human beings—remain vulnerable to lapses in judgment. At best, these take the form of clinical misattunements. At worst, they can result in serious boundary … [Read more...]
Flirting with the void: On nihilism and the will to meaning (part two)
“… the truth is that if division and violence define war, the world has always been at war and always will be; if man is waiting for universal peace in order to establish his existence validly, he will wait indefinitely: there will never be any other future”. (Beauvoir, 1948, p.128-9)It is hard … [Read more...]
Beyond the label: Rethinking assessment and diagnosis in psychotherapy
The rise in diagnosisTalking therapies are a well-established means by which we think about and work with mental health. They don’t sit in a traditional clinical framework where we think of consultation, diagnosis and treatment. They offer a much more nuanced approach which breaks down the … [Read more...]
