In both coaching and psychotherapy I am always fascinated by the reasons people choose certain career paths or lines of work. It is also interesting to see how career paths develop and change because of personal choices and how people’s personalities interact within organisations and changes in the job market. These explorations can be vital…
How many people are you? Personally, I know I’m quite a few and always will be. Some years ago at a conference on ways of treating trauma a speaker was challenged from the audience to define what ‘mental health’ was. She paused for a moment and then replied that a mentally healthy person was ‘comfortable…
Birthdays are generally depicted in the media as happy events that should be celebrated. However, for no small number of people birthdays can be complicated and evoke difficult feelings such as sadness, listlessness and even feelings of depression. Why is this? The ‘birthday blues’ is a term used to capture the range of difficult emotions…
There have been many more articles written on Narcissism in recent times, as it seems to be the age we are living in. Narcissistic political, organisational, and religious leaders who lack accountability, manipulate information, and deny any wrongdoing has become a normal phenomenon across the world. This is not a new problem – narcissists have…
It’s not a secret that most people presenting for therapy come with symptoms of depression or anxiety and in many cases both – more about that later. And it is also not uncommon for people unfamiliar with psychotherapy to simply want to be ‘happier’. After all, don’t we all on some level wish to be…
As human beings we have evolved to connect. However sophisticated we have become over time though, our capacities for clear communication are enduringly mired in complication. Our inclinations are tilted toward a negativity bias whereby, when in doubt we will tend to assume the worst of an(other)s intent. One negative comment will more often make…
The stigmatisation of mental health and mental illness is nothing new and can be traced back through the centuries and across cultures. Despite much improvement in the treatment of mental illness and an increasingly open dialogue about the effects of mental illness from sufferers and professionals, the evidence shows that paradoxically increasing numbers of the…
Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy, as the name would suggest, is an applied psychology practice located in central Brighton and Hove in operation since 2014. Whilst many of our clients travel from further afield to see and be seen by our clinicians, and whilst we offer online therapy, most of our clients over the years have…
Earworm Have you ever had a song go round and round in your head for longer than you’d like? I certainly have. It’s a common enough experience for which in recent years the term ‘earworm’ has been coined. More academically, it’s known through American Psychological Association research as Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI), defined as ‘the…
Coaching in organisations has become increasingly popular over the past 20 years as workplaces become less hierarchical and organisations seek a more sophisticated approach to leadership. The more recent shift linked to the pandemic has sped-up changes already on the horizon. Leaders are feeling an increasing sense of pressure and responsibility, alongside a collective shift…
Online psychotherapy is not a new concept; it was around before the pandemic and successfully used as a medium for delivering psychotherapy, counselling and coaching. However, what is new is how nearly all of us were obliged to work online to maintain continuity of sessions for our patients and clients during lockdown and how ubiquitous…
While it might not be explicitly named, ‘change’ is often alluded to as a desirable outcome of psychotherapy. Thoughts about feeling, being and living differently are expressed and the client is invited to understand what it is that they want. The ‘wished for’ life can often feel desirable and easy to describe, yet can feel…
People feel lonely for a wide range of reasons. Loneliness can be linked to mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety, social anxiety, perfectionism, low self esteem or eating disorders. It can also be linked to autism, loss, difficulties disclosing, early adulthood, elderly. This is not an exhaustive list but illustrates how many factors can…
Where do you come from? It’s a question that many of us will have either asked, or been asked. What do we actually mean when we ask that of someone? Are we merely searching for a reference point as a means of friendly inquiry, or are we seeking something else? When we think about identity…
Many people believe that they don’t have a justified reason to go to therapy. They may feel they haven’t had anything ‘bad enough’ happen to them, or feel it is too self-indulgent. They may not think they are worthy of the attention they will receive. The truth is everyone is worthy of therapy. Therapy can…
Below, I am going to outline the process for joining a therapy group. It is important to say at the outset that I am describing my own practice and while the underlying principles will generally be shared by other group analysts, the specific processes and procedures will be variable. Taking the First Step People come…
“‘This – is now my way – where is yours?’ Thus did I answer those who asked me ‘the way’. For the way – it doth not exist!” (Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra) Nietzsche (1961) conceives of people as a process of becoming and thus creative and transformative in nature. Nietzsche (1973) calls us…
How are you at just sitting down quietly by yourself? Some years ago I completed a mindfulness meditation course and first encountered the philosopher Pascal‘s assertion that, ‘all the misfortunes of men derive from one single thing, which is their inability to be at ease in a room’. Our teacher suggested Pascal referred to the…
“First we are written and then we write.” These words resound in my head daily. Helene Cixous, the speaker of those words, was immediately given special and spacial status in my lived experience. Her words speaking to the many dynamic forces that seemingly make up my lived experience including past, present and some yet to…
In the last few years there has been increased awareness of mental health issues in the media, way before the pandemic hit. Mental health professionals are seeing a growing mental health epidemic which has become significantly worse due to the human and financial cost of Covid-19, prolonged lockdowns, and a general shift in how people…