Organising Your Experiences
Life can be difficult, presenting us with problems that we can find hard to master, and can leave us feeling confused and frustrated. It’s natural for us to try and
Book Review: Understanding Troubled Minds
Bloch S, (2011) ‘Understanding Troubled Minds: A Guide to Mental Illness and its Treatment’, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Australia from SANE Australia / from Amazon This is a book that
The Unconscious: Making Sense of the Hidden
We all seem to instinctively know that there are some things in our minds that we are conscious of, and other things that we are unconscious of. Knowing this, you
Therapy: Going Beyond the Quick Fix
Many people these days seek out professional psychological help for their difficulties. They hope that by seeing a mental health professional they will change the things that they see as
Do Bad Experiences Build Our Character?
We have all heard the expression that experiences are character building; the implication is that the worse the experience is, the better the character built. The idea seems to have
Three Illusions of the Mind
Our minds are fascinating things, allowing us to perform all sorts of everyday amazing feats of deduction and interpretation, but they are also the source of the most puzzling, infuriating
Addiction Recovery: The Slow Fix
If you have an addiction, you have many good reasons to want to quickly have it dealt with and behind you so you can get on with life. This is
Keep Your Secrets Until You’re Ready
We all have secrets. At our core, there are things that we just don’t want other people to know and we hold on to these private things for all we
How to Stop the Cycle of Trauma
If you are in the middle of dealing with your own difficulties, then it can be harder to focus on the difficulties of others. It seems that you need all
What Comes after Psychological First Aid?
People seek counselling / psychotherapy for all sorts of reasons. For many people who seek help, the reason is pretty straightforward; they are in distress, they don’t know what to
The Three Types of the Unconscious
We all understand that we have a conscious and an unconscious part of our mind. This distinction goes back to the earliest days of psychoanalysis. Similarly, we all know that
Our Compulsion to Comply: How to Break Free
Many of us know the feeling – the pull to do what another person wants and to let our own needs take a back seat. Whilst to put another person
Research: The New Left and Right Brain
We all know the popular theory about left and right brain; being left brained means being more logical and structured, being right brained means being more creative and emotional. However,
Boredom: It’s Not At All What You Think
You can frequently hear people in our social circles or in the media talk about being bored. They can be bored by other people’s opinions, bored with their lives, bored
Spoiling a Child: Arid Plenty and Indulged Deprivation
A question that often comes up for parents is the notion of spoiling a child. ‘How can I give my child all that I want to give them, to ease
Making a Deal with Your Partner? Why You Shouldn’t
In popular culture we sometimes told that couples should solve their problems through making a deal. I’ll agree to do this, if you agree to do that. It’s seen as
Keeping Score: The Main Game
What is it about the addition of pressure that makes things so much harder? Some friends were recently telling me about their young son, who likes to play tennis with
Making Yourself Safe for Others
Sometimes we fear we are so dangerous that we can’t bear to risk hurting another. Fortunately, there is someone trained to help us become more safe for others. Repeating the
What Makes Us: Our Uniqueness
It’s a common perception that our thoughts make us who we are. I believe that we are a lot more that that. The idea that we are our thoughts is a
Can You Be Too Rational?
We are taught to use our thinking to decide things, but it isn’t always the best tool for the job. If you asked them, most people would say that the best