Are you in a relationship with someone who has an active addiction? Addiction can be chemical, alcohol and drugs, as well as behavioural, such as gambling and sex/porn. It can be difficult to know what to do and what to say when someone so close to you is losing themselves in a web of destruction. […]
Bullies are essentially cowards. They will not want to acknowledge their aggressive and offensive behaviour but will be intent on deflecting the attention back on you. So, in common with other toxic types, when confronted they will deny, dismiss, ignore and try to make out that you are the one with the problem, or that
If you are with someone that is prone to having a panic attack the important thing to try to do is to be with them and offer a calming presence. Read more about what happens to a person when they have a panic attack as well as the differences between Panic Disorder and Generalised Anxiety
My latest article on relationship issues has been published on the Counselling Directory website. The article addresses the difficulties that present when one person becomes overly parental in the relationship and what needs to happen when sex stops occurring in the union. To read the article please click here.
Are you worried about feeling anxious? Do you withdraw from meeting up and mixing with your family and friends? Do you avoid social situations in order to not have feelings of worry and dread? Do you find it difficult to go to work and do you take time off sick? These actions can make you
In this interview Dr Patrick Carnes chats to Joe Polish, founder of the Genius Network about sex addiction, neuroscience and the most effective treatment for addictive behaviours. I have listened to this interview, usually as an mp3 file on my phone, many times and always seem to learn something new each time I listen to
I was reading about the military experiences of Robin Horsfall, a former SAS sniper, in a newspaper article yesterday in which he recounted his involvement in the storming of the Iranian embassy on May 5 1980. That particular event predated my arrival to London but I can still recall the dramatic live TV pictures at the
I read Dr Marie Adam’s article on ‘Therapists are human too’ with interest (Therapy Today, November, 2014). The article starts by asking whether counsellors in training pitch up for their therapy sessions without really ‘doing the work’. I’ve had the same thought: how many counsellors in training ‘do the work’ even on their courses? Do
In this podcast I had a fascinating chat with Tommy Hanchen, about his article Quantum Leaps in the Evolution of Therapeutic Hypnosis in which he argues that contemporary psychotherapy owes a great debt of gratitude to the history of hypnosis. In the interview we discuss the work of Franz Mesmer, James Braid and Ernest Rossi as well
We all have endings, whether it is with people, jobs, courses, families, therapy, groups, schooling, etc. How we deal with our own individual endings is often a reflection of how we dealt with endings within our family. Families tend to set the blue print for how we operate in groups and how we left our family