Anxiety

Long periods of frequent or severe anxiety can be both exhausting and debilitating. Excessive fear and worry uses up our precious - and finite - emotional resources, leaving us with less time and energy for other areas of our lives and for the people we love and care about. What can be done? Lessons From Therapy I have been working in Brighton as a psychotherapist with people suffering from problematic anxiety since 2011. Although every person's experience of tackling overwh

Compulsive behaviour is often a strategy we have found to manage anxiety

We all know that we are born, that we live - and then we die.  Mostly, we manage to deal with the fact that we are mortal and get on with...

ADHD can manifest in a number of ways and everybody affected by it will respond somewhat differently.

Making major life changes without an outside impetus is much harder than when external circumstances leave us with no choice.

Despite assurances from the medical profession that there is nothing seriously wrong, we find ourselves stuck in a loop of hyper-awareness and fear.

Work can be rewarding in many ways . It can give us a sense of purpose and achievement, structure to our lives, respect from others, companionship and, of course, money. But sometimes we can find ourselves stuck in a toxic working environment that is at best holding us back, and at worst seriously affecting our mental and physical health. How might counselling and psychotherapy help? The Causes Of Work-related Stress Most of us have experienced times when our jobs have beco

Most of us have experienced intrusive thoughts at some point in our lives. They often arrive at times of high stress and can fill our heads with unhelpful 'what if' scenarios and irrational fears that leave us preoccupied or distressed.

Could it be that our response to change itself is preventing us from experimenting with more fulfilling ways of being in our own skin and relating to others?

In our efforts to connect to someone are we inadvertently pushing them away?

Are fears of being judged, shamed or made to feel inadequate getting in the way of seeking help?

Many people coming to counselling or psychotherapy for the first time describe how they cannot stop themselves from dwelling on old hurts or mistakes from the past. The memories are, without exception, negative and often evoke feelings of frustration and shame. How can counselling or psychotherapy help? The Stuck Record Rationally, we probably know that repeatedly thinking about the times we have failed in some way or have felt misunderstood and let down by others does us n

We all have times in our lives when we are lonely . Feeling cut off from the support and companionship of others can be a huge source of...

As human beings we are hard-wired to make sense of what happens to us. This is an important skill since good judgement about the world gives rise to emotional and physical safety. Sometimes, however, we might be continuing to interpret our current experiences based on skewed or narrow unconscious assumptions about how to approach life that we have made in childhood, adolescence or at a traumatic time in our lives. How might therapy help? A Simple Example of the Power of Int

Did you grow up in a household where one of the rules was to accept the word of those in authority without question? People who have difficulty asserting themselves in adulthood have often had this experience and it can lead to serious consequences for the way they approach life and relate to others. How might therapy help? The Double Bind One of the problems of receiving a 'do not question!' message in childhood from a person in authority - particularly a parent on whom we

"But when one does not complain , and when one wants to master oneself with a tyrant’s grip — one’s faculties rise in revolt — and one pays for outward calm with an almost unbearable inner struggle." Letter from Charlotte Brontë to Professor Constantin Heger, 1845. Common Physical Expressions of Emotion In everyday life, bodily expressions of emotion are common and accepted. If we are sad, we might cry; if we are embarrassed or ashamed, we might blush; if we are afraid, our

We will all face times in our lives when our world is turned up side down and the everyday routine we previously took for granted suddenly disappears. We might be left feeling powerless, confused and anxious. When we are distressed, it can feel very difficult to get the help we need; other people just don't seem to get it. We try harder and harder to regain control of our lives but matters only seem to get worse. What can we do?   When we are feeling anxious - perhaps having

Panic attacks commonly bring people to counselling or psychotherapy.  Usually, I am asked how to make them go away. Rather than simply treating the symptoms (e.g. through breathing techniques), I tend to look at the anxiety behind the panic attack as providing a warning or message that something is amiss and that whatever it is needs both your and my attention. What Are Your Rules For Living? As human beings, I believe that we put together a set of personal rules, values and

We all get anxious . Most of the time we can contain the feelings that accompany anxiety; we know that they are uncomfortable but also...