The ‘Do Not Question!’ Double Bind

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…

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Logic Versus Emotion

A recurring theme when working with communication difficulties is how to find common ground when one person approaches life’s challenges in a very logical, thinking way and the other is much more inclined to focus on relationships and feelings. How might counselling or psychotherapy help?

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Facing Our Own Mortality

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 the business of living. However, sometimes we can become preoccupied with a fear of death or anxiety about dying…

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How To Tackle Compulsive Behaviour

Compulsive behaviour can range from a need to have the tins in your food cupboard lined up in a neat row with the labels all facing the same way to full blown Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In my experience, compulsive behaviour is often a strategy a person has found to…

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Whose Past Is In Your Present?

I frequently come across examples of how unprocessed feelings associated with a distressing event or circumstances are passed down through the generations causing pain and confusion long after the actual trauma is over. Often, we might be unaware that we have been (usually unwittingly) handed a negative experience of the…

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Panic And The Quicksand Effect

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…

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Panic Attacks – How Counselling Can Help

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…

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Anxiety – Signs of Emotional Overload

We all get anxious. Most of the time we can contain the feelings that accompany anxiety; we know that they are uncomfortable but also that they will pass. However, many of us will have periods in our lives when excess anxiety overstays its welcome and we might need some help in

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