We’re bombarded with research and study snippets, but it’s important to try to fit any new (and old) psychological research into the wider understanding of what it means to be human. This month we look at five recent studies – from social anxiety to the search for meaning.
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If you are a therapist or coach of any persuasion; counsellor, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, life coach, bodyworker, in fact anyone who works in the helping professions, you will glean valuable, actionable ideas, tips and techniques from Clear Thinking, my free therapy techniques newsletter.
In it you'll find a wide range of topics including solution focused therapy approaches, cognitive-behavioural therapy techniques, ideas from DBT, hypnotherapy, counselling and even the occasional philosophical piece. I've been treating people with psychotherapy for more than 30 years and I've drawn what I find useful from many fields. I hope you find it helps you in your practice too, whatever flavour of helper you are.
How Being ‘Lazy’ May Stave Off Dementia and Depression
Far from being unproductive, periods of rest may play a critical role in maintaining brain health, supporting memory, and even reducing the risk of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. The brain does not switch off when we stop working. Instead, it switches modes.
How to Help Your Clients Feel More in Control
Feeling in control, particularly feeling in control of ourselves when externally things are out of control, is central to good mental health. So how might we help clients develop that quickly in order to strengthen their mental health?
When Is Self-Doubt Therapeutic?
For clients who struggle with low self-esteem, often the first step towards change is not becoming more certain about themselves, but becoming less certain about the negative beliefs they hold about themselves. So how can you introduce the power of therapeutic doubt into your practice?
Why ‘I’m Unlovable’ is as Much a Myth as Noah’s Ark
We all live by many unexamined myths – aspects of reality that we’ve come to see as ‘self-evident’. But others are personal, perhaps emotionally based myths that we form to make sense of what may be a painful reality. Personal myths often form through painful emotional conditioning.
Why you should use ‘dimorphous expression’ therapy with your clients
‘Dimorphous expression’ is a naturally occurring, paradoxical emotional response in which an intense positive feeling is expressed through a mix of positive and negative behaviours. This helps regulate overwhelming emotions and restore the body to emotional balance – so why not use it therapeutically?
Be a Better Therapist By Embracing Uncertainty
It’s so easy to fall in love with our own first opinions. It makes us feel and seem clever. Ah! Those twin balms, security and certainty. Lovely! But failure to keep the gates of meaning open leads us away from truth. So how can we help our clients better by avoiding premature assumptions?
Treating Selective Mutism in Children
Selective mutism (SM) is strongly linked with social anxiety. Most children who experience it are not choosing silence; they are experiencing genuine fear in specific social situations, which forces silence upon them. So how might we begin helping a child who feels unable to speak?
Working With Clients’ Metaphors
Some delusions can be understood as symbolic attempts to communicate distress and meet fundamental needs. But all clients – not just the psychotically delusional! – talk in metaphors, and their metaphors can help us understand what they might need – if we are careful enough to notice them.
When a Story Says it Best
Excessive positivity in the face of dire circumstances can be the biggest turn-off since white socks with sandals and shorts. Sometimes we can simply tell a therapeutic story and let the client make their own connections.
