We assume knowledge progresses in straight lines, that we know more now than 10, 20, 30, or 3,000 years ago. But the history of knowledge tells us otherwise. Assuming we must be more ‘advanced’ than those who went before is a mistake.
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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 to Help a Client Stop Cutting
You may never have seen a self-harming client, or perhaps self-harm is something you’ve seen clients do only occasionally. But one thing’s for sure. Self-harming behaviours are common – and getting more so.
How to Help Clients with Crippling Shame and Guilt
The terms guilt and shame are often used interchangeably. But these feelings, though they commonly overlap, are distinct. Unlike guilt, which focuses on a sense of having done wrong to others, shame is more of a self-focused emotion.
Helping the Suicide-Bereaved Client
Far from the common suicidal sentiment that “people will be better off without me!” the resulting trauma and grief can spread much wider and deeper than the suicidal person could ever have imagined.
Not waving but drowning: Are we leading lives of quiet despair?
We do, and should, often take people at face value. Insisting all the time that someone tells you how they really are can spoil the atmosphere quicker than a parent at a prom party! Interrogation has never been a substitute for just letting people talk.
Research Roundup 13
The danger of viewing everything exclusively through a scientific lens, rather than looking at things in the spirit of truth – what we might call ‘wise science’ – is that it splinters reality excessively. It loses the bigger picture. We become wiser when we understand not just the parts but also the living, wider patterns […]
How to Ease Your Client’s Nightmares
Nightmares are trying to help us come to terms with emotional expectations that remain unresolved at the time of going to sleep. But, like an inflammatory response trying to combat infection, too much can cause terrible problems. So what do we need to consider when treating client nightmares?
How to Help Your Stressed Clients Quickly
Whether it’s through your skilled teaching of breathing techniques, the more advanced skill of clinical hypnosis, or simply your calming demeanour, with really stressed clients the first step is to help them be calm enough to receive further therapy.
How to Help a Client Who Feels They Are ‘Not Good Enough!’
We can become worthy of someone’s love after they fall in love with us… or we can enjoy the absolving light of love and stop demanding to understand why we are loved or why good fortune comes our way. We can cast off the restrictive ideas of deserving or not.
When NOT to Take On a Therapy Client
All kinds of clients can present tricky behaviour. They might seem resistant to help but still turn out to be great to work with. But sometimes taking on a client may prove to be much more trouble than it’s worth – for you, and ultimately also for them.
