It’s that time of year again when it’s hard to keep on top of the spider webs in the home! If you are alert to the presence of spiders you will know that there are plenty of them around in the home and garden. And if you are alert to their presence this may be because you love them or because you are afraid of them. If you are afraid of them you are not alone, many of us find spiders’ long legs and their hairs bring up a feeling of disgust and anxiety which then renders us unable to cope, and with the best thing seeming to be to avoid the leggy arachnid.
New Website
I have recently got a website of my own after many years of working with and sharing one with Mary Barnett, Dr Jane Blunden and Marcus Page. I am no longer part of this cross-modality working group which has been supportive, stimulating and nourishing. I wish Jane and Mary a happy retirement!
Of course, I still have other professional groups. One that is particularly important to me is Brighton and Hove CBT Link, which I set up about three years ago. Continue reading
Some tips for facing our fears
The idea of facing our fears has always been with us and has been much written about in ancient and modern scripts. Jim Morrison, of The Doors, said “Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” I like this quote as it acknowledges the existential fear of freedom and is in keeping with a CBT approach to facing fears. Continue reading “Some tips for facing our fears”
Different types of therapy
Psychotherapy is a huge field. There are many different types of psychotherapy. One way of trying to categorise psychotherapy is by the theory underlying each approach. Continue reading “Different types of therapy”
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
We can become emotionally harmed for a long time following experiences which are painful, distressing or shocking. These experiences may be “one off” events or may occur over a period of time.
A trauma following a single event can impact on a limited part of our life, e.g. a driving phobia following a car accident. It can also lead to more severe problems, such as experiencing distressing flashbacks. Continue reading
Anxiety
We all know what anxiety feels like, and often we understand why we are feeling anxious at particular times. But what about when we feel it nearly all of the time, when we do not understand our feelings, or when it becomes overwhelming? If this carries on for too long many areas of our life will be affected and we may also become depressed
Why do we get anxiety? Continue reading
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT can be used on different levels of “depth” depending on who is using it and the problem for which it is being used. Essentially it is a way of understanding how a problem works and the ways in which this problem is maintained, thus enabling us to find ways of working with the problem. Continue reading “Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)”