Bad cocaine stories tend to go in one direction: down There is a recognisable pattern that cocaine users go through, a negative spiral. As a user becomes more hooked on cocaine, as their addiction develops they go through various experiences. … Read more
People whose childhoods were characterised by a lack of emotional stability sometimes develop problems regulating their own emotions. They may be quick to become anxious and instinctively pick up on signals that their environment is not safe, settled and stable. … Read more
How old are our problems? Does thinking about our experience of primary socialisation help us find a way to live better? “I need help with my anxiety. I am getting really stressed about my relationship. I am worried about my … Read more
For as long as I can remember I have struggled to manage my emotions. Everything will be fine one moment, and then out of the blue something will go wrong. I will start to feel a deep sense of injustice … Read more
What is meant when it is asserted that someone is mentally ill? In this essay I shall describe the main uses of the concept of mental illness, and I shall argue that this notion has outlived whatever cognitive usefulness it … Read more
What it would be like if you could stop expecting too much? If you could let things develop in their own way. My old girlfriend used to say I was too reactive. I couldn’t see it at the time, but … Read more
I am very sensitive to other people, to how they react to me. It’s like I have a 6th sense. I instinctively know what they think of me. I think it’s like my superpower. I pick up on things really … Read more
Wishful thinking describes the formation of beliefs that are based on what we want to imagine happening rather than what is happening. In wishful thinking, we overlook the evidence, the facts, and concentrate on what we wish for instead. Is it … Read more
This post is a response to an article by Martin Seligman Building Resilience, which was originally published in the Harvard Business Review, April 2011. It seems ironic to me, that the testing ground of positive psychology became the US Army. … Read more
“The lockdown happening sent me into a tailspin. I had been working hard to get my café off the ground, healthy fresh food at affordable prices. There was nothing like it in my local town. We were starting to go … Read more