Withdrawal describes a combination of psychological, physical, and emotional effects that are experienced by a person when they stop using pornography or try to break other addictive habits. In what we might think of as active addiction, the user turns … Read More
Reactive abuse is a term that describes coercive and abusive relationships in which an abuser provokes reactive displays of emotion from their victim and then exploits the reaction. Manipulation, control, shame and blame This kind of abusive pattern of relating … Read More
Developmental trauma is a consequence of traumatic experiences that occur during a child’s early years. The concept of developmental trauma is used as a way to think about the distress that the adult may have been exposed to in their … Read More
Intergenerational trauma and generational trauma are terms that are used to describe trauma that is passed down from one generation to the next. Each generation of the family may experience symptoms differently, but the experience can be traced back to … Read More
An emotionally absent mother may fail to develop the kind of satisfying attachment bonds in her children that make sustaining ordinary relationships possible. Such children may come to grow up with a complicated sense of emotional absence in themselves. An … Read More
Why do we repeat the same mistakes? Why do we keep doing things when we don’t get a different outcome? We all develop patterns that have become ingrained. How do we find a way out of them? The past exerts … Read More
In Carl Jung’s model of psychology, the human psyche is a self-regulating adaptive system. In his view, it is when we fail to adapt to changes and challenges that our lives become more complicated. If someone is avoiding adapting to … Read More
Endogenous depression is classified as a major depressive disorder, a mood disorder characterised by persistent and intense feelings of sadness that can last for extended periods of time. Psychology differentiates two types of depression: endogenous (causes from within the person) … Read More
Overcompensating describes the way in which we find ourselves needing to work to conceal or neutralise the impact of another person’s personality or decisions on us. Instead of our processes being simple they become complicated. One complication is that we … Read More
We develop our emotional and psychological selves through our early family relationships and attachments. If these things go badly they can leave a lasting sense of unhappiness and personal resentment. From The Iliad to Hamlet to The Count of Monte … Read More