Mind & Metaphor · 28 January 2019
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is sometimes associated with undesirable notions of ‘wallowing in the past’ and ‘digging up old wounds.’ When you come to therapy, you want to know how to feel better. Looking at the past may seem incongruent with your current difficulty. You can't change the past, so why does it matter?
Mind & Metaphor · 30 November 2018
Anger tends to hold negative connotations with ‘badness,’ being so often associated with damage, pain and destruction. Yet this emotion is an essential part of our feeling self. How do we embrace our anger so that we can use it as a positive force? In my article on Welldoing.org, I explore how we can harness our anger as a tool for change.
Mind & Metaphor · 15 May 2018
The film ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ has been discussed as a metaphor for abuse, but it is also, I think, a metaphor for the turmoil of our inner world when traumas from our past impede our capacity to live an authentic life in the present.
Mind & Metaphor · 24 March 2018
Like a Highway Code for our inner world, feelings guide us, offering important information about our environment. When we feel safe, contented and hopeful, for instance, like a green light, our psyche is signalling it is safe to explore. When we feel threatened, our mind is sending an amber warning telling us to take heed. How do we come to know and trust our feelings?
Mind & Metaphor · 17 February 2018
How often have you heard someone say: “I NEED need my mobile”? We seem to need our smartphones like we need our shoes. Mobile phone addiction is, supposedly, a real and current problem. Numerous articles now advise how to overcome our dependency. But can we really be addicted? And how can we make sense of this?
Mind & Metaphor · 11 January 2018
While some therapies will focus on ‘how’ to address current blocks or difficulties you are facing, psychodynamic psychotherapy concentrates on the question of ‘why’. Why do I feel like this? Why am I experiencing these difficulties, and why now? Through examining ‘why’, the therapist aims to help the client bring meaning and understanding to their experience.
